John -- We are clear that the white supremacist attack on the Capitol on January 6th is a demonstration of the systemic collusion between the white ruling class, white nationalists, and the police.
We are also steadfast in our conviction that expanding policing is not what will bring about safety for most, and that calls to do so will lead to more violence in Black communities and communities of color while strengthening state repression of social movements for justice.
It continues to be imperative that we as a multi-racial community of young people with access to class privilege and wealth organize our communities of wealthy people against assaults on multi-racial democracy and towards dismantling the structures of policing, white supremacy, and wealth inequality.
Instead of distancing ourselves from these white supremacist actions, we must acknowledge that people of class privilege and wealth participated in the riot in significant numbers. It is also race and class privilege that protects them from the harshest actions of state violence, which BIPOC poor and working-class communities unjustly know all too well. To claim that the insurrection was due primarily to the discontent of poor and working class people is a racist erasure of how an overwhelmingly white mob fought to violently invalidate the votes of millions of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), and were enabled and encouraged by white upper class politicians.
Right-wing philanthropy plays a huge role in strengthening and maintaining white supremacy.
The right and far-right have been heavily funded for decades by white, American, Christian, conservative rich people. Wealthy people who seek to protect profit made through exploitation shape policy, culture, and politics on every level. It is the white, Christian conservative ruling class who created the conditions we currently find ourselves within.
We invite you to check out our past webinar, "Shadow Money (How the Right Funds Regressive Movements)," to reflect on this moment. This webinar featured brilliant social justice movement leaders discussing what we need to do to fight back against the massive, strategic funding on the Right and show up more authentically for social change in this crucial time.
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As we look beyond this moment, there is a more hopeful picture emerging. Black-led, poor and working-class led movements won in Georgia. $2000 stimulus checks for poor and working people, student debt relief, more humane immigration reform, a more serious commitment to dealing with climate change and more are on the table. With a slim Democratic majority in both houses enabled by movement-led organizing, there is a new opening for multi-class power building and communities to fight for the deep systemic change critical to racial, economic, and social justice.
The events of January 6th and ongoing growth in racist backlash came on the heels of the growing wins of the Black liberation movement, including a power-shifting election in Georgia of the state’s first Black and Jewish Senators -- a huge win for democracy led by the Movement for Black Lives and Center For Popular Democracy affiliates on the ground like SONG Power and the New Georgia Project Action Fund.
We support the calls from our national campaign partners the Movement for Black Lives and Center for Popular Democracy to impeach and expel the politicians who incited the actions last week.
Take action with us now by:
The first 100 days of a new administration are just around the corner. We ask you to join us in supporting our partners in pushing for a transformative policy agenda:
We know from the U.S.’s long history of white supremacy and colonialism that whenever there are strides made by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color towards against racial capitalism and toward a truly inclusive cross-class, multi-racial democracy, it is followed by white violence. Examples include the 1898 white supremacist coup in Wilmington, NC which overthrew the elected multi-racial local government, to the imposition of Jim Crow after Reconstruction, the rise of White Citizens Councils after successful legal challenges to desegration, to Reaganomics and the increasing criminalization of Black people through the “War on Drugs” after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement, to the rise of the Tea Party and Trumpism after President Obama’s election.
White supremacist backlash is embedded in our country’s history, class structure, culture and beyond, and it will be part of our future until we confront and uproot it.
We hope you’ll lean into this community during these times - we can always go farther together.
In community,
The RG Action Team
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