Thread by @vpillar

Good morning! Back in the house for #FacingRace day 3 of 3! Soyinka Rahim got us on our feet with song, dance, and love. (Pretty sure I was dancing next to her at Camille Sledge yesterday! Amazing joyful energy; looking forward to her workshop later.)

Felipa Lerma, Arizona native, performed a powerful experimental dance + spoken word piece, en Español, about women's oppression and survival, specifically with a story about her mother working as a child. #FacingRace

Keynote time! Judith Brown Dianis of Advancement Project is interviewing scholar Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. They've each introduced themselves as "just a kid from Queens" and shared what high schools they went to (Jamaica and John Bowne, respectively). #FacingRace

(Let's be clear--both are extremely accomplished professionals!)

Dr. Kendi begins with definitions of racist and antiracist, explaining that someone can be both at once (e.g. demanding immediate end to chattel slavery while viewing Black people as "brutes.") #FacingRace

*Judith Browne Dianis; apologies for misspelling!

Dianis asked Kendi who the audience of his work was, and he unequivocally answered: it's Black people. Cheers through the crowd. #FacingRace

Dianis is describing the moment a few years ago when suddenly everyone wanted to be an antiracist, donated to orgs, started DEI w/o knowing what it is--and it's fallen off. "Is there a way to get back to that? It should not take the blood of Black people to do so." #FacingRace

Kendi says that in June 2020, a survey found that 76% of Americans said that racism exists and it's a big problem. In 2016, 68% of Americans said so. So: the moment after Breonna Taylor and George Floyd's murders really built on YEARS of work. #FacingRace

He points out that American history has really revolved around Black death (among other things).

With distance, we can see the institutional backlash to previous Black power movements; he names COINTELPRO. Someday we'll have that perspective on this moment.

#FacingRace

Dianis asks about the effects of DEI programs. Kendi says anecdotally, most of the $$$ went to things like financial literacy programs. These programs put the blame on BIPOC, uphold existing structures, and compete with Black-led transformative orgs for funds. #FacingRace

Dianis on the imminent POC majority in America: we can call it the browning of America, or a rising majority, but others call it the great replacement theory. How do BIPOC unapologetically grow into the majority in the face of GRT backlash? #FacingRace

Kendi opines--to loud cheers--that racist white anxiety isn't about fear of the coming majority, it's about resentment/hatred/anger for Black people who are in their faces, thriving right now. #FacingRace

As often, the answer comes back to organizing with each other, and living our* fullest lives unapologetically. And, understanding that this is also what causes violence even as it builds power. #FacingRace

*his words; I'm white and fit into this part differently if at all.

CW: cancer

Biggest applause yet for Kendi being 4 years out from stage 4 colon cancer!

His point: like metastatic cancer, racism can be beaten, but it can come back at any time. We know a just workd is possible, but we don't assume that this world can't come back. #FacingRace

Breakout session 3! I'm at "What if Philanthropy were Community-Centered?" with folks from if, a Foundation for Radical Possibility @if_fdn . Asking: what if funding institutions center those at the sharpest intersection of marginalizations? #FacingRace

Board member Tanya Edelin describes pivotal votes on the board: taking "in perpetuity" off the table, participatory grantmaking, and $10k stipends for board members who need it--so those most affected can participate in making decisions. #FacingRace

Board member Tony Burns shares that he's one of those community members who got 10k to serve! He got involved via Foundation Learning Days at Howard University, where if educated community members on how philanthropy works, where the money comes from, etc. #FacingRace

At an early nonprofit board event, everyone was "suited and booted" and Tony felt out of place. The man who became his mentor came up to Tony to check in on him, and unequivocally affirmed that Tony DID belong there. Pivotal moment of empathy and inclusion. #FacingRace

Temi Bennett, policy director, on racial equity vs racial justice: justice requires grappling with history and understanding that reparations are owed. if committed to racial justice and made a strategic plan around it--took ten months to rebrand but they were all in. #FacingRace

Some nitty-gritty: to keep 501c3 status, you have to spent 5% of your endowment yearly on charitable causes. But you also typically need to exist "in perpetuity", meaning you can't spend too much or the endowment dwindles away. #FacingRace

if was spending ~8% due to community need, shrinking their endowment. So they removed "in perpetuity" from the bylaws! They aren't intentionally spending down their $$ (via various income sources)--but now if they need to, they can. #FacingRace

Community-driven decision-making is iterative, because community is varied and diverse. Since switching to the participatory grantmaking model a couple years ago, the projects if funds have completely changed. Ex: learning that a dance studio is a health service! #FacingRace

Responding to a question about donor-advised funds, Bennett says they don't do that. "If we get a corporate donation, we use it to fund the work we are doing--we don't let it change who we are...We're not trying to change where we're ceding power and giving power." #FacingRace

Someone asked how they decided who was a "community member" and how they chose $10k. They did a retreat to tangle with this. All self-identified as members of a community! But for the stipend they require recent lived experience with poverty, wage theft, or similar. #FacingRace

(Side note: the question of paying stipends to members of any county advisory boards came up recently so I'm all ears on this.)

