How does the economic justice movement need to change, to gain the trust and support of POC?

[Ken Burch]

The primaries are over.

The candidate who most strongly supported economic justice lost, largely on the votes of POC, who felt they could not trust that candidate to defend their interests and fight for the things that are most viscerally crucial to them, and who felt the same sense of distrust towards the economic justice movement in general.

As I said, the primaries are over.

That candidate will never seek the presidency again.

The shortcomings OF that candidate are no longer the point and I'd ask that they not be the subject of this thread.

Nor should the worst behavior of some of that candidate's supporters...behavior I fully condemn.

But the economic justice movement, whose intent has always been to create a multiracial, multiethnic, multigender, multicreed coalition for fundamental democratic change, will go on.

It will, as it always has(and not always managed to achieve or communicate effectively, obviously), seek to address institutional AND grassroots bigotry in all forms as a major part of its project.

Those involved in the economic justice movement do not believe, and have never believed, that the achievement of economic justice will eradicate institutional and grassroots bigotry. We believe, instead, that it is a crucial component of defeating those forms of oppression, however.

But we clearly need to find ways of showing those of you in the AA community(as we also need to show Latinos, Native Americans/First Nations people, Asian-Americans and recent immigrants, as well as LGBTQ people and Muslims) that we understand the histories of oppression that shape you, that the struggles against those oppressions will be acknowledged and placed at the forefront of the work we do, that none of us support "colorblind" approaches to what we work for, and that we will make sure the needs of historically oppressed communities are never, in any way whatsoever, subordinated to those of white males, as they were too many times in the past.

I'm not going to post any more in this thread after posting the OP, and this is meant to be a place for suggestions and a positive exchange of ideas so that we might all go forward in unity.

I'll respond by pm if anyone wants a response, but the point of the thread is not to read things I post; instead, it is to learn from what you have to say and to use that knowledge to avoid repeating past mistakes. There is a lot to learn, and the intent is to learn enough to unite the "social justice" and "economic justice" causes, eventually, into a struggle for justice, period. The fight against institutional social oppression, while it should properly be led by POC, deserves the support of all. And the fight against economic oppression affects all of us and requires a coalition including the entire non-wealthy majority, because we are all part of the economic structure. At the same time, it is clear that wealth doesn't automatically immunize historically oppressed people from institutional bigotry, so victims of that form of oppression must get everyone's full support even if they are personally wealthy.

If you are willing to do so, please give examples of what, as you see it, POC need to see and hear from the economic justice movement, in the days and years to come, in order to believe that this movement fights for and has a place in its ranks for you-that you will not be left out in the cold by it.

[Squinch]

1. First, those who voted for Hillary are of the opinion that the candidate who

most strongly supported economic justice won. We feel that her plans were more practical and more likely to result in the economic changes that we all want.

Second, the way to show African American people that you will make sure the needs of historically oppressed communities are never subordinated is to not ignore or dismiss the words of African American people. Don't say that they do not understand the issues well enough to see your enlightened point. Don't say that they are working against their own interests which implies that you understand their interests better than they do. Don't say or imply they are victims of Stockholm Syndrome. Don't say or imply that social issues should be subverted to economic issues, or that dealing with economic issues will solve social issues when POCs tell you, over and over again, that this is simply not true.

Don't say "we need to find ways of showing you." The fact is that AA's don't need to be shown anything. Those who did the above things, those who feel they "need to find ways of showing" AA people how to agree with them, need to fundamentally change the way they look at this problem.

[Squinch]

3. AND the best nominee for economic justice. I also find it weird

that this OP seems to think it is speaking for "those of us in the economic justice movement."

I wonder what they think they have accomplished that constitutes a "movement."

And I wonder if they really think that giving themself the title of "movement" gives them the right to require explanations from large segments of the population.

[JI7]

9. and does this"movement" include those who now support trump

After complaining for months and years about the democratic party not bEing liberal enough ?

[Starry Messenger]

4. I think you got turned around.

The economic justice coalition won, it just isn't what you are accustomed to seeing.

[Kind of Blue]

5. The shortcoming of that candidate is precisely the point.

You claim to understand the histories of oppression that shape us, I'll add you and the nation. You cannot keep saying "you," "you," "you," as if to remove yourself from the oppression. And fail to understand that this has been a huge contributing factor to the downfall within the movement time and time again, that that candidate surprisