When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.
Protester’s sign read stand up! speak up! and these protesters did it this cold Spokane winter day. Some who were lucky made it to inside halls standing and sitting in the warmth and could hear the messages from the Ballroom. Others filled sidewalks for blocks east and west and entertained each other with songs, music, chatter. The Davenport Hotel Coffee and Bar was a hit place to keep warm.
Marchers continued on to the Community Building where they shared chili, soup, music, poetry, speakers, a movie, action tables, creative activities for kids and adults, and began networking to take action.
Something You Can Do Personal Actions You Can Take
Martin Luther King Day Celebration 2017
OK, we had our celebration with speeches and the march.
Now Let’s Commit Ourselves
Since 2008 news and social media have done nothing but complain about what politicians did and did not do. If they have not accomplished goals and objectives it is no one’s fault but your own. If you are not satisfied with the 2016 election I suggest that you step up and do something about it.
From the list below, choose the issue you feel needs action, list the issue and the name of an organization that works on that issue in the comment box below and fill in your contact information. If you do not know of an organization, volunteer to start such an organization. I will pass your contact information on to the appropriated organization. Also I will collate the information everyone contributes and post the results at this site 4comculture.com. To stay aware of current posts at this site in the right hand side bar SUBSCRIBE to receive an email notifying you of new posts (a couple per week).
What Will You Commit To
Protest (Civic Disobedience, Non-violent direct action, Go to jail), Government service, Social justice, Political action, Political parties (Democratic, Republican, Independent, Progressive), Employment (Jobs and training), Housing, Healthy food production, Education (K12, College), Environment (Climate change etc.) Community organizing, Social justice, Community service, Social services, Health and safety, Drug abuse prevention, Community security, Reproductive rights, Hunger, Homelessness, Race relations, Human relations, Art and culture, International affairs, Belief systems (Humanism etc.).
After the showing of the documentary film 13th at Bethel AME Church at 10 am on January 14, across town at the Spokane Public Library PJALS (Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane) sponsored a 5 hour hands on workshop: Love > Hate: Bystander Intervention Training which covered:
Being Resistant to Assertiveness
My observation as I photographed the workshop was that it was excellent. I thought that the information below that was listed on a wallet sized card was a good tool for it was an excellent tool for using white privilege to intervene in oppressive situations.
Practice Assertiveness!
On January 14 in a small inland northwest town MLK Week kicked off with the Netflix documentary 13th:
Sandy Williams, publisher of the Black Lens News and Rev. Walter Kendricks president of the Spokane Ministers Fellowship started the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations with the screening of the Netflix documentary film 13th at Bethel AME Church in Spokane hosted by the Rev. Lonnie Mitchell.
Spokane Washington 2015 Census Data
After the screening the audience – predominantly white residents of the inland northwest – broke up into small groups for discussion. How did they feel? What did they need to do about it?
As the meeting at Bethel AME was ending a workshop called
was being held by PJALS across town at the Spokane Public Library. This workshop gave hands on experience in how to challenge oppressive statements.
This action grew out of our First Thursday Coffee Discussion at the Rocket Market last week. If you have taken a positive action please comment on this post.
River Park Square Customer Concerns
January 13, 2017 (as posted on 4comculture.com)
I want to share an experience with you that I have shared with many people – sometimes in a classroom of 30, sometimes to a friend. The other day I shared it with five or six people having coffee together. These are usually all white audiences. I am an African American. I have two memorable experiences in the River Park Square Shopping Mall. One was an art exhibit in Nordstrom’s during Black History Week in the late 1990’s. It was a very pleasant experience and the floorwalker came by and enjoyed my work, smiled and said pleasant things throughout the day. I have only shared that experience with a few people. The other experience took place maybe ten years ago but it often feels like it happened yesterday. Let me describe that second experience.
I am an older man with gray hair and dressed rather conservatively. I was shopping with my wife and began to feel tired and out of breath so I asked my wife to continue shopping while I found a seat in the entryway to the mall. There were two benches, one on the east side of the entrance and the other on the west side. The bench on the east side was filled with a family. A man with many packages was seated on the bench on the west side. I stood next to next to him on the bench, he saw me but he did not make an effort to move over or make room for me on the bench. Feeling very lightheaded at this point I sat down on the floor fearing I was going to fall down. Two or three minutes later a man approached in street clothes and told me that he was security and that I could get up or go to jail. I told him that I was feeling lightheaded and had to rest and that my wife would be back soon to take me home. He told me “Get up or go to jail.” So I got up, walked outside, got some air, came back, my wife came, and we went home. I had expected that mall security would have asked the man to move his packages that I might sit on the bench. He didn’t and I didn’t. I asked security to ask the man and his response was “Get up or go to jail.”
The only reason I am telling you this now, out of all the times I have told this story, is that usually when I do whites listen without saying anything while Blacks say “That’s life.” I think “What’s the use. They’re all white so avoid any kind of confrontation, let it go.” This time when I told the story to a white woman she later contacted me. Here is what she said in her message: “Hey Robert! What a pleasure to hear/see the history in your warm, inviting home. Thanks so much for taking the time to “educate” V and I. BTW, I forgot to mention, I visited for a long time with a Riverpark Square security manager last week about that incident you told me about and learned a lot…must share with you sometime. I encourage you to fill out this complaint form attached and send to Sara Cannon at the address provided. Let me know what you think.“ Attached was this form.
I don’t know how you can use this information. Maybe it can be an educational process for your staff and employees. I’ll probably keep telling the story. But there will be an addition to it. I will tell them about a white lady I met named BB who came to my defense and maybe there is hope after all. I will encourage my listeners to immediately document their own event and send it to the management of the facility and a copy to some social justice organization.
Robert J. Lloyd
During the last eight years I have heard so many complaints about what President Obama has and has not done for us. Barack Obama has done more for America than anyone since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. energized the Civil Rights Movement.
Since 2008 news and social media have done nothing but complain about what politicians did and did not do. If they have not accomplished goals and objectives it is no one’s fault but your own. If you are not satisfied with the 2016 election I suggest that you step up and do something about it.
If there is an issue or a problem that you feel needs fixing, post a comment to this page describing the problem and the name of an organization that works on that problem that you are involved in or would like to be involved in. If you do not know of an organization, volunteer to start such an organization. Include your contact information. I will collate the information everyone contributes and post the results on this site 4comculture.com
What are the issues that you feel are important in the year 2017?
What is your level of commitment?
Are you an actor, are you an ally or are you an accomplice? Click the link to see how we are defining these terms and what you might do: http://wp.me/P1UPVH-2rX
In the January 2017 issue of the Black Lens News Spokane NAACP Secretary Deborah Rose describes how the organizations goals are chosen and that they are “designed to help create a community where all people of all colors feel safe and thrive. Our primary focus is the African American community.”
She goes on to describe the many phone calls and emails the organization receives from individuals with specific problems and concerns that they feel are not being addressed. After explaining that they are “a referral agency only” she outlines the steps taken to listen to the complainants and connect them with the appropriate agency or resource: “People with complaints must first do the following – write down a clear, objective description of the incident including names, places, dates, times. A copy of the Spokane NAACP complaint form is available on our website at spokanenaacp.com, and serves as a template to compile the necessary information. A completed copy of the form must be sent to our office, where we review for clarity, patterns and solutions. We can then refer the complainant to the appropriate resource.” At the end of the article are links to the most frequently used agency complaint forms.
Spokane City Police Department Complaint – (be sure you get the name of the officer at the time of the incident) https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/police/accountability/citizen-complaint-form.pdf.
Spokane PJALS joins SURJ Show Up for Racial Justice
SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals organizing White people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves White people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. We work to connect people across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial justice organizing efforts. SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change.
Our Vision for PJALS
The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane engages everyday people to build a just and nonviolent world
Everyday people are together advancing peace, economic justice, and human rights, through campaigns grounded in the intersections of these values. We are:
Moving from Actor –> Ally –> Accomplice
The ideas captured on this website, very much a work in progress, have been developed to support White people to act for racial justice. It draws from ideas and resources developed mostly by Black, Brown and People of Color, and has been edited by Black, Brown, and People of Color. I recognize that categorizing actions under the labels of Actor, Ally, and Accomplice is an oversimplification, but hopefully this chart challenges all of us White folks to go outside of our comfort zones, take some bigger risks, and make some more significant sacrifices because this is what we’ve been asked to do by those most impacted by racism, colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, xenophobia, and hyper-capitalism. I believe that for real change to occur, we must confront and challenge all people, policies, systems, etc., that maintain privileges and power for White people.
Here are two lists of organizations (Black Led Racial Justice Organizations & A Partial Map of Black-Led Black Liberation Organizing) mostly led by “directly impacted” individuals (people who are most impacted by racist, xenophobic, and violent people/policies) and with missions to directly challenge institutionalized racism and White supremacy.
When Malcolm X was asked how white people could be allies and accomplices with Black people in 1964, he responded: “By visibly hovering near us, they are ‘proving’ that they are ‘with us.’ But the hard truth is this isn’t helping to solve America’s racist problem. The Negroes aren’t the racists. Where the really sincere white people have got to do their ‘proving’ of themselves is not among the black victims, but out on the battle lines of where America’s racism really is — and that’s in their home communities; America’s racism is among their own fellow whites. That’s where sincere whites who really mean to accomplish something have got to work.”
Keep in mind that as White people, whether as an Actor, Ally or Accomplice, we are still part of the ‘oppressor class’. This means we have to be very creative in flipping our privilege to help Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples.
Commit to taking 3 actions in the next month, and share these with a trusted friend, colleague, or family member in order to increase your accountability to follow through on your commitment. Can you take at least one action in the next two weeks in the Ally or Accomplice category?