Baltimore Racial Action Justice (BRJA) was founded in 2003, but had its roots in the Agents of Change workshops that began in 1996. BRJA is a network of Maryland professionals who understand the interconnectedness of different types of oppression and are committed to the transformation of systems to achieve social and economic equity, with an emphasis on racial equity. The original members, both white and Afrikan Descendent, committed to being an organization focused on action, agreed that action would be grounded in a collective analysis of institutional racism, and that the white members would take the lead when taking action and assuming risk. Those members became the original Advisory Board which is now expanding to become multi-racial.
One of BRJA’s guiding principles is that white people and people of color have different connections to the impact of racism and the work of dismantling it. Therefore, auxiliary groups were formed, one for white members only and one for members of color only, for the purpose of educating new members without disrupting the level of trust and cohesiveness in the original group.
BRJA is a Program of Fusion Partnerships, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. For more information on Fusion Partnerships, visit their website at www.fusionpartnerships.wordpress.com/
BRJA has received partial funding from the Maryland Humanities Council, the Research Associates Foundation and the Koinonia Foundation.
STUBBORN OUNCES
(To One Who Doubts the Worth of Doing Anything If You Can't Do Everything)
You say the little efforts that I make
will do no good; they will never prevail
to tip the hovering scale
where Justice hangs in balance.
I don't think
I ever thought they would.
But I am prejudiced beyond debate
In favor of my right to choose which side
shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.
Bonaro W. Overstreet, Hands Laid Upon the Wind (New York: Norton, 1955) p. 15 as quoted in Allan G. Johnson, Privilege, Power and Difference, 2nd Ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill) 2006
