[Peace-discuss] Observations on Anti-War Anti Racism

[Ricky Baldwin]

I have to say first that I haven't read the earlier comments on this thread, only what
Marti includes below.

I also want to say that I have been very impressed by the work that CUCPJ has done,
have participated when I could, and in particular I think one very valuable aspect of
the group is its multi-ethnic makeup - which in my experience is rare in almost any
community, and something to be proud of.  We can speculate about the reasons for it -
incl. local issues, the leadership, the openness, or other things - but in any event it
is a great thing.  I also think it is great that CU Citz has "peace" as a goal and part
of its name.  AWARE also has "anti-racism" as a goal and part of its name.  The
organizations have different focuses, which I do not see as a problem in itself,
although I assume it has some impact on membership/participation.

Next, I have to point out that AWARE's lack of ethnic diversity has been discussed in
meetings, working groups and around town almost from the beginning 6-1/2 years ago now,
and some of us in AWARE have made several attempts to address the issue.  All seem to
have failed for one reason or another.  I don't pretend to have all the answers.  But I
can point out a few of the turns in that history.

Others may correct my memory, but as I recall AWARE had a little more ethnic diversity
at one time, when meetings were more of a loose response to international events. 
AWARE was a bit different then.  We met at the Campus Y for a long time, and meetings
often included music or puppet shows, all kinds of things.  You might say they more of
a "mass meeting" feel, and in fact they were bigger.  There were not nearly so many
projects going on at that time.  When we protested, passersby were most often hostile,
swearing or even throwing things, threatening.  Anyway...

As time went on, fewer people attended meetings, most of them as far as I know not
necessarily out of disinterest but prefering to focus on other issues or do peace work
in other venues.  I don't say there has been a continual drop.  There hasn't.  But the
usual meetings, pretty stable for a few years now, have been smaller than before,
that's all.  Maybe that's natural, maybe a result of the lack of going out and beating
the bushes for more attendees at meetings (i.e. "organizing", as opposed to simply
announcing events far and wide and enjoying the fact of growing agreement in the
public).  Maybe it's a reflection on structure, or personalities, or other factors, but
it has occurred.  And unfortunately at the same time, I think the group has become less
diverse, in terms of opinion and ethnicity and other demographics, whatever the cause.

I know that many times over the years, African Americans and Arab or Muslim Americans
have attended AWARE protests or meetings but have seldom 'stayed' longterm, and have
sometimes complained that they felt unwelcome, or unhappy with the focus of the group. 
Others have moved away, or become more involved in other efforts, sometimes together
with AWARE members.  There has also been a lot of speculation about the motivations of
people in general who do not attend AWARE meetings, most of it I believe not based on
much evidence.  I ough to point out here that meetings are not all AWARE does, and our
monthly protests have always been more diverse (ethnically, opinion-wise, etc.) than
our meetings.

I know of at least two working groups that have attempted to explicitly address the
issue of AWARE's lack of ethnic diversity.  Currently there is an "anti-racism" working
group that reports back, I believe, mostly on solidarity work with other groups like
CUCPJ.  I know that a couple of times AWARE has cleared a big space on its agenda to
focus on race and the anti-war movement: a long discussion with David R. and Sundiata
C. from the Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, another with Imani.  Someone
can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe I recall most of those dicussions ended
with a general impression or specific 'advice' that there wasn't much a group like
AWARE could do to change its ethnic makeup - and maybe even that it shouldn't try:
maybe solidarity and participating in the work of groups led by people of color (I'm
paraphrasing) is more important than trying to "recruit" people of color into our
agenda.  Maybe that's right, maybe it's wrong, but that is my recollection of these
discussions.

In addition to these kinds of explicit efforts regarding diversity, though, I also know
that AWARE has discussed what anti-racism means for a group like AWARE many times. 
Anti-Arab and particularly anti-Palestinian racism, in the US media or in Israel, has
been a more frequent topic than prejudice against African Americans or Latinos -
although "institutional racism" does come up from time to time in the context of the
economy, as well as immigration issues.  But most of AWARE's work on racism (as a
group) has been international, in my experience: anti-Arab racism I mentioned in
relation to US wars or Israeli occupation, anti-black racism in relation to US
treatment of Haiti and Haitians (we held a panel discussion on US support of bloody
dictators and undermining democracy, not to mention near-slave labor, in Haiti, and a
couple other efforts).  

