Why do WWRJ and SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) do activities that encourage white people to work with other white people? Doesn’t that perpetuate racism & divisiveness?
WWRJ bases our method on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) approach that yes, we need multi-racial teams and coalitions working to address racism and we also specifically need white people working with other white people. There are several reasons including (but not limited to):
Sometimes it literally may not be safe for people of color to be organizing in certain situations, regions, etc.
People of color are tired of continually teaching white people about racism, doing that emotional labor -- one example shared here. There are many other examples as well -- do a Google search.
People of color should not need to sit through us processing our own racism and white fragility (ie white people debating/defending/rationalizing our racism) and/or looking for people of color to validate that we're not racist.
The white people in our team have been asked to do our own work on our own white supremacy and racism so when we DO come together with multi-racial teams and coalitions, we (hopefully) bring less of our implicit bias and internalized superiority into collective organizing.
It's also important that white people be able to articulate how racism damages us as white people -- not solely focusing on how it hurts people of color, but also how it privileges those of us who are white and enforces the ideology of white supremacy. This is a piece that is often missed in conversations about race and racism.
SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) is a national movement that began in 2009 in conjunction with other racial justice efforts, and the local Forest Grove chapter began in November 2016. WWRJ members who are white are still part of the national network of SURJ groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people in particular to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change. If SURJ is new to you, please be sure to read about the overall history and vision here on the SURJ national website.