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No Justice and No Peace: A Critique of Current Social Change Politics (6 of 8)
The flip side to this is the total focus on reform without a revolutionary framework – a scenario we see too often here in DC, the land of non-profit organizations. Most social justice non-profits are based here. Their mission statements usually say they are working for the rights of poor folks and people of color, but most are led by and employ people who, in their day to day lives, betray this mission. Living in DC, we see how this non-profit class is part of the population who is gentrifying this city; displacing poor people and peoples of color, as they socialize within their hegemonic/homogenous circles. These are the same folks that end up speaking in the name of people that they themselves are continuing to marginalize. In many of DC's HIV service organizations the lowest paid positions go to folks who do the street level outreach. Folks who are representative of the community usually do this critical, yet low paid work, usually. But how many of the executive directors are white? And how few of these better paying positions are being held by people of color in communities of color? Are any of these organizations pro-actively supporting “low-skill” workers from the community in getting more advanced education, so they can take over the programs that serve their communities? This again is a case of using more marginalized people for imagery and as props, while maintaining more privileged folks in positions of power.
With all this critique, we get tired of talking about white people or people with class privilege. We want to talk with others who are in similar situations as us. We often ask ourselves "how can we do that"? But then we trip over privilege again and questions surface about distribution of resources and who is able to control the debate and be heard. As we try to exert control over our own bodies figuring out where to put our energies– we are forced to recognize that certain groups that claim to speak for us are not accountable to our communities. One example is the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the self-described largest LGBT organization in the US, with headquarters in DC. Not only are they not accountable to the most effected communities (for example, there's not a single trans-person on their board) but also they dominate the public debate in such a way that inhibits the efforts of other GLBT people who might want to organize around other issues. The HRC put so much money into fighting for gay marriage during the last elections, but got their asses kicked by social conservatives & the religious right.
For us, a better use of resources would have been to put some of those millions of dollars into education campaigns, information in schools, youth clubs and senior homes. Every classroom that has the opportunity to deal with queer issues in a serious way will not only end up educating folks so that they're not acting out of ignorance, but will also create an opportunity to connect with some gay kids in the room- once again, giving people power over their lives. None of this is possible while the HRC exercises such domination over the queer political movement.
Why is leadership of these organizations so distant from the needs of the people they claim to serve? For those in power, whether at an organization like the HRC or more generally in society, changing their ways of doing work would jeopardize their status and income. The people in power don't have anything to gain by taking on the system of privilege in DC and around the country. They may say that we're part of the same movement, working for the same goals, but who sets those goals and priorities? It is rare that it is those who are facing the violence themselves.
Next > New methods of change; empowerment by real shifts in power
