National Resource Center on Domestic (NRCDV) Statement on Mother Jones article How the Mainstream Movement Against Gender-Based Violence Fails Black Workers and Survivors by Madison Pauly
Harrisburg, PA - NRCDV honors the courage of the Black movement makers quoted in this article who spoke truth to power by sharing their experiences. We particularly uplift our Vice President of Programs, Prevention & Social Change, Arlene Vassell who spoke to the nurturing and care of future Black leaders and interrupting the cycles of bias and oppression.
We acknowledge that this is a form of violence that many advocates across the country, particularly Black advocates, continue to experience daily as they show up in their leadership and seek healing, safety, and justice for survivors. Let us be clear, racism is violence. To be a transformative and authentic base which propels change, this movement must own, and course correct the harms that have been done to Black survivors, Black advocates, and Black communities. We must own how we’ve participated in and benefited from white supremacy causing such harm. We must acknowledge and deal directly with how anti-blackness shows up within our movement, organizations, and within us individually. We must deal with the truth of our own power and control dynamics. This requires us to move beyond fear and apply the unlearning and new learning that so many of us have taken on in becoming anti-racist and more equitable organizations. At minimum, it is time for us to put the anti-racism reading to action, be uncomfortable, do the emotional labor, and throw out the ally group “busy work” to move beyond anti-racism performance guided by intellect towards operating from both heart and intellect.
The time is long over-due for the mainstream to take on the social justice framework and over 40-years of feminist analysis, we so eloquently educate others on, and apply this to the actions of our own doing within our organizations.
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