About restricted funds: 99% of their grants are unrestricted! They require minimal reporting from the grantees; it's mostly relationship based. "Evaluation is about policing," Barrett says. What if we led with love and created an ongoing feedback culture? #FacingRace

An attendee asks about how to deal with well-meaning funders with misguided priorities. They describe funders wanting to fund healing, but not fund ending mass incarceration. "Healing felt good, but it didn't stop the fact that we have to continuously heal from harm." #FacingRace

Part of Bennett's answer is a new movement called Abundance: a group of big funders, including MacArthur Foundation, aiming to address the giving gap to Black-led orgs via an education space for funding orgs trying to keep their equity promises. #FacingRace

Someone else asked about supporting orgs to create their own endowments. Capitalism isn't set up to do this, so if is trying to get creative, but they're struggling.

Right now their investing is socially responsible but not yet where they want it to be. #FacingRace

Someone offered a provocative analogy in the report-back from group discussion: "The foundations are the pimps, the non-profits are the prostitutes, and those accessing funding are the johns. So how do we make white people see their role in all this?" #FacingRace

Catching the tail end of Everytown for Gun Safety's presentation. "Just because you are poor does not mean you are violent. Just because you are Black does not mean you are violent...But when you are traumatized by violence, that festers." #FacingRace

They're discussing how community-based violence intervention (CBVI) actually works, because it's directed by people who know where and why the violence arises. #FacingRace

Final breakout room! I'm at "Co-Creating Safety in Community" with folks from the Pretrial Justice Institute. This one's extra interactive! We began with a partner word-guessing game; some included words were oppression, thrive, isolation, retribution, well-being. #FacingRace

Deeply rich conversation about public safety, crime, oppression, and reaction to various photos around the room. A dog park made someone think about how dogs have more access than Black people in many settings. #FacingRace

A photo of a lake surrounded by trees and buildings made me think "how nice" but group reactions were mixed: peaceful, bougie, whose land is this, checking a box, kids unsafe around water, etc. A gov't building evoked colonialism, loss, public but not inviting. #FacingRace

On whether punishment leads to safety: "Punishment without rehabilitation is torture." "Accountability to the community vs. punishment by the state." "When were talking about public safety we don't include folks who have offended." #FacingRace

On whether there's a difference between public safety & the absence of crime: yes. Rich discussion here on how/whether each concept (crime, safety) is tied to harm, whether we are building a positive vision or eradicating something, and who defines public safety... #FacingRace

Right now public safety gets defined as a reduction in crime, by the same powers that define crime. It's not defined by the public, esp Black and brown communities. Also: some crimes increase safety (e.g. hungry person stealing food from Walmart). #FacingRace

One person who works with faith leaders says she hears that evil thrives in darkness. She asks: "Is it a crime to create situations of darkness? And if so, who is responsible for that?" #FacingRace

The @Pretrial facilitators then asked us to spend time making art about our vision of safety, without overthinking it 🙂 Here's mine! #FacingRace

Final panel! As we wrap up #FacingRace 2022, organizers ask for $$ contributions to keep the @RaceForward work going--they just hit the goal but can always use more! Text FR22 to 44-321 or click here to donate: secure.givelively.org/donate/race-fo…

Race Forward staff make up the panel this time, discussing where we go from here. Eric Ward: "Malcolm X never struggled or died so we could be like Malcolm X. Malcolm X struggled so we could self-actualize." #FacingRace

Faron McLurkin calls on us to look beyond America to other parts of the world and learn from them. In places with different kinds of wins, how did movements become a government? #FacingRace

Dr. Charlene Sinclair shares takeaways from the conference:
1) Love and rigor
2) Engage in joyful struggle
3) Love once again. "If we do not love one another enough to fight for our collective self-determination, then we will betray each other." #FacingRace

Kerry Mitchell Brown adds the importance of having a clear political analysis, grounded in historical experience, as we move forward. #FacingRace

Julie Nelson adds a reminder of the call to #ActionForRacialJustice. The conference is amazing but we have to carry the action forward! #FacingRace

Mid-con adaptation success: they announced the next performance before the panelists got offstage, so attendees didn't leave early! Primavera Folklorico just performed some fantastic dances. #FacingRace

Aaaaaand that's a wrap. Huge thanks to @RaceForward and everyone involved for a fantastic #FacingRace! Feeling very lucky to be here and excited to bring learnings home to Tompkins County. #FacingRace

A few of my takeaways:
- you have to build human-to-human, ongoing relationships to get any justice work done.
- there's no blueprint for cogovernance. Go to where the community already is, listen, build, and iterate.
- how things feel in your body matters.
#FacingRace

- instead of encouraging BIPOC and/or highly marginalized folks to participate in dominant systems, go to where they already are and iteratively build systems that work for them.
- nothing happens without sustained organizing.

Now time for tacos and rest 🙂

#FacingRace

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