WHY CLASS MATTERS in ORGANIZING for RACIAL JUSTICE ...
Class is something white people in our movements rarely talk about. Yet is essential that we talk about and normalize it if we're going to build a successful anti-racist movement.
How does class impact our organizing? What do middle-class and owning class folks have to learn from working-class leaders? How has the left historically ignored class and what's the impact on our movement? How can I begin a discussion about class in my chapter?
As we look at class, we want to look at it fully. This means looking at class identity, which is knowing what class we are part of (or if we don't know, thinking about why we don't know and what would help us to know). This means looking at class consciousness, which is understanding who is with us and who we are with related to class background and culture. This means bringing a class analysis, which means understanding how oppression is maintained and how we might dismantle it. Too often conversations about class, like conversations about race, get stuck in focusing on identity only or consciousness only or analysis only, and all these pieces matter and are necessary.
On this page, we will begin a discussion about these questions and many more.
How does class impact our organizing? What do middle-class and owning class folks have to learn from working-class leaders? How has the left historically ignored class and what's the impact on our movement? How can I begin a discussion about class in my chapter?
As we look at class, we want to look at it fully. This means looking at class identity, which is knowing what class we are part of (or if we don't know, thinking about why we don't know and what would help us to know). This means looking at class consciousness, which is understanding who is with us and who we are with related to class background and culture. This means bringing a class analysis, which means understanding how oppression is maintained and how we might dismantle it. Too often conversations about class, like conversations about race, get stuck in focusing on identity only or consciousness only or analysis only, and all these pieces matter and are necessary.
On this page, we will begin a discussion about these questions and many more.
|
This is a challenging time for SURJ and for the movement to organize white people for racial justice. Spurred by the courageous leadership of the movement for Black lives, and the struggles for immigrant and indigenous justice, more and more white people are coming to understand that our silence holds oppression in place, and that our liberation is bound up in ending white supremacy.
As a key component of growing a movement that meets this moment and builds for the long haul, SURJ leadership has made a commitment to prioritize the leadership and organizing of white working class and poor people in our efforts to organize white people for racial justice. Working class and poor people, who are disproportionately people of color, are the majority in our country, and have historically been the leaders and base of the struggles for social change. While people of color bear the brunt of racism, large numbers of white people have also been failed by the system - facing job loss, inadequate housing and cutbacks in core services. Instead of addressing real fears and insecurity, racist elites actively target white working class white people into blaming people of color for the problems their families and vulnerable communities face. Of course, middle class and other non-working class and poor people will remain critical to the work of organizing 7 million white people for racial justice. Only a powerful cross-class movement that includes the leadership of poor and working class people will be strong enough to dismantle white supremacy. This work is not easy. In order to move forward, it is vital that SURJ as an organization continue to develop structures that are accountable and accessible, and decision-making processes that are inclusive and transparent. As we go through this period of movement and organizational challenges, we are committed as a national Leadership Team to being accountable and transparent with all of our leadership and SURJ chapters on the ground. Together, we will help one another move forward to be part of building a white flank of a multiracial movement, led by people of color, to end white supremacy and liberate all of us. |
Class is a social system that divides people based on jobs, wealth, resources, education, influence, and power. Below are the most commonly used class identity terms (offered with significant influence from Class Matters.
Poor/Welfare Class people often experience: |
Working Class |
|
|
Middle Class
|
Owning Class or Ruling Class |
|
|
Class is a very complicated matter, and class groups are not clearly divided. For example, some people are born into one class and then change their class status due to (in)access to healthcare, education, employment, cross-class family relationships, and other challenges and opportunities. Also, due to the successes of poor working class organizing on issues like living wages, housing access, and education, some class markers have and will continue to shift.
|
Class is not just the amount of money someone has in their pocket or the resources they can access. It is a culture. The spaces that we grow, learn, play, work, and struggle in teach us norms, or how to do things on a daily basis. These norms include things like language, how to build relationships, and who has power or influence.
|
CLASS CULTURES |
|
EDUCATION |
POOR AND WORKING CLASS
See values in formal and informal education.
Education is a tool for gaining access or advancing in career. |
MIDDLE AND OWNING CLASS
Education creates status.
Only formal education is appreciated. Education can be engaged with whenever it is desired. |
|
SUCCESS
|
Community gains.
|
Individual gains.
|
|
LANGUAGE and COMMUNICATION
|
Varies regionally and with experience.
Communication is often direct. |
Values "proper" grammar and spelling, jargon, academic.
Indirect communication, conflict avoidance. |
|
RESPECT
|
Experience
Loyalty Character |
Professionalism
Formal accomplishments Institutional Access |
|
VALUES
|
Community
Solidarity Multiple generations Struggle and work |
Individual advancement
Formal recognition Social status |
|
RELATIONSHIPS
|
Solidarity and mutually based
More likely to span identities, ages, cultures, and beliefs |
Primarily with similar people
Used to gain status |
It is important to note that the spectrum of poor and working class identity is very broad, and that often as people have more secure working class employment, they are pushed to resemble the middle class more and more due to the shame working class people are made to feel. When we talk about class culture, we are talking about general things that are often seen in communities. These are not absolutes.
|
The social construct of race in the United States was created and enforced by Owning Class people in the 1600s to prevent poor white European people from joining African and Native American people in revolts. Since then, economics have played a long and painful history in the ways that racism has been enforced against People of Color, and how poor and working class white people have been scapegoated for racism.
When many people think of what racism and white supremacy in the United States looks like, they fall back on negative stereotypes of poor and working class white people. In reality, it is Middle Class (to some extent) and Owning Class people that make significant profits from white supremacy This isn’t to say that poor and working class white people don’t have a stake in ending white supremacy, because they absolutely do. The folks who have the most to gain from change (and for whom the system is most broken for) are the most likely to fight the hardest in movement work, put their bodies on the line, and take risk. Our movements need to see poor and working class people as gifts and assets, not targets and burdens. Working class values make all of our organizing stronger because:
|
|
The people who "show up" are usually the people who are asked, feel welcome, and can. Check the class environment of the spaces you are in by considering ...
|
Locations and Settings of Events
Representation
Culture
Language
|
SURJ often speaks about reaching people “in motion”, and people who are “movable”. Sometimes these words are used to mean people with formal education, resources, academic analysis, belonging to a certain subculture, and the ability to attend meetings; and that limits our focus to Middle and Owning class people. Meanwhile, stereotypes and prejudices place blame and shame on working class and poor white people. Many leftist, progressive, and radical groups describe these communities as the owners and perpetrators of white supremacy, completely ignoring the fact that poor and working class white people have long worked in solidarity with communities of color to fight racism and classism. |
R E S O U R C E S
|
|
Listen to this NPR interview with Alfred Lubrano, author of the new book Limbo: Blue Collar Roots, White Collar Dreams. Lubrano writes from first hand experience about the white-collar children of blue-collar parents; he calls them "straddlers," people who follow what can sometimes be a very difficult path away from the family and into an unfamiliar and often uncomfortable world.
|
White Working Class Support for Trump and the Media
A C T I V I T Y G U I D E
TO START |
|
Read Ask people to read this article in advance of the discussion.
DISCUSSION |
|
|
Lots of media coverage blames the working class, not democratic lawmakers, for the rise of Trump. The author writes: “In seeking to explain Trump’s appeal, proportionate media coverage would require more stories about the racism and misogyny among white Trump supporters in tony suburbs. Or, if we’re examining economically driven bitterness among the working class, stories about the Democratic lawmakers who in recent decades ended welfare as we knew it, hopped in the sack with Wall Street and forgot American labor in their global trade agreements.” One working class person quoted in the article said "We don't need their analysis, and we sure don't need their tears. What we need is to have our stories told, preferably by someone who can walk into a factory without his own guilt fogging his glasses." When Hilary Clinton recently declared half of Trump supporters a "basket of deplorables," Zaitchik told another reporter, the language "could be read as another way of saying 'white-trash bin.'" |
DEBRIEF |
|
Reconvene Bring the full group back together. Ask people to turn to a partner to reflect on their takeaways from the small group discussion.
