Suzanne Pharr February 18th, 2008
No. Hope and inspiration do.
As soon as it was clear that Obama had won an overwhelming victory in the South Carolina primary, news commentators put up their pie-chart evidence and declared, “Race trumps gender!” Surely no one was surprised at the spin. Since the Civil Rights Movement, media pundits and political strategists have pitted white women, black men, and white men against each other to increase resentment and division. Now, imagine this: a white woman, a black man, and a white man are competing as Democrats to be the next President.
There are differences in their political platforms but they are not large. What is notably different—and is affecting the vote—is who they are as human beings, what central core within themselves they speak from, and how they touch our hopes and dreams. These are the elements that are not based on race or gender or age or class or any of the other issues that define us. After we see the candidates are close in intelligence and the ability to get things done, what then stands out is something that lives in the realm of spirit. It is hope expressed in faithfulness to the dream of a whole and united people and a desire for a transformed world. This realm has no race or gender.
It is critical at this historical moment to bring about change in the collective spirit of this country. A friend of mine recently mentioned “creeping fascism.” “Creeping?” I asked. “I think it has been on a pretty fast shuffle for the past decade.” One of the few things that can deter it is a people’s hope and belief in their collective power to make change. Divisiveness based on carefully calculated political messaging and strategies has endangered who we are as a people. Thankfully, this election is proving—especially through the great energy of young people, of the formerly disheartened, and of those whose voices are not often heard—that people do not want the negative ways of the past. We want a President who will work with us to bring forward our best selves, creating policy and practice that will improve the lives of all of us, in the US and the world.
That’s why this white Southern woman who longs for a transformed world is voting for Obama.
admin January 30th, 2008
In The Time Of The Right: Reflections On Liberation is now available.
Download: In The Time Of The Right: Reflections On Liberation
admin January 30th, 2008
We are living in political times when the progressive left is generally perceived to be in disarray. Though thousands of nonprofit organizations, both large and small, are working on a wide array of social and economic issues, we are often disconnected, lacking a united vision and effort, protective of turf and competitive with one another for limited sources of funding. Moreover, the majority of our organizations do not have a base of politically-educated constituencies who can move issues. The power of information, ideas, access to people, shared leadership, collectively developed vision and strategies is in the hands of a few, often the director and senior staff rather than dispersed throughout the organization and its constituency. Consequently, the progressive left is lacking the numbers of inspired and politically involved people necessary to mount a movement. There is something wrong with how we are conducting the business of social change.
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admin January 30th, 2008
(This talk was given at the 2004 Incite!Women of Color Against Violence conference: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded)
In the early 1990s, I developed a growing concern about the funding of social change organizations. At that time I had worked for a dozen or more years at the Women’s Project in Arkansas and in the Battered Women’s movement locally and nationally. My connections to social change organizations were extensive, and I had had many opportunities to observe their struggles with funding.
Here are some observations that raised my concerns:
• It was a constant struggle for the Women’s Project to maintain a left analysis that engaged the community in systemic change-—and to receive finding that did not attempt to modify our work;
• The Battered Women’s movement had moved from local, grassroots organizing to “professional” service delivery fended by government entities;
• Staff of nonprofit organizations were spending an extraordinary amount of time on fundraising and a rapidly decreasing amount of time on organizing;
• There was a dreadful competition among groups for fundraising and less cooperation in working together;
• There was a loss of political force and commitment to movement building;
• Very few organizations seemed to have an active membership base committed to organizing for change.
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admin January 30th, 2008
Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism is now available.
Download: Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism
admin January 30th, 2008
From Welfare Queens to Gay Marriage: the Path to Compulsory Heterosexual Marriage?
A major icon of the Reagan era was the welfare queen, developed carefully in the media by conservative leaders to evoke taxpayer disgust and resentment. This icon was female, Black, unmarried, drove a Cadillac, and had gangs of children whose very existence brought her great financial benefits from the government.
A major icon of the 21st Century is the gay couple, developed carefully in the media by gay leaders to evoke sympathy and compassion. This couple is male/male or female/female, white, wants a wedding, drives a Subaru, and seeks benefits from the government. Both stand historically at the center of a swirling, culture-changing controversy about morals, values, money and power.
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admin January 5th, 2008
A few weeks ago, I got a last-minute call to do “something” for Race Equality Week at the University of Tennessee. I agreed to conduct a one-hour open discussion about the Jena, Louisiana, racial conflict and its layers of meaning.
Here’s a brief recap. First, I read the students a chronology of events:
8/31/06 In an assembly, a black student asked if he could sit under the single shade tree that white students always sat under.
9/1/06 Three nooses were hung from the tree. The Principal wanted to expel the responsible students but the Superintendent overrode his decision.
9/6/06 The District Attorney (Walters) was invited to a school assembly. Black students reported that he was looking at them when he said, “With a stroke of a pen, I can make life miserable or I can ruin your life.”
9/10/06 Black students asked to address the school board but were denied.
11/20/06 There was arson of a school building.
12/1/06 There was a private party at the Jena Fair Barn; a few black students tried to enter and a fight broke out.
12/4/06 A white student (Barker) was beaten by black students and sustained injuries. He attended his school’s ring ceremony that night.
8/31/07 The school cut the tree down.
11/20/07 The New York Times reported that over 10,000 people marched for civil rights in Jena.
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