poster project by Melanie Cervantes and Chris Crass
reposted from DignidadRebelde
Originally posted November 22, 2011
To downoad “United by Justice, Not Divided By Racism” click here.
Thank
you so much to all of you who played many different roles in making
this project highly successful. From raising money, making donations,
giving feedback, distributing the posters, and spreading the word about
the project. Special love to Caitlin Carmody who shipped all of the
posters from Berkeley.
Overview of the impact of all our efforts thus far.
•
We printed up 15,000 11×17 inch posters at the radical printing press
Inkworks, in Berkeley. They also hooked up low cost shipping. The
posters went out to thirty cities in twenty states.
• We know
that the anti-racist collective Groundwork, gave out hundreds in
Madison, Wisconsin at a Recall Gov. Walker rally. Posters have been
given out at political education sessions at Occupy Washington D.C.
•
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the state-wide immigrant rights organization,
Voces de la Frontera, got 2,000 posters to use in their campaign work.
•
They have gone out to Occupy activists in Phoenix, Miami, Chattanooga,
Boston, Knoxville, Greensboro, Wall Street, Columbus, Pittsburgh,
Chicago, Philadelphia, Oakland, Burlington, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Santa
Rosa, Louisville, New Orleans and more. They also went to (Un)occupy
Albuquerque.
• In Oregon they are going to Portland, Salem, and Hood River (Oregon represent!)
•
They are being used in a “Good Jobs” union campaign in Los Angeles, in
the immigrant rights struggle in Alabama, by the Vermont Workers’
Center in their state-wide organizing in mostly white working class
communities, and by the North Carolina Justice Center in their efforts.
• The Unitarian Universalists are distributing 1,000 of them to congregations around Ohio and Arizona to use in their work.
•
Half a dozen Occupy anti-racism working groups are using them to help
strengthen the overall racial justice analysis in their local Occupy
efforts.
• Additionally hundreds of you sent the poster out
electronically in your networks, to organizations, family and friends,
to your local Occupy, and beyond. We know folks in Grand Rapids,
Michigan and New York City printed up their own copies of the poster to
distribute.
Next Steps
For all of you
distributing the poster or who are now inspired and want to print up
your own or do it electronically, below are the goals of the project and
suggested ways of using the poster. There is a also a link to a
downloadable pdf.
Thank you for all the incredible ways each of
you is bringing your leadership to this historic time of mass movement
against inequality and for another world. In whatever ways you are
contributing, it is significant. This is not a time for energy spent on
“well I could be doing more” or “what I did wasn’t that big a deal.”
This is a time for honoring that movements for justice are made of
millions of people doing what they can, when they can, and I know what
many of you are doing and it’s amazing.
Everyday has a victory,
when we remember what our movements have won and achieved, and believe
in our personal and collective ability to significantly advance
liberation struggle. Small victories build our capacity to both create
and win liberation. Thanks for helping make the poster project a series
of small victories.
Goals of the “United for Justice, Not Divided by Racism” poster
1.
We want to build up powerful, working class-based, feminist,
multiracial movements for collective liberation. The Occupy movement is
an incredible convergence of movements for economic, social, racial,
gender, and environmental justice. The Occupy movement not only
resonates with millions of people, but it actively invites millions of
people to participate in the creation of both the movement and the
vision of what we are working towards. This poster is a tool to help
build up the Occupy movement, deepen the anti-racist analysis of the
movement, and express the solidarity of white communities with immigrant
families of color in the 99%. We hope the poster will help express the
Occupy movement’s support for immigrant rights struggles around the
country.
2. We want to give anti-racists around the country tools
for building up stronger anti-racist politics and practice in white
communities. We hope the poster will give white people a way to express
their outrage for the profound inequalities of capitalism and white
supremacy. We want white people to have visible ways of standing with
communities of color against racist attacks. We want to support the
growing consciousness that racism against communities of color hurts
everyone, and is part of what keeps the inequalities of capitalism
intact. We want to support white people resistance to the brutality of
racism against communities of color, while simultaneously helping white
people understand the necessity of
ending white supremacy as part of their own liberation from systems of oppression.
3.
We want to challenge the ways that racism divides movements for
justice, and give white people tools to work against these divisions. We
want to support white people standing with communities of color in
ways that feed and nurture a culture of solidarity, dignity, and love.
While we work against the impacts of systems of oppression in our
communities, families, and lives, it is essential that we also build up
liberatory culture, relationships, alliances, and practices.
Suggestions for using the poster
1.
We encourage anyone and everyone who wants to distribute, hang-up,
print-out, and use this poster, to please do so. We have also created
the poster with the above goals of reaching white people. With that
said, the suggestions below are geared towards reaching white people,
but they can also be used to think about reaching out to people in all
of our communities.
2. Take a moment to think about who you
would like to distribute the poster to and why. You might think of
people in your life and networks, as well as organizations, spiritual
communities, places of business, Occupy lists, and so on. Write up a
short statement about what the poster means to you and why you think
it’s important to work against racism and for economic justice. If you
are sending it out to organizations, or Occupy lists, maybe write
something about what it means for the work you all are doing and how you
can use the poster to help move that work forward.
3. If you
can, distribute the poster, and other posters from the “We are the 99%”
series, through organizational newsletters, blogs, websites and use it
as an opportunity to talk with people you work with about why it is so
important that we work against racism and for justice. Use this as an
opportunity to express this organizationally in the distribution of the
poster.
4. Print up copies of the poster and distribute them
widely at Occupy demonstrations and other important locations. In fact,
print up copies of all of Melanie’s “We are the 99%” posters and
distribute them widely.
5. Think about ways to distribute the
posters through networks and locations that will reach white people who
are among the more then 53 percent of the country who support the
Occupy movement message, but have never come to a demonstration. Think
about ways the poster can be a stepping stone to help white people who
have never thought of themselves as part of a movement, to feel more
connected to this one. Think about ways the poster can help white
people think about anti-racism and economic justice, while
simultaneously being given an opportunity to take a stand. White people
can put the poster up in windows at home, in businesses, places of
worship, and community centers. In states around the country with
anti-immigrant laws, white people can use the poster to show their
opposition to these laws.
6. Use the distribution of the
posters in the Occupy movement as a way of engaging thousands of people
of all backgrounds who are new to activism, about why anti-racism is a
catalyst to building the powerful, working class-based, feminist,
multiracial movements for collective liberation that we need. It is
often helpful to have conversations with white people about racism,
white privilege, and anti-racism, in the context of talking with them
about something they can concretely do about it. It is important to
help move people through, understandable, guilt, shame, and fear, by
presenting positive options for thoughtful action.
7. Use the
poster to step further into your power as an anti-racist leader in your
community, organization, and Occupy demonstration (we are all
leaders!).
8. If you are part of a group of people
distributing these posters, share experiences, lessons, and advice with
one another. Momentum is a powerful force for moving people into action
