It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make at Real Change. We’d recently gone through a strategic planning process and decided to change our mission statement to include racial and social justice. So, when a staff person asked me last week if attending the local Nov. 25 Ferguson protest and rally would count as work time, I didn’t hesitate. Racism and police brutality are not outside of our core work of homeless advocacy. They are part of it.
Dr. Martin Luther King famously stated, “No one of us is free until we are all free.” I’ve heard this many times, but have grasped it only intellectually. Last week, I reflected on how easily I — as a white, financially comfortable, straight man — often confuse my privilege for freedom. Take away any of one of those advantages, much less all of them, and I’m sure I would see my “freedom” in a very different light.
The grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., was not only one more slap in the face of black people in this country, but also an affront to anyone engaged in the struggle for justice for all oppressed people. Several of the pastors who spoke at the rally reminded attendees that while we would all be with our families enjoying our Thanksgiving holiday, Michael Brown’s parents would have an empty place at their table. Michael Brown’s murder was not an isolated incident, nor, tragically, will it be the last of its kind.
With our presence at the protest rally, Real Change made a public statement that the senseless murder of a young black man and the economic oppression that plague poor and homeless people are interconnected. When we expanded our mission statement last summer, we were intentional about not only adding the term racial justice, but social justice as well. We discussed this extensively. Some felt it was redundant and argued for simplicity. In the end, we kept both terms. Race has such a pernicious history in this country, and to this day, conservatives and liberals alike still avoid the topic. To call it out seemed important. At the same time, if we really see economic injustice as connected to all other forms of oppression, then it seems equally crucial to make room for those other struggles in our work as well.
We are clear that expanding our mission to include social and racial justice will push Real Change. It will mean closely examining our internal policies and practices. It will mean broadening our base of allies. It will mean expanding our advocacy work. And it will mean expanding the scope of our coverage in the paper.
This won’t come easily, and it won’t come without a serious investment of resources. You, our readers, can support this work right now with a commitment to our 2014 Winter Fund Drive. Individual donors have always provided the majority of our funding, which is core to our funding model. Unlike foundation and corporate grants, which come with implicit if not explicit conditions or expectations, individual donor funding gives us the freedom to confront injustice with courage and conviction. As we become more intentional in the way that we confront politically volatile issues like racism, we’re going to need your support more than ever.
There is still so much work to be done, but Real Change can make a real difference. The relationships we foster between readers and vendors give people a tangible experience of human interconnectedness; the advocacy work we do stands up against policies that criminalize poor people and people of color, and the quality newspaper we put out every week provides an independent media voice that ensures people hear the truth.
Thank you for supporting our work.