This is a moment of reckoning for (historically white) social justice nonprofits. Will they listen?
With police rioting in cities across the United States in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and more, we are in a moment that the United States has not seen in over a generation. Black people across the country are currently fighting a battle on two fronts: against a virus that is disproportionately killing Black people and against a system of white supremacist state-sanctioned violence targeting Black people.
As explained ad nauseam, the nonprofit industry is steeped in white supremacy. Social justice nonprofits have long played roles as dual agents propping up the system while purporting to fight for justice for Black people long abused by that same system. Worse yet, many nonprofits — via their (largely white) leadership — have failed to recognize this fundamental hypocrisy. While this conundrum will not be resolved overnight, this is a moment of reckoning for social justice nonprofits to clarify their role in history and the struggle against racism and white supremacy.
For many social justice nonprofits, doing the work to dismantle white supremacist systems must start from within. That aside, here are a few places to start in this moment:
· Don’t make statements that omit words such as racism and white supremacy, and which do not include tangible action. Frankly, platitudes are not helpful. Now is the time to walk the walk to back up all the talking that many organizations have been doing for so long. If in this moment you are not able to speak truth to power, and to wield that power in action towards justice, what exactly are you doing?
· Realign your priorities to that of (the moment and) the movement. Social justice nonprofits often vaguely position their work as being in service of “the movement.” The specific movement in reference is not usually defined, nor are many organizations in partnership with people and communities directly involved in any movement or at the center of the issues they wish to solve. These nonprofits need to go beyond words and begin to change to actually do things differently. This means clearly identifying which movement and aligning your work in a principled way that that movement deems helpful. It also means not just naming racism and white supremacy, but actively working to dismantle racist and white supremacist structures. To this end, this is a critical time for organizations to assess whether the work they do is aligned with the outcomes they intend to achieve. Where there is daylight, there must be realignment.
· Take care of your people. This may look different for every organization, but many staff on the front lines have likely been deep in this fight out of the office — and out of the spotlight — protesting, coordinating mutual aid initiatives, serving as legal observers, or otherwise taking action. Many staff live in communities that are currently occupied by militarized police and National Guard. Mondays are hard enough, but especially so in this moment. Take stock of what your team needs to recharge and be effective long term. This may mean supporting their outside endeavors with your presence or granting funds to their causes. It may mean “closing” for a period of time. After all, self-care shouldn’t mean everything but a paid day off.
Remember, allyship is an action. And in this fight, we need more co-conspirators and fewer witnesses. And that includes allyship by social justice nonprofits.