On the other hand, although I know we talked in AWARE about the media racism in
relation to the Congo Wars, in Somalia and elsewhere in Africa where the US relies on
prejudice to conceal or justify its brutality, efforts to set up more public
discussions on thee issues didn't work out.  In addition, disagreements with other
activists dealing with the mass murders in the Sudan didn't, I feel, lead to clarity or
to any sort of public impression that AWARE cares about racism - even though it may
have been an opportunity to do so.  I do not know.

I do know that several times AWARE has tried to show its support for local groups or
efforts more explicitly related to racism: participating in the Unity March(es), the
CUCPJ event on felons a few years back, buying ads in MLK Jr Day programs and attending
those events - even leafleting at a few with Dr King's anti-war words, reaching out to
the NAACP (incl. sending representatives to meetings, buying ads in their annual dinner
program, attending the dinner, getting involved in efforts to help the NAACP get back
on its feet, NAACP elections and other things), supporting and participating in efforts
to get a civilian police review board in Urbana and Champaign, knocking on doors for
Champaign's anti-poverty referendum, supporting Linda Abernathy and opposing
anti-section 8 moves in Champaign, cosponsoring events at the mosque or with CUCPJ. 
Many of us have given money to Patrick Thompson's defence and participated in events
around his case or worked on it with CUCPJ.  And I'm sure others can think of more.

Maybe this was not enough.  Some of us might argue it is never enough until justice is
done.  I personally would have liked to see AWARE be more public about its
participation in some of these efforts, give money as an organization to Patrick's
defence, for example.  But some might also argue that AWARE often gets little or no
credit for what anti-racist efforts it does make.  It is true that AWARE gets more
attention for demonstrating at Obama's talk, for example.  But perhaps more importantly
there is a diversity of views within AWARE about how significant race is or ought to
be, politically.  This turns off some people, sometimes because I think they believe
the people speaking up most loudly are the "leaders" or that their views represent the
group, which isn't necessarily so.  Maybe we could do more to clarify that.

And if I could just make a couple more quick observations, in general I think there are
many barriers to organizing across 'ethnic lines' as well as other differences.  Some
are familiar.  A lot of people who have made 'diversity' efforts over the decades have
noticed that religion is sometimes a barrier: many white leftists are not religious,
many people of color who are active in causes of social justice are motivated by
religion.  There are other cultural barriers: if you want music at an event, what kind?
 Etc.  I never know how much stock to put in such observations, or in suggestions about
meeting place.  My experience is that it makes little difference.  

It has been noted many times, and I would go so far as to say no one really knows why
it is, that truly multi-ethnic efforts tend to be led by people of color and people of
color are usually the majority in these groups.  I know that I have been fortunate and
proud to be a participant in three serious efforts that were truly multi-ethnic - in
three different states - and all three were black-led and majority black (not including
one of the units of SEIU I used to work for as staff rep and community groups I helped
organize when I worked for ACORN that were also black-led and majority black).  Others,
at least in my experience, tend to be all white or nearly so, with white leadership
(formal and/or informal).  That is anecdotal, but I have heard longtime organizers I
respect a great deal notice the same.

Again, I do not pretend to know the answers.  I do think the discussion is worth
having, in fact very important.  But I also know that talk is cheap.  I know in my
heart I haven't done enough, and I stand ready to do more, as much as I can, as my
conscience and my reason guide me.  Let us see what we can do together.

