Organize To Fight Racism

Organize to Fight Racism

FORUM: RACISM IN AMERICA

   In the wake of the racist verdict in LA - not to mention the racist reaction to the uprisings following the verdict - some Iazy thinking and old assumptions need to change. To start, I recommend that people read an excellent article, "Watts II," by Barbara Smith. Her article first appeared in The Guardian (vol. 14 #29) and was reprinted in Gay Community News (May 23-June 5 issue).

   Smith' s point is that racism is the central, defining character and problem in U.S. society, that it is inextricably woven into the fabric of U.S.-led capitalism (or imperialism), and that only a revolution can begin to change it. I would have agreed, had I read it in the street. But reading it after seven years in U.S. prisons made my reaction even stronger.

   For white progressives and radicals on the street, it is possible to perceive racism as one of a list of problems in the system. We can see it that way because whatever we do, we still tend to function with the benefit of white skin privilege - in thousands of subtle and not-so subtle ways - every day. In prison some of the distortion with which we whites view the world is stripped away. Living and working and loving among some of the most oppressed continually erodes the white viewpoint and makes you see the U.S. more as it really is: a society completely based on the promotion of white values, culture and power - especially white male power.

   In this context, the L.A. verdict brought sorrow, rage and depression here. It wasn't so much a shock as a cruel reminder of the message that African-American women in prison hear and have heard their entire lives, "You don't count."

  That, and the strength and clarity African American women have gained from constantly fighting for their dignity - is one reason I agree so much with Smith's position that the necessary revolution must include leadership by women of color. That's whose viewpoint and values can lead such a process.

   For those of us who are white, Smith has clear demands: change, act, fight racism. Confront it, organize against it in solidarity with American self-determination, and for all of us. Because white U.S. society has long since sold its soul to white supremacy, and what's resulted is morally bankrupt, degenerate and polluted. It's not a society I want to live in, so I have to fight to change it.

   "Change'' is a key word when white progressives are asked what we're going to do. Change perspective - especially if we were surprised by the verdict, or saw it as an aberration. Change priorities - if the fight against racism isn't a daily project. Change who we know, or who we listen to, if we have any questions about where racism is most blatant in our communities, or where support might be wanted for a struggle for human rights. Change plans - if the plans didn't include organizing white people against racism. Sometimes we have to change our jobs, or our addresses, because our own response to white supremacy is to create a life where we don't have to confront it, and instead live and work only among other radicals and progressives. In the days following the verdict, we in here were tremendously heartened by the demonstrations out there - I wanted so much to be able to march in one! Everyone noticed that there were a sizeable number of white anti-racist participants in many of the demos. It's very hard to tell from in here whether those demonstrations mean that white radicals are now pushing forward with anti-racist work or not. Were there meetings or teach-ins about fighting racism? Are plans afoot to organize more effectively against racism?

   We may not know the answers to a lot of questions, but I hope a lot of us are asking them - and beginning to act on them, too - fueled by the vision of what a society with justice and at peace would be like to live in. Laura Whitehorn is a veteran activist who, among other things, was afounder of the Boston-Cambridge Women's School. She is now a political prisoner at Lexington Federal Correctional Institution, doing time for conspiracy, aiding in a bombing and manufacturing false ID in her capacity as a member of a clandestine revolutionary group.

  Write to her as follows: Laura Whitehorn, #22432-037, FCI Lexington, 3301 Leestown Rd., Lexington, KY 40511.