You're a listener of this show, so you’re already paying attention and you understand what the country is facing under a Trump administration. But if you've never taken the next step to get involved in activism in the past, we want to remind you today that you, of all people, at all the times in history - ESPECIALLY if you are white - have no excuse not to take action today.
You cannot rely on the people who already consider themselves activists or the people who will be targeted to get in the streets, stand up for themselves and those under attack and fight Trump and his followers for the next four years. If you do, you will be complicit in America's downfall. Because it doesn't matter anymore if you voted for Bernie, Hillary, Johnson or Stein. We all lost on November 8th - even Trump voters. They just don't know it yet. And that's just the sick reality of it.
In less than 70 days, Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States. But as you've heard today, his impact is already being felt. So what are you going to do? Here’s a better question - how will you be part of changing our culture so this can’t happen again?
Your first step is to go to ShowingUpforRacialJustice.org. Also known as SURJ, Showing Up for Racial Justice is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ Action moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. Their focus is inviting in those who are simply uneducated about racism instead of spending time calling out those ill informed people when they misstep.
White people elected Trump. So to write them off in our resistance movement would be absurd. We want the “moveable white middle” to join us. We want them to see the mutual benefits of equality for all races, genders, religions and abilities. That means engaging in a conversation with them and inviting them to join us in standing up for people of color, the LGBTIA+ community, immigrants, refugees, the disabled and women with mass demonstrations across the country.
As civil rights activist Anne Braden once said...
“The battle is and always has been a battle for the hearts and minds of white people in this country...We need to become involved with it as if our lives depended on it because really, in truth, they do.”
On the SURJ Action website, you can get resources on organizing, find a SURJ chapter in your community or start one, and sign up for in person or on the phone direct action and organizing trainings. Right now, many SURJ chapters across the country are currently offering direct action trainings in their communities and the national office is offering training conference calls into December.
SURJ is about educating those who are new to activism. So if this is your first time, don’t be nervous - they want you to be prepared. Because when activists are prepared and organized, they are effective. And that has never been more important.
So if resisting racism, fascism and authoritarianism is important to you, then be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Getting Trained for the Resistance by Showing Up for Racial Justice via social media so that others in your network can take action too.
So stand up. Fight back. There is no time to lose.
TAKE ACTION
Find a SURJ chapter near you (or start one)
Sign up for SURJ national training conference calls
Sign up to volunteer with SURJ
Find a SURJ action near you or post your own
EDUCATE YOURSELF
White People Elected Trump. Now What?
Finding Common Ground with Trump Supporters in Buffalo
Posted November 18, 2016; Written by BOTL Communication Director, Amanda Hoffman.
Hear the clip in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1059: "Hatred Unleashed"