Sincerely,
Ricky
328-3037


--- Marti Wilkinson <martiwilki at gmail.com> wrote:

> Below is part of a thread where I responded to feedback regarding
> criticism's I made about AWARE.
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Marti Wilkinson <martiwilki at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 at 10:41 PM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Fwd: [ExComm] Fwd: News-Gazette
> coverage
> To: "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel at uiuc.edu>
> 
> 
> Actually the reason why I made these observations is through having attended
> a few AWARE meetings - hence my 'valid' description of the demographics.
> I've also participated in some of the local protests with AWARE.  The last
> time I attended an AWARE meeting I actually made the suggestion that maybe
> the organization might want to consider moving beyond the boundaries of the
> Farmers Market and Downtown Champaign.  I suggested places like Country Fair
> and Centennial Park to broaden the base. I'm even willing to suggest that
> AWARE can schedule meetings at the Douglass Park Center or have a protest at
> Garden Hills park.
> 
> CUCPJ has a pretty even attendance across racial lines and one of the goals
> of this organization includes the word 'peace'.  Peace is a basic human
> right, it's a civil right, and the people who are most likely to be sent to
> war are also the ones who lack political and social capitol. This includes
> poor whites like my three uncles who ended up being drafted and sent to
> Vietnam.
> 
> Now while the lack of an 'official' leader may have a democratizing effect -
> it can also have a disorganizing effect. Anytime you get a group of people
> together someone is going to assume a leadership role - for some it comes
> naturally and organization is an important and vital part of seeing to it
> that everyone's voice gets heard. Regardless of the structure of a group -
> one of the inevitable things that will happen is group dynamics and the need
> to manage those tensions as they occur.
> 
> I see AWARE as a peace group with a lot of potential. I do not, however, see
> it as an anti-racist group because of the physical lack of diversity. If you
> want a loaf of bread to rise....then you need to add yeast.
> 
> Peace, Marti
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 9:30 PM, Morton K. Brussel <brussel at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> 
> >  I believe, Marti, that you are not talking from experience in attending
> > AWARE activities. Yes, the demographics you ascribe to AWARE "membership"
> > are valid, but you seem unaware of efforts by AWARE to include minority,
> > African-American, viewpoints and to engage in common pursuits and interests.
> > It seems that unless an organization is mostly populated by
> > African-Americans, there will not be a sustained attendance by the latter.
> > It may be due to class (economic) differences, cultural differences,
> > religious differences, educational differences, historical differences,
> > etc., but it is a general problem to blend smoothly the
> > interests/participation of blacks and whites.  It seems that among
> > African-Americans, grosso-modo, that racial problems/conditions/interests
> > are foremost, above those of foreign affairs or (even) civil rights, and
> > that concern is not reflected in an organization like AWARE, where race is
> > very important, but not dominant. As you imply, the matter
> > of comfortability with ones cohort is essential.
> > Some thoughts,  --mkb
> >
> > On May 1, 2008, at 4:39 PM, Marti Wilkinson wrote:
> >
> > AWARE has no "leadership" positions
> >
> > I stand corrected - however in any organization there are going to be
> > people who stand out as natural leaders and this may be where the criticisms
> > you are addressing is derived from.
> >
> > However, it's an observation that most of the individuals I have seen at
> > AWARE meetings are predominately white and middle class. While there are a
> > few individuals who attend both AWARE and CU Citizens for Peace and Justice
> > the general demographics of AWARE doesn't have a strong minority presence.
> > At least not in what I have observed. In order for an organization like
> > AWARE to be more effective in addressing issues of racism and defamation the
> > group needs to have a more diverse representation of people at their
> > meetings.  Just saying that 'everyone is welcome to come' is not good
> > enough.  Some of the literature I've read regarding critical race theory and
> > social justice movements supports that. In particular writers like Thomas
> > Nakayama, Stuart Hall, Raka Shome, and other individuals have made some very
> > astute observations on this issue.
> >
> > We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
> >  Martin Luther King, Jr.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 4:04 PM, Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > >minorities really
> > > >   have not been invited to be part of the leadership
> > > >   of the peace movement.
> > >
> > > I'm not at all sure what you mean by leadership. AWARE has no
> > > "leadership" positions.
> > >
> > > And no, Carl is not our "leader" as Bob Naiman seemed to indicate in a
> > > post about a month ago.
> > >
> > > -karen medina
> > > a white, middle class, overly educated, middle-aged female with nothing
> > > better to do on Sunday evenings.
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> 



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