Shared Liberation 

 

In this talk David shares tools for unlocking white Americans' resistance to engagement with the topic of race. He also offers a framework for solidarity-based organizing that can help activists bring together the diverse constituencies our social movements need to win.

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David illustrates how white supremacy is a system designed not only to oppress people of color, but to also prevent the rise of cross-racial working class movements against corporate power. One after another, newly arriving European immigrant groups were socialized to replace their freedom-seeking political traditions and ethnic identities with hostility toward their black and brown neighbors. In our current era, history repeats itself as corporate politicians gain power by telling white voters that people of color are threats to their safety and economic security. Once elected, these leaders not only plague Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, but also unleash mass economic inequality and climate change that threaten nearly everyone.

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David describes how he was impacted by learning this history and its potential to quell white Americans' shame and defensiveness about the reality of racism by revealing how their ultimate well-being has always been tied to the freedom of people of color. He invites all of us to step into the legacy of past multi-racial movements that articulated this common interest and brought people together to challenge racism and ruling class power. He then illustrates how we can use solidarity-based political strategy to challenge the divide-and-conquer politics of today.

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