RACIAL JUSTICE AND NYC SCHOOLS

It’s Black History Month, and New York City schools recently marked the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Racial justice and equity in education are at the heart of the anti-racist movement, but NYC schools still have a long way to go before they can be said to represent these values.

One way in which the NYC public school system harms children is by testing them early and often, supposedly to group students by merit and ability. The truth is that resource inequity and racial bias in testing ends up contributing to the city’s notoriously segregated schools. On January 27th, the mayor’s Panel for Education Policy (PEP) voted not to renew their contract with Pearson, the company that administered the city’s Gifted and Talented test, hopefully marking the beginnings of change to this system.

2021 is a major election year in NYC. The mayoralty and the majority of City Council seats are up for grabs, and Bill De Blasio will leave office with many education policy decisions hanging in the balance. The next administration will determine the fate of the Gifted and Talented program, diversity planning, culturally responsive curriculum, and middle and high school screens. It will also need to address the many inequities illuminated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Education Justice Group is exploring ways to take action on these fronts, taking our lead from the incredible work of majority BIPOC-led groups like Teens Take Charge, The Alliance For Quality Education, and Black Lives Matter at School. Meanwhile, interest groups such as PLACE NYC are hard at work maintaining the educational structures that uphold inequity and segregation, allowing white parents to hoard resources and exert an outsized influence on policy. We invite SURJ NYC members to join us as we amplify the voices of BIPOC education activists, fight back against those who wish to suppress justice and progress, and work toward securing an equitable and joyful future for all children.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

The Myth of the Benevolent North

Yesterday was Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday commemorating Washington’s birthday and generally thought of as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents. It is an opportunity to reexamine our past.

We often think of the Civil War as a fight between the free North and the slaveholding South, but this dichotomy obscures Northern states’ history of violent racism, including here in New York City. New York City’s economic dependence on Southern cotton led business interests to urge reconciliation with the Confederacy. At the same time, working-class white immigrants competed for jobs with Black workers, and anti-war politicians and newspapers stoked white fears of losing work to newly freed Southern slaves.

Against this backdrop of conflict and racist propagandizing, the National Conscription Act of 1863 set off the most violent five days of rioting in U.S. history. White working-class New Yorkers who couldn’t pay $300, or about a year’s wages, to avoid the draft were angry that otherwise qualified Black men were exempt from the draft since Black people were not considered citizens. On July 13, 1863, white workers began by attacking government buildings but soon moved on to violently targeting Black New Yorkers’ homes and businesses. Known as the New York Draft Riots, this revolt left an estimated 1,200 people dead and led to the long-term displacement of nearly a quarter of the city’s Black population from Manhattan to Brooklyn and New Jersey.  

The intertwining of economic and class interests with white supremacy persists to this day. Historically racist redlining, highway creation, and city planning efforts continue to cause violence against and displacement of BlPOC New Yorkers. As white people we need to know the history of the land we live on so we can better understand how the system and city has been built on violence against BIPOC communities.

As always, see below for ways to plug into the work for racial justice. And take good care.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Celebrating the Repeal of the Walking While Trans Ban

On Tuesday, February 2nd, New York’s statute 240.37--known as the “walking while trans” ban--was successfully repealed, thanks to years of ongoing organizing. The law was enacted in 1976 and made it illegal to loiter for the purposes of prostitution. In practice, it functioned as a modern version of vagrancy laws, which have been used since the sixteenth century as a carte blanche for police to arrest anyone they like under the guise of trying to prevent crime. Police used statute 240.37 to target anyone they suspected of prostitution based on appearance--especially trans women and women of color. 85% of those arrested between 2012 and 2015 were Black and/or Latinx.

This law was just one of many examples of systemic justifications for violence against Black trans people in the United States. A survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that trans and gender nonconforming folks face discrimination in highly disproportionate numbers compared to the general population.

The statute repeal can serve as a jumping-off point to address both discrimination against trans people and the criminalization of sex work. Police tactics allegedly geared toward human trafficking are used to harass, arrest, and convict sex workers, their customers, and those falsely accused of being involved in the sex trades. While 65% of New York sex workers report that their clients are white, most people targeted by police as johns are Black. According to a ProPublica data analysis, African Americans make up 89% of those charged with prostitution and 93% of those accused of purchasing sex in New York.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced last week that he would decline prosecution of or dismiss all open prostitution and loitering cases. Still, current laws drive sex workers underground and into dangerous environments while failing to address human trafficking. Effective advocacy for sex workers needs to begin with decriminalization.

So, as we celebrate the wins, we harness that energy and joy into continuing the work towards racial justice. Read on for more ways to plug in and show up!

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

A Message from the Beyond Policing Working Group

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, NYPD officers violently attacked peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters gathered at City Hall. Officers continue to use illegal chokeholds almost seven years after Eric Garner was murdered by Daniel Pantaleo. In fact, since 2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board has substantiated 40 instances of officers using banned chokeholds, yet not a single officer has been fired as a result. Meanwhile, Mayor de Blasio continues to tout a meaningless “disciplinary matrix” that is not legally binding and gives the police commissioner ultimate authority in the disciplinary process.

Days before the NYPD crackdown on MLK Day, NY Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office was suing the NYPD over their response during the summer uprising that followed the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The lawsuit itself may be historic, but the wording—which says that police violence was a result of “poor training and supervision”—ignores the fact that the NYPD is doing exactly what it’s designed to do. Committing violence with impunity against BIPOC is fundamental to policing, and no amount of training or supervision can change that.

With this understanding—resulting from years of educating ourselves and listening to and reading works by BIPOC organizers who are trying to build a world without police—we in the Police Accountability Working Group have decided to change our name. We recognize that “holding police accountable” is not a complete description of the work we need to do. Police will always evade accountability. Policing has its origins in slave patrols and union busting and was designed to uphold class inequality and racial capitalism. A “safer, better” version of policing will never be possible, so we would like to begin imagining a future without it. We also wanted our name to express that we are working to reject policing in all its forms, including the ways that we, as white people, police ourselves and our communities.

We had several discussions in order to brainstorm and discuss new names, and we agreed on the Beyond Policing Working Group (BPWG). We will continue to work with our partners at Communities United for Police Reform and Justice Committee and the families of New Yorkers who were killed by the NYPD in their fights for accountability, but our work will continue to evolve in support of abolition.  

Some ways to get involved in the BPWG’s efforts:

  • Mondays - call blasts to Mayor de Blasio’s office to demand the firing of Officer Wayne Isaacs for the killing of Delrawn Small

  • Fridays - call blast to Ask the Mayor on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC for Delrawn Small

  • Every third Wednesday of the month - BPWG monthly meetings

  • Stay tuned for how we are supporting calls from our partners to defund the police in the next city budget

In solidarity,

Beyond Policing Working Group (BPWG)

The Biden Administration's First Week

Many of us breathed a sigh of relief last Wednesday as Joe Biden was inaugurated and the Trump era finally ended. It was heartening to hear Biden to invoke racial justice in his inaugural address with unprecedented directness (mentioning white supremacy!), and it was wonderful to see National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recite her poem “The Hill We Climb” acknowledging an ugly history and providing hope for a way forward. Yet the role the Democratic Party and, historically, Biden himself have played in upholding white supremacist institutions and policies (including the lack of acknowledgment of being on stolen Indigenous land throughout the ceremony) make this moment more a starting point than a victorious finale. We will need to hold Biden and the Democrat-led Congress accountable and work hard to push them in the direction of racial justice.

The executive orders Biden signed on his first day in office provide some hopeful jumping-off points. Rejoining WHO, initiating mask mandates, and organizing vaccinations can help control COVID, which disproportionately affects BIPOC. The Muslim ban was rescinded, DACA was bolstered, the border wall construction was halted, the 1776 commission was cancelled, and the eviction moratorium may be extended through September. On Friday, Biden was said to be planning a federal workforce minimum wage increase to $15.00 an hour.

It will still be necessary, however, to keep the pressure on the Biden Administration. Student loan debt cancellation, which would have a significant impact on Black Americans, is in need of a further push. Biden's plan is a good start, but Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Bernie Sanders have been among the leaders of a push for complete loan cancellation. An aide to Senator Warren stated that student loan cancellation would have the biggest impact on the racial wealth gap of any legislation enacted since the civil rights era.

Pressure is also needed to extend the COVID-19 aid package. While much can be done via executive order, presidential power has its limits. Much of the work needs congressional support and, by extension, our pressure on congress. New Yorkers are well aware that having Democrats at the helm is not a panacea. Again, the Democrats at large (and the new president in particular) have done much to uphold white supremacy. Change is possible, but only if we fight for it.

Hopefully a Democratic president who claims to stand for racial justice and a Democratic congress will grant us the space to push all that much harder for a more just and equitable nation.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Equity and the Vaccine

he political chaos of the past few weeks has drawn much of our focus away from COVID-19, but the fact remains that we’re still in the middle of a deadly pandemic. While the vaccine has brought some hope, its slow rollout and inequities in access are a major source of concern.

Though the pandemic has affected all of our lives, COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on non-white communities. In November, the American Heart Association found that nearly 60% of people hospitalized for COVID were Black or Hispanic despite the fact that only 20% of folks in the surrounding area identified as Black and/or Hispanic according to the census. Another study found that the COVID-19 death rate among Black Americans is nearly three times higher than that among white Americans.

Correctional facilities have also been brutally affected by COVID-19, where Black people are disproportionately represented. In December, the NYS Department of Corrections reported a 71% increase in COVID cases. Yet help is not coming soon enough--only half of US states are prioritizing vaccine distribution to incarcerated people ahead of the general population. In NY, political leaders have been sending mixed messages about whether or not the incarcerated population will be prioritized in phase 1B of vaccination.

In response, organizations such as the Center for Community Alternatives, Release Aging People in Prison, the #HALT Solitary Confinement Campaign, and FWD.us have all called on the New York State Dept. of Health to ensure that all incarcerated New Yorkers have early access to the vaccine.

As white people fighting for racial justice we must advocate for vaccine prioritization in minority and low-income communities and in prisons as well as support organizations working to increase awareness and access in these communities. This week, among other things, try jumping onto the #FreeThemAll phone zap on Friday, get involved with our Anti-Mass Incarceration working group on Monday, or join the People's Campaign for Parole Justice for a virtual advocacy day next Wednesday, January 27, in support of the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole bill initiatives.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

About last week: reflection and action with SURJ NYC

January 6th began as a celebratory day for Democrats as Rev. Raphael Warnock and, later in the day, Jon Ossoff were declared victorious in Georgia’s runoff elections, securing a slim Democratic majority in the Senate. However, on Wednesday, white supremacist Trump supporters, many wearing clothing or carrying signs with racist and antisemitic language or symbols violently stormed the Capitol to disrupt the congressional election certification and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The insurrection resulted in five deaths and scores of arrests, while Senate leaders demanded that Pence invoke the 25th amendment and members of Trump’s cabinet began to step down, and House Democrats reportedly plan to vote to impeach Trump tomorrow.

Although many may have been shocked by the attempted coup, signs of a planned action proliferated across social media networks for months, and media coverage of the rally and planning was broadcast across alt-right websites, social media, and message boards. Trump has spent his years in power setting the stage for this threat to our democracy, convincing his supporters that their votes and opinions matter more than the majority of voters who chose to elect Joe Biden; if they didn’t receive everything they felt entitled to, it was because it had been unfairly taken from them, and there would be no consequences for their actions.

This belief in zero consequences reflects the racist double standard of policing in America. Despite the clear knowledge that there was a threat, calls for the National Guard were denied both before the rally and for over two hours during the violent insurrection, while Capitol police clearly limited their use of force against the mostly white crowd breaking into the Capitol. This show of restraint was shocking given the violent police responses we saw across the country toward unarmed protestors at this summer’s protests against systemic racism and police brutality. A stand needs to be made to investigate state compliance, hold instigators and collaborators accountable, and set up structures to prevent further threats to democracy.

Biden couldn't be more wrong when he proclaims that this action “[did] not reflect a true America.” While the majority of Americans voted against Trump, white rage has always been a part of our country’s history, from the Civil War to Jim Crow laws to the backlash to the civil rights movement, and it continues through to today. To move forward, we need to break down structures of white supremacy that brought the insurrection and other such events of organized racial violence to fruition.

Read on for more ways to take action together and call in white folks in the coming weeks.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about the events of January 6th in a historical context, check out SURJ national’s webinar, White Backlash: why it happens and how we fight back, on January 13th at 8:00pm, led by activist and scholar Robin DG Kelley.

SURJ NYC Wraps Up 2020

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a completely unprecedented, difficult, and overwhelming year. The loss and anguish experienced by so many in our communities cannot be overstated. We’re incredibly thankful to all of you who have dedicated time and energy toward the fight against white supremacy. Whether you were one of the many new folks who joined this year or you’ve been with us from the beginning, we’re grateful for your work this year and look forward to moving into 2021 with you.

To wrap up 2020, we’ve pulled together highlights from our six work areas, which are the driving force behind much of SURJ NYC’s work. The five working groups hold monthly open meetings that all SURJ members are welcome to attend, and meetings for the parent/educator/youth project area are always posted in this newsletter. If you’re interested in getting more involved in any of these efforts and have already attended an orientation, you can email surjnyc@gmail.com for more information.

Anti-Mass Incarceration

This year, the Anti-Mass Incarceration (AMI) working group deepened our relationship with Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) and started a new relationship with the Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC). We phone banked, wrote letters, showed up at rallies, and educated ourselves on aging in prison, solitary confinement, and other aspects of the prison industrial complex.

Base Building/Deep Phonebanking

Deep Phonebanking continued to experiment with engaging people who are signed up for SURJ and began to track how many people we speak with. From June to December, DP called more than 1,000 people and had conversations with nearly 400 of them.

Communications

The communications team makes the work happening at SURJ visible. 2020 saw a tenfold increase in followers across all our platforms with hundreds of new people stepping forward to volunteer in meaningful ways. Working round the clock, our comms team created and shared meaningful and educational content, drove a $100k redistribution effort, turned people out for Black-led protests, and moved resources to Black-led grassroots mutual aid projects.

Housing Justice

Beginning as an organizing effort of SURJ NYC rent strikers in May, the Housing Justice Working Group became official in September. We’ve advocated for Albany to #CancelRent, stop evictions, and raise the housing voucher. We’ve also supported eviction defense citywide and fought to keep homeless residents safe in hotels during COVID-19.  

Parent/Educator/Youth Group

Since launching in July 2020, the Parent/Educator/Youth Group has met nine times to discuss racial inequities in schools during COVID, DOE’s Diversity Plan, “unscreening” schools, and the elections’ impact on education. We’ve also facilitated practice sessions on how to talk to children about racism and how to talk to other white parents about the impact of individual choice on school segregation. Members have taken action with AQE and BLM At NYC Schools.

Police Accountability

This year, the Police Accountability Group:

  • Welcomed many new members as a result of the uprising this summer

  • Made calls to Albany to Repeal 50A and pass the other bills in the Safer NY Act in support of our partners at Communities United for Police Reform

  • Made calls to city councilmembers to defund the police for #NYCBudgetJustice

  • Doubled the amount we raised last year for Justice Committee and increased their number of monthly supporters

  • Organized weekly call blasts for the Justice for Delrawn Small campaign

In 2021, we will continue calling in white New Yorkers about defunding the NYPD, while following the lead of BIPOC and queer organizers who started this movement. We hope you’ll join us!

We hope your last few days of 2020 are restful, and we’re excited to enter the new year alongside you with a sense of possibility and a renewed commitment to the fight against white supremacy.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Fighting Evictions in NYC

Today we’re reflecting on one of the many injustices exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: inequalities in eviction and rent relief. Last night, Congress was set to pass a $900 stimulus bill that includes a one-time relief check and extends the CDC federal eviction moratorium to January 31st. Unfortunately, the moratorium only covers certain types of evictions and has been interpreted widely by states. It’s crucial to pass stronger legislation: during a pandemic, an eviction can be a death sentence.

A recent study estimates that states lifting their eviction moratoriums caused 433,700 coronavirus cases and 10,700 deaths. When people are evicted, public health researcher Kathryn Leifheit says, they “often move in with friends or family, if they have that option. If not, they might enter a homeless shelter. And both of those things increase your number of household contacts, they increase crowding, and we know that household transmission and crowding are two of the main mechanisms that drive up COVID transmission. This doesn’t only increase COVID risk for folks who get evicted, but for the entire community.”

Eviction moratoriums and relief checks are not enough. If we don’t also cancel rent, retroactive to the beginning of the pandemic, we’re not relieving the burden on tenants.

“If people get checks but we don’t #CancelRent, those aren’t stimulus checks, they’re an industry bailout,” tweeted Tara Raghuveer, Director of the national campaign Homes Guarantee. She explains: “Months into the pandemic, tenants are still being held responsible for their rent payment, and the fact is that ‘The rent eats first’. That is to say, if a family gets a check, whether it's for $600 or $1200, that money goes first to their landlord, so that does not stimulate the economy, that does not put food on the table, that does not help their family survive this traumatic moment. All that does is enrich the property owner to whom they owe their rent.”

The New York State Assembly reconvened last week but has yet to consider the set of three bills that would provide actual housing relief. Meanwhile, since the NY State eviction moratorium expired in October, over 40,000 eviction suits have been filed, and NYC marshals have begun evicting people in a pandemic. We know Black and brown New Yorkers are at much higher risk of eviction than white folks and that strong universal bills will protect them and all of us. Join us in renewing our commitment to organize strategically and effectively on the shifting terrain of federal, state, and city politics, and in taking the actions from home outlined below.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Staying Engaged: Preparing For 2021

With the holiday season in full swing, it’s easy to take a step back from organizing-- but now is the time to be preparing for some big things coming in the new year. The moratorium on evictions--both national and within New York City--is set to expire January 1, 2021. Currently there are over 14 million households at risk of eviction nationally, shouldering a collective $25 billion in rental debt. The pandemic is in no way over, and people who have lost income due to this crisis have no way to guard themselves against the impending threat of eviction and associated debt.

The end of the eviction moratorium will have a disproportionate effect on BIPOC folks, who face unemployment at consistently higher rates than white folks due to racial discrimination. There are many ways to get involved locally on this front, but in order to secure relief for those who need it on a national level we need the federal government to pass a comprehensive relief bill. This doesn’t appear to be forthcoming as Mitch McConnell refuses to bring to a vote any bill that doesn’t include a liability waiver for large corporations.

The upcoming runoff elections in Georgia are our first chance to push toward change by flipping the senate and removing McConnell as majority leader. SURJ National has partnered with Southern Crossroads on the GAining Ground Campaign. Gaining Democratic control of the senate, and thus the ability to advance a progressive agenda, depends on the January 5th senate runoff election in Georgia. Supporting BIPOC voters in Georgia via organizations or coalitions which register voters and turn them out, such as Fair Fight, New Project Georgia, Black Votes Matter, and Urban League of Greater Atlanta, is crucial. We know the work doesn’t end with flipping the senate--it’s important to acknowledge that leaders of both parties have supported racist policies--but creating a Democratic majority makes it more likely that activists will be able to push politicians on racial justice issues.

2021 will be a major year in politics locally as well, as New Yorkers will have the chance to vote in elections for mayor, city comptroller, Manhattan DA, Manhattan Borough President, public advocate, and 35 council members across the city. This guide can help familiarize voters with the candidates. As white folks working to dismantle white supremacist systems, it’s crucial that we support candidates who will advocate for racial justice and uplift BIPOC communities.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Thoughts on Showing Up While Shopping

Even before the pandemic, the holidays were a time of financial uncertainty for many people. This year, the added economic stress and enormous global loss of the pandemic has made it an even more somber time. For those that do have the means to buy gifts, we urge you to be a conscious consumer, thinking about both the businesses you support and their workers.

Right now, a new stimulus bill may or may not be forthcoming, with two main stimulus bills currently being considered by the Senate and neither including direct stimulus checks. One is a bipartisan bill proposing more than $900 billion in spending, including $288 billion to refresh the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses and $180 billion in unemployment aid. The other is a far less expansive “target relief package” proposed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. With much of the current funding set to run out at the end of the year, it is imperative that Congress pass a new Stimulus bill now.

However, even if a bipartisan bill gets passed, it will still leave many hurting. April’s stimulus bill didn’t help BIPOC communities and small businesses (many BIPOC-owned) in the same way it helped white people and larger businesses. Immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, were largely left out of the last bill — even if they pay taxes. Many Indigenous communities failed to receive payments in a timely manner (if at all), and BIPOC-owned businesses received less in PPP loans than those owned by white folks. At the same time, giant corporations like Amazon have profited immensely while sparing little regard for the health or safety of their workers and their families.

The way we spend while shopping can serve as a method of redistributing wealth if we focus on directing money toward small businesses — especially those owned by BIPOC. This holiday season and beyond, we urge you to spend their money locally and in support of BIPOC-owned businesses, rather than with large corporations like Amazon. If you plan to shop in-person, shop local markets like The Makers Show at City Point, through publications like Black-Owned Brooklyn, and at local businesses that put BIPOC makers and businesses at the forefront. If you prefer to shop online, many small businesses and makers either have websites or have found alternative ways to conduct sales, whether through their social media pages or aggregated sites like shopIN.nyc.

As always, see below other ways to move resources, plug in, and show up for racial justice in the coming weeks. Take good care.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Mutual Aid and Sustainable Giving

Today we recognize Giving Tuesday. Juxtaposed with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday counterbalances holiday hyper-consumerism by placing an emphasis on redistributing money to do good. In 2019, GivingTuesday.org reported that $511 million was given online within 24 hours in the US alone--a 28% increase from the prior year. Whole Whale predicts that $605 million will be raised on December 1, 2020.

Moving money is one way to shift power and resources to BIPOC communities, which is a vital part of anti-racist work. While we often think of giving to large charities, the model for many white-led nonprofits and government organizations is rooted in white supremacist capitalism, as white leaders determine what’s best for communities of color and “give” that money to them. Additionally, fundraisers often do more to line the pockets of third-party organizations or charity leadership than to help the communities they work with

This Giving Tuesday, we’re disrupting that model by resourcing grassroots organizing and mutual aid funds. Mutual aid is an anti-capitalist alternative based on non-Western traditions that focuses on solidarity and collective care; it is not charity. A mutual aid framework is reciprocal, with members of the network coming together to care for one another, taking and giving as needs arise.

Forms of mutual aid have existed historically across cultures, among groups excluded from mainstream systems. Communities often made up of BIPOC, immigrants, disabled people, homeless people, and LGBTQ folk have created networks for their survival. In NYC, mutual aid networks also formed in response to tragic events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. During the pandemic, mutual aid has become a necessity, with over 70 groups emerging in NYC alone. Mutual aid groups’ initial efforts this year focused on helping people obtain essential goods like food and PPE. Eight months later, these groups are focusing on long term community goals related to issues such as police reform, housing justice in lieu of mass evictions, and getting out the vote.

As white people, it’s our responsibility to address the vast aggregated wealth gap between white and BIPOC households. Wealth and resources have been disproportionately accumulated by white people at the expense of BIPOC historically through colonialism, slavery, Jim Crow-era Black Codes, and systemic education and job discrimination. Government programs like the New Deal and the GI Bill that fueled the rise of the white middle class in the 20th century left out non-white Americans. Redlining prevented Black and other minority groups from building home equity. As a result, the net worth of a typical white family, according to data compiled in 2016, was $171,000, nearly ten times greater than that of a typical Black family whose net worth was $17,150.

On this Giving Tuesday, we can help empower local communities by donating both money and time to mutual aid groups. Organizations such as Mutual Aid NYC and NYC United Against Coronavirus have published listings of groups serving particular communities or addressing specific needs, including food, housing, disability and mental health services, pet care, child care, home maintenance, and small-business resources. No matter where we choose to give, when we contribute to mutual aid and grassroots organizing groups, we help build a stronger, more equitable city.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Thanksgiving’s History of Harm

Like everything else in 2020, this Thanksgiving will need to be different. As countless health officials have already said, gathering with people outside your household is strongly discouraged as surging COVID cases flood our already overtaxed healthcare system. Regardless of your plans, we encourage SURJ members to spend this quieter Thanksgiving season considering the day’s history from an Indigenous perspective, generating challenging discussions with other white people, and committing or recommitting to support Indigenous communities through this season and beyond.

The classic American Thanksgiving narrative of Indigenous peoples welcoming white settlers to celebrate the harvest together is one of many mythologies that upholds white supremacy, as it valorizes colonialist narratives and erases the experiences of Indigenous peoples over the past four hundred years up through today. The reality of the 1621 feast entails a complicated story of alliances and compromises between the Pilgrims and members of a Wampanoag nation, which had already been ravaged by diseases brought by earlier European settlers. The tradition that we call Thanksgiving didn't begin until 1637, when Thanksgiving Day was declared by the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony to commemorate "subduing the Pequots," referring to a massacre of over 700 indigenous people by Dutch and English mercenaries during their Green Corn Dance the previous day. From its earliest inception, Thanksgiving has been a day linked to violence toward Indigenous communities.

This violence is not exclusively historical either. To this day, treaties continue to be disrespected and destroyed, allotted Native territory is desecrated, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately disadvantaged by American laws and systems. This Thanksgiving and beyond we need to acknowledge that we live on un-ceded territory, and that Indigenous people still exist and are owed a debt that will never be repaid.

We must also be aware of where our resources, such as water, heat, and electricity, originate. Relentless resource exploitation takes place on Native lands in the form of coal, copper, and uranium mining, fracking, and nuclear waste disposal, all resulting in toxic pollution. While profits are siphoned away by private companies or the federal government, the communities these resources come from suffer environmental destruction and devastating impacts on health and quality of life. Time and again, profits are privileged over the lives and livelihoods of BIPOC communities, including in our own backyards.

This Thanksgiving, we must acknowledge what has been stolen from Indigenous peoples and follow the guidance of those communities in working to redress centuries of harm. As we acknowledge history and the present impact of white supremacy on Indigenous people, we can explore ways we can support Indigenous communities, both local and beyond. Check out efforts like the Land Back movement and Seed Savers Exchange for ways to plug in today.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Putting Our Recommitment to Racial Justice into Action

As Donald Trump loses court battle after court battle in his fruitless attempts to prove voter fraud, it is becoming abundantly clear that Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States. While we can continue to celebrate this victory, we should remain clear-eyed about the work ahead. Although threats of a potential coup may be empty, this doesn’t mean they won’t have long-term consequences.

From Trump’s stirring up his base with incendiary tweets to his administration’s refusal to concede and allow for a peaceful transition of power, it’s evident that we must stay aware and be ready to act. (If you haven’t already, we highly recommend tuning into SURJ national’s live call from this past Thursday entitled “Recommitting to Racial Justice: white people's work in the days ahead” for concrete recommendations as we move forward, including assisting organized efforts in Georgia.)

Unfortunately, attacks on the Left and Progressives have already started not only from the Right but from within the Democratic Party. Rather than thank­ing grass­roots groups, Black women, and Indigenous vot­ers for show­ing up in large num­bers, cen­trists with­in the par­ty have blamed the Left for short­falls in down-bal­lot races, citing Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements. What hasn’t been acknowledged is that a lack of strategic planning on the part of the Democratic candidates — including their inability to embrace progressive platforms — largely led to these results.

Progressive organizing led to the largest voter turnout in history this election, despite being in a pandemic year with voter suppression tactics out in full force. However, as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently noted in the New York Times, the main takeaway should not be that the work is done, but rather that “We paused [a] precipitous descent [into hell]. And the question is if and how we will build ourselves back up.”

For there to be any real possibility of progressive legislation over the next two years, Georgia must elect two Democratic Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, in the special run-off election this January. Created during the Jim Crow era by white supremacist politicians, Georgia’s run-off system was built specifically to suppress Black voters. Despite the DOJ suing to overturn this racist system in 1990, it remains in place. So it’s up to us all to help swing Georgia. As a next step, we urge you to get involved with the New Georgia Project or another group working to turn Georgia blue.

We must hold our government accountable by fighting for progressive change, amplifying the voices of those who have already been doing the work, and continuing to put pressure on our elected officials.

Remember: They work for us.

Take care,

SURJ NYC

Celebrating the Victories; Continuing the Work

This past Saturday, cheers broke out in New York City as news networks across the country called Pennsylvania and the presidential election for Joe Biden. Following a record voter turnout, Biden defeated Donald Trump to become America’s 46th president, with his barrier-breaking running-mate Kamala Harris as the first Black and South Asian woman Vice President elect.

The effort to galvanize voters and encourage people to register was largely led by grassroots, BIPOC-led campaigns. Thanks to their work, voters, especially Black, Indigenous, and young people, turned out to end the Trump administration. Though Joe Biden may not have been many people’s first choice, this win comes as a relief. And beyond the presidential race, we have other major victories to celebrate:

But the work is not over. The “return to normal” promised by Biden’s presidency is a return to a world where BIPOC communities are still subject to violence and oppression. We must hold the new administration accountable to ensure their actions support marginalized communities, while continuing the fight for housing justice, freedom from state violence, and a clean environment — amplifying how each disproportionately impacts BIPOC folks. Check out SURJ’s post-election actions and sign this pledge to join SURJ NYC as we work to Protect the Results for more.

We must also acknowledge that, even after four years of seeing his administration’s blatant white supremacy, the majority of white voters still voted for Trump. As white folks, it is our job to work to bring other white folks into the movement to build an anti-racist future. For support in having those conversations, sign up for an upcoming Calling In workshop.

There’s much to do before Trump leaves office and after, but we’re ready.

Sending care and fortitude for the days ahead,

SURJ NYC

The Presidential Election: It’s Not Over Yet

It’s Election Day — a day many of us have been long and anxiously awaiting. If you’re one of the 1.1 million people in NYC who voted early, thank you. If you voted by mail weeks ago, thank you. If you haven’t yet voted (and are still able to), please go vote. The poll lines close at 9 PM, and now mail-in ballots should also be delivered in person. If you see any instances of voter suppression at your polling place, report them to the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE. Getting everyone’s vote counted is crucial. But our involvement shouldn’t stop there...

This election season has revealed numerous instances of voter suppression by Trump and the Republican party. 230 election-related lawsuits have been filed this year alone by both voting rights advocates and the Trump administration. From limiting ballot boxes and installing unofficial ones, to closing polling locations, to encouraging voter intimidation at the polls, voting has been made increasingly difficult — especially for BIPOC and marginalized communities. These Jim Crow 2.0 tactics include laws that prevent ex-felons from voting, voters being purged from rolls, and more. In addition, Black and Latinx voters have been specifically targeted by misinformation campaigns with the goal of fueling cynicism and distrust in the political process, in order to depress turnout among people of color.

These efforts at voter suppression will likely come to a head today. As we wrote last Friday, Trump has already signaled that he may declare himself the winner before all mail-in ballots are counted, indicating he will turn to the Supreme Court to stop the count. With Amy Coney Barrett’s rushed confirmation to the Court, Republicans now have a majority with which they can rule in Trump’s favor in the event of a contested election. Furthermore, Barrett and Kavanaugh both worked as lawyers for George W. Bush in Florida during the 2000 recount, with Roberts advising the Republican governor at the time, Jeb Bush.

So what does this all mean? Put simply: we cannot rely on flawed institutions to deliver us a fair election. We need to organize now to show our leaders that the election is not over until every single person’s vote is counted. As it’s unlikely final results will be coming out tonight, now is the time to mobilize and prepare. While many of us have already spent months text banking, phonebanking, writing postcards, and more, we need to continue this momentum beyond the election and work to sustain the movement over the long term.

Here are some things you can do after today:

  • We are asking all SURJ NYC members to sign this pledge to commit to mobilizing against a potential coup. We will send more frequent action updates to everyone who signs this pledge!

  • Join us on Zoom Wednesday, November 4th, 3-4pm: SURJ-wide National Call: Count All the Votes, register here.

  • Join us in the streets Wednesday, November 4th, 4pm: to Protect the Results either in Midtown or at an action near you, if called for.

  • Join us on Zoom Thursday, November 5th, 6:30-8:30pm: SURJ NYC Chapter Meeting—Post Election Edition, register here.

If you are struggling with the uncertainty of the days and weeks to come, you are not alone. This coming Thursday’s SURJ NYC Chapter Meeting is a good opportunity to gather with others to both reflect on whatever happens and organize next steps to create the future we want. We look forward to seeing you there and are so grateful to be in this fight with you all!

Sending care and fortitude for the days ahead,

SURJ NYC

Stop Voter Disenfranchisement and Intimidation in NYC

We all know the upcoming election may be the most important of our lives and that democracy is on the line. But we also know American democracy is imperfect and has systematically disenfranchised BIPOC communities — and continues to do so even now. Voter suppression comes in many forms, including polling place closures and onerous voter identification laws.

This election year, we've already seen voter suppression and intimidation in red and swing districts around the country, as well as in blue cities like NYC. Just this weekend, the NYPD confiscated PPE from community activists at a polling site in Red Hook, and a different NYPD officer was suspended after blasting pro-Trump messages over his loudspeaker while on duty in Flatbush.

Two groups especially vulnerable to disenfranchisement are also disproportionately non-white: the homeless and the formerly incarcerated. Many states require government-issued photo identification to vote, and with 26 states requiring proof of physical address to obtain a government-issued ID card, the homeless population faces barriers. And even if they do manage to register, many homeless people face other obstacles, such as the lack of transportation to polling places.

Given such restrictions, it’s little surprise that as few as 1 in 10 homeless people vote, with only 10% of homeless people voting in 2012 compared to the 54% of the general voting age population. There are some protections for these voting rights, though. A 1984 federal court case in New York prevents states from denying the right to vote based on homelessness, and now in all 50 states, homeless folks can register using the address of their shelter or usual place of night stay.

Laws denying the vote to those with felony convictions date back to the Jim Crow South, leading to Black Americans of voting age being more than four times as likely to lose their voting rights than the rest of the voting-age population. Currently Maine and Vermont are the only states where currently incarcerated folks can vote. Meanwhile, most people in local jails (a population estimated to be 48% Black and Latinx) are eligible to vote because they aren’t serving a sentence for felony conviction, but don’t vote because of bureaucracy, not knowing their rights, and restricted internet access hampering registration. The Sentencing Project identifies some practices that have helped individuals in jails exercise their right to vote.

Here are some ways to take action to defend voting rights and the electoral process:

And as always, read on for more ways to show up for racial justice beyond the electoral process!

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

Racial Justice and the Supreme Court

In the long history of racial (in)justice in American governance, the Supreme Court has played an outsized role, sometimes in positive ways, like in Brown v. Board of Education, and other times in harmful ways, like Shelby County v. Holder, which paved the way for voter suppression.The likely confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett accelerates a right-wing shift in the Court with grave implications for BIPOC folks in America. Barrett carries a far-right record rife with statements and rulings that deny health care rights, reproductive rights, labor rights, protection from police, immigrant justice, and LGBTQ+ rights while supporting qualified immunity and illegal search and seizure. A fervent “originalist”, Barrett has been vague and evasive when questioned directly on issues of racial justice.

Barrett’s confirmation puts the rights of BIPOC folks disproportionately at risk as they will be most affected by upcoming rulings on issues including health care, juvenile imprisonment, anti-discrimination, voting rights, climate change, reproductive rights, and immigration. By the end of November the Court will consider Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia, which could grant foster care agencies the right to exclude same-sex couples on the basis of religious beliefs; California vs. Texas, which will challenge the Affordable Care Act, potentially resulting in the loss of insurance for 20 million people (disproportionately BIPOC); and a case that will review Trump's exclusion of undocumented residents from the 2020 census.

The probable October 22 Senate confirmation of Barrett will be the result of a 40+ year organized right-wing judiciary invasion. In the 1970s, corporate interests saw “attacks” on their financial interest by the anti-war, environmental, civil rights, and women’s rights movements. Since then, a sophisticated multi-million dollar system has developed to pick and confirm conservative justices.. Dark-money-funded organizations hunt for plaintiffs of convenience to bring cases before the Supreme Court that advance the big donors’ agenda, while similar organizations appear by the orchestrated dozen as “friends of the Court” to instruct the corporate-selected judges how to rule (e.g., against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

The history of this process was summed up during the current hearings by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Last year, Whitehouse catalogued 73 majority opinions by the five conservative justices on the Supreme Court that seemed to align with partisan Republican interests in areas spanning voting and money in politics, protection of corporations from liability and regulation, civil rights, and advancing a far-right social agenda.

The fact that a non-elected body holds this much power has been increasingly called into question, particularly as many of us are reckoning with the white supremacist systems that have built and dominated our nation’s governing. In our struggle for racial justice, we must challenge the dynamics that create a system of judicial minority rule at the expense of BIPOC communities. In the near-term, this translates into a fight for court reform, the promotion of fair courts, the imposition of term limits on judges, and a curb on spending. With the election approaching, we need to strengthen our courts at every level by learning about judicial races in our areas. For more specific ways to take action this week, read on!

Take care,

SURJ NYC

Indigenous Sovereignty is Racial Justice

Following Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we must continue to recognize that all of us here in New York City live on unceded Lenape territory. Despite having the largest urban population of Native Americans in North America, NYC continues to recognize Columbus Day in our schools and many workplaces. Our colonist history is remembered daily through an Avenue, Square, and monument. When we celebrate Columbus, it perpetuates a white supremacist narrative that erases the lives, deaths, and continued harm of Indigenous people.

The day is a strong reminder for us all to include and center the rights of Indigenous people in our ongoing fight to end white supremacy. The upcoming election is a chance for us to vote for change; however, as we’ve written previously, BIPOC are often those most at risk of being unable to cast their vote.

After centuries, Native Americans and Alaska Natives were finally given the right to vote under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (40 years after the Indian Citizenship Act). Since its passing, though, discriminatory laws and policies have disregarded and targeted Indigenous voters. Major lawsuits in 2012 and 2018 challenged some of these barriers, establishing satellite voting offices and helping relieve some voter ID laws. Today, there are 4.7 million Indigenous people of voting age but turnout is the lowest in the country, with voters in both urban and rural areas facing obstacles to registering, voting, and having their vote counted.

Many people living on reservations have “untraditional addresses'' or use P.O. boxes for their mail, making it more difficult for them to both register and cast their vote. And with post offices sometimes few and far away (the Tohono O’odham Nation reservation has only one post office for land the size of Connecticut; some Navajo Nation members have to travel up to 150 miles round trip), voting by mail can be an unrealistic option. Expanding voting access would include longer mail-in periods, additional ballot drop boxes, and ballot collection. For in-person voting, polling places must be nearby, safe, and convenient. Overall, voter ID laws must be expanded and the ballot must account for language accessibility. Current challenges to these laws include a win last month in Montana and an ongoing case in Arizona.

For some Indigenous people, voting is also fraught with distrust. To vote is to participate in the system of oppression that has murdered communities and stolen land. Where a vote furthers an unjust system, energy could instead be put into dismantling it and cultivating something better.

Indigenous people have called for the return of stolen land and the removal of white supremacist monuments across the country. This summer, land defenders fought for the removal of Mount Rushmore and the return of the Black Hills land to the Oceti Sakowin. Just last month on Long Island, two laws were adopted in Southampton after the Shinnecock Indian Nation (which only received federal recognition in 2010 despite living on the land for 10,000 years) demanded protection for their burial grounds.

Indigenous sovereignty is racial justice. To dismantle white supremacy, we must break from settler colonialism and capitalism and move toward the liberation of Indigenous people and the return of stolen land. And we must make sure our work does not end at the ballot box.

Join us and take action:

  1. Support the Manna-hatta Fund, which engages settlers to move resources to the American Indian Community House. AICH provides direct services, community, cultural events, and voice to Indigenous people in the NYC area.

  2. Sign this petition demanding Mt. Rushmore and all Public Lands in the Black Hills be returned to the Oceti Sakowin.

  3. Support the LANDBANK campaign. Amplify on social media by following the NDN Collective on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter and using the hashtags: #LANDBACK #DefendDevelopDecolonize #IndigenousPeoplesDay2020.

  4. Find out more about the land you live on, protest Columbus Day, and advocate for incorporating Native history into schools. Learn about land acknowledgement, returning land, and Native American history.

Take care,

SURJ NYC

Voter Suppression and Racial Justice

With Election Day less than a month away, registration deadlines are fast approaching, and many states have already begun absentee and early voting. In addition to the presidential election, there are also Senate, House, state, and local races up and down the ballot. Each could shape the direction of our country for years to come, especially in regard to the fight for racial and social justice.

The GOP is as aware of the stakes of this election, and they will continue to pull out all the stops to prevent people, especially communities of color, from having their voices heard. The history of denying Black people the right to vote is as old as the country; and, like many forms of institutional racism, voter suppression has not gone away - it’s just gotten more insidious. Today, voter disenfranchisement can take on many forms including voter ID laws, voter registration restrictions, voter purges, felony disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering.

In the last presidential election, the Trump 2016 campaign bought targeted Facebook ads to deter Black voter turnout. This year, we’re already seeing voter suppression on the national level, with Trump calling on so-called “poll watchers” to intimidate voters while spreading widespread panic about baseless threats to election integrity. On the state level, where many voting laws are decided, we’re seeing suppression efforts in Texas, where the Republican Governor has shut down ballot drop boxes, leaving only one per county. In Michigan, two Republican operatives were just charged with voter intimidation after operating a robo-call scheme to intimidate Black voters in Detroit, with voters in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois receiving similar calls.

Fortunately, there is still a lot we can do between now and November 3 to make sure everyone who is eligible gets every opportunity to cast their ballot. There’s incredible energy around voter turnout right now, and as white people, we must also talk about voter suppression and disenfranchisement tactics when we talk about how important it is to vote. And, as high as the stakes of this election season are, we must also remember that voting alone will not save us. Electoral strategy as part of a larger movement for collective liberation, though, does matter.

Here are some ways to take action:

As always, you can see below for more ways to plug in and show up!

In solidarity,
SURJ NYC