Thread by @Cajsa

One of the reasons so many fight the wrong battles is they don't know that you make progress on problems by fighting for issues.

In organizing terms, racism is a problem. It is large, intractable, and unwinnable. Fighting to eliminate racism inevitably prompts the question-how?

https://twitter.com/1StrongBlack1/status/1370429991721136128

Hillary addressed this with honesty that was harshly criticized, particularly on the performative left when she told BLM activist Julius Jones that you don't change hearts and minds, you change legislation.
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

How do you address systemic racism? By changing the systems that enforce it. That means identifying issues on which you can focus your demand. This is not just legislation, though. Systemic racism is not just a legal form of oppression, it is social, cultural, & economic

But if you gather a group of people who want to end racism, you can't just lay out a plan to do that. That is why racism is a problem, it's hard to come up with a solution. It's bigger than a committee can address in any meaningful way. Issues have solutions, problems don't.

Here's a more official explanation.
educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/commun…

Now, there used a be a "Choosing an Issue" matrix from Midwest Academy that had 5 questions to ask when choosing an issue.

1. Does it result in real improvement in people's lives?
2. Is it deeply felt?
3. Does it build the organization?
4. Is it winnable?
5. Does it alter the balance of power?

We didn't think that was good enough

So we added another consideration:

6. Does it include a racial justice framework?

Because while we can't solve racism, we can change the systems that enable it issue by issue by issue.

And really, nearly every issue has a racial justice framework when you work at seeing through an anti-racist lens. And the cultural, social, political, and economic underpinnings of racism are everywhere.

They can be nearly invisible. Historically, the police have been predominantly white even in communities with large populations of Black, Latino, and Asian populations? Why?

Well, obviously white people tend to hire white people, but there were invisible impediments, too. Take the ban on facial hair. That discourages Black men who get pseudofolliculitis from shaving from even applying. That ban has been lifted in most departments now.

The ban on tattoos discourages people from cultures that value body art such as many Pacific Islanders, Japanese-Americans, and Latinos from applying. Bizarrely, the Honolulu CoP banned visible tattoos.

npr.org/sections/codes…

I mean, these are things that create barriers to participation that people do not even think of until the effect is already systemic and enculturated. They come about by defining white as default and professional. But I doubt anyone thought a ban on beards will keep out Black men

It just did...and made a systemic barrier that needed to be removed. I focused on these two things because they really are so small and seemingly incidental, yet still created a systemic barrier with decades of consequences.

Now say you have a small committee determined to address racism. You could go around wearing "Erase Racism" tees every day of your life and accomplish less than identifying an issue that has a systemic effect and working to solve that issue. I bet 5 people working together could

change a local police force dress code to be culturally inclusive, allowing tattoos, beards, head coverings, and so on.

Or another issue, policing killing people. Research shows that the most effective way to get the police to stop killing people is to tell them to stop through their Use of Force policy. Could 20 people organize a campaign to change your local UoF policy?
useofforceproject.org

And how many people working together could pressure a local school board to get rid of racist textbooks?

How many people working together would it take to get your state to not use the Texas-approved school books in your state?

How many people would it take to pressure local hospitals to hire more BIPOC staff?

How much effort would it take to get people to post comments on rule-making for state and federal police?

This is why I have done long threads such as this one on systemic changes that could reduce racism in education.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Cajsa/status/1340439424241319936

and this one on anti-racist policy ideas for healthcare

https://mobile.twitter.com/Cajsa/status/1332783187194470402

I believe if we think of racism as the aggregate effect of thousands of cultural, economic, social, political, and legal policies and decisions, then it becomes something we can tackle.

And yes, the whole of racism is greater than the sum of its parts, but take away the structural underpinning that maintains white hegemony, and the foundations of racism begin to crumble.

p.s. We need a policy clearinghouse that collects good anti-racist state and local policies already written out and sharable so they can be promulgated everywhere.

Here's a thread on lack of diversity in lawyers and judges. What are some policy changes that could improve that?

They might include law school outreach to HBCUs, mentoring in high school, I am spitballing...

https://mobile.twitter.com/SpinningBy/status/1370482141293842434