The YWCA Evanston/North Shore’s Equity Institute hosted “Unite Against Racism: Practicing Solidarity and Imagining New Futures” in a packed Fleetwood-Jourdain Center Wednesday evening, with greater than 175 visitors available to debate cultivating solidarity, collaboration and overcoming boundaries.
Jessica Vazquez Torres, nationwide program director of Crossroads Antiracism and Wednesday’s panel moderator, stated the goal of the dialogue was for visitors to “walk away with a deeper understanding of what accountable solidarity looks and why it’s necessary.”
“That is absolutely a necessary piece of knowledge we need to have in our head if we desire to imagine futures in which all of us can live with dignity,” she stated.
YWCA Evanston/North Shore has hosted an annual public demonstration and comply with-up dialogue since 2010 throughout what was beforehand referred to as “Stand Against Racism.” This 12 months, the group rebranded the occasion as “Unite Against Racism,” a single academic gathering “that provides a framework and tools to grapple with how organizations can act in solidarity with the communities with whom they work.”
Accountable solidarity, for many who are white, will look completely different than it does for folks of colour, in response to Torres.
“And how do we think about the complexities of that?” she requested the viewers. “How do we not talk about solidarity without talking about power in the midst of that solidarity?”
But earlier than Torres might speak about solidarity, she talked about what she sees as key components of historical past which might be vital for folks to know inside the context of this broader dialog.
“It is impossible in the United States, given its history, a history of settler colonialism, of indigenous genocide, of ethnic cleansing, of displacement, of chattel slavery, of Jim Crow laws, of xenophobia, to talk about solidarity without talking about race and racism and its impact on everyday life,” Torres stated. “So we are going to talk about race and racism.”
On Wednesday, Torres was in dialog with Tanya Watkins, government director of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Shawna Bowman, pastor of Friendship Presbyterian Church, and Xavier Ramey, chief government officer of Justice Informed.
When Torres requested the panel the cause why they received concerned in the work they do, Watkins, who was the first to introduce herself, didn’t hesitate.
“The reason why I’m committed to this work is because I’m Black,” Watkins stated. “I’ve been Black my whole life. So that is what grounds me.”
Watkins added that she has labored exhausting to be “deeply in touch with my humanity.” She additionally talked about how harmful and pervasive white supremacy might be.
“I think that white supremacy is a disease that starts with an idea that becomes destructive and violent when it’s not checked,” Watkins stated.
Bowman, who makes use of they/them pronouns, agreed with Watkins’ stance on white supremacy and added that they’re pushed by two issues.
“I’m aware that we are able, as human beings, to create absolutely gorgeous spaces of collaboration and connection and power for the good of the universe,” Bowman stated. “And we are simultaneously, desperately also good at disconnecting and destruction and creating spaces of deep harm and brokenness. And I, with every cell of my being, want to move closer and closer and closer to the creation of what is beauty and good for all of us collectively.”
Bowman added that they wish to deal with what they name “the poverty of whiteness.” That, they stated, is what drives them.
“There is a deep poverty in an identity that has an origin in being an oppressive force,” Bowman stated. “How do we reckon with that? How do I reckon with that and not just for the sake of my communities and [communities] of people of color, but for my own sake?”
Ramey, who comes from three generations of neighborhood organizers in Chicago, carries the legacy of those that got here earlier than him.
“I was born into this work,” Ramey stated, “because America destined it.”
Accountable solidarity, Ramey stated, is an “internal commitment rather than materialized thing that is some sort of a currency.”
“I think of it as a very individual commitment,” he stated. “I say that as a result of the actuality of our humanity requires that we perceive that free company and alternative is a prerequisite of life.
“And what I mean by that with solidarity is that people can choose to be with you and they can choose not to.”
Ramey added that solidarity is much less of a fabric factor and extra of a conditional disposition “that I pray for in the hearts of people who aren’t like me.”