Share Ask people to share a few takeaways with the larger group.
Discuss Facilitate a short conversation with the group: What might we do differently as a group given this conversation?
Action Identify action steps and a point person to carry each piece of work forward.
Note: Concrete action steps and ideas can be found in the Cross-Class Capacity Tool and the Disability and Access Toolkit.
Class and SURJ
S P E C T R U M A C T I V I T Y G U I D E
PURPOSE |
|
Whether your SURJ chapter is brand new or has been around for a while, this activity will give your group a chance to reflect on how it is addressing class in its work. This activity can bring about an assessment of what your group is doing well, where your group could grow, where you need support, and/or areas of feedback to share with SURJ National.
FACILITATOR INSTRUCTIONS |
|
Option 1 Please check to be sure that this activity is accessible to everyone in your group. If not, use Option 2. Take into consideration that this activity will require standing for an extended period, moving in a small space, and some reading.
|
Option 2 Please check to be sure that this activity is accessible to everyone in your group. If not, adapt it to meet the needs of the group. Take into consideration that this activity will require holding up cards, telling colors apart, and some reading.
|
PARTICIPANT INSTRUCTIONS |
|
|
|
STATEMENTS
|
|
We provide food and childcare at meeting spaces/events. We ensure that meeting spaces are child-friendly and have reasonable start and finish times.
We use class identifiers: we’re transparent and honest about our class backgrounds when getting to know each other and when starting to work together.
We practice creative ways to redistribute wealth and to invest in the leadership of poor and working-class people in our group.
We move at an accessible pace. We model a schedule, leadership and/or decision-making that is inclusive to working-class and poor folks.
We engage in campaigns that are relevant to poor and working-class whites, ideally that are developed by and for low-income white folks. Relevancy includes relevancy in approach, demands, and language.
We take time to reflect on what type of culture is being created and in what ways it may center around middle- or upper-class norms and comfort.
We support meeting spaces (in-person, phone, online, etc.) for poor and working-class whites to strategize, share and develop resources, develop peer mentorship relationships, and support each other.
Our class-privileged people have each other to sort things through with one another and challenge one another to dive deeper. We don’t ask the poor and working-class people in our chapter to lead all of our class work or to educate class-privileged people.
We use class identifiers: we’re transparent and honest about our class backgrounds when getting to know each other and when starting to work together.
We practice creative ways to redistribute wealth and to invest in the leadership of poor and working-class people in our group.
We move at an accessible pace. We model a schedule, leadership and/or decision-making that is inclusive to working-class and poor folks.
We engage in campaigns that are relevant to poor and working-class whites, ideally that are developed by and for low-income white folks. Relevancy includes relevancy in approach, demands, and language.
We take time to reflect on what type of culture is being created and in what ways it may center around middle- or upper-class norms and comfort.
We support meeting spaces (in-person, phone, online, etc.) for poor and working-class whites to strategize, share and develop resources, develop peer mentorship relationships, and support each other.
Our class-privileged people have each other to sort things through with one another and challenge one another to dive deeper. We don’t ask the poor and working-class people in our chapter to lead all of our class work or to educate class-privileged people.
|
DEBRIEF
|
|
You can debrief as a full group or can caucus by class to debrief, then reconvene as a full group to share the takeaways from each group.
- What are you taking away from that activity?
- Is there anything that surprised you?
- Where are we doing really well?
- Where do we need to grow?
- When is the next time we can talk about our plan for growth and how we can lean into ways to live out our values more fully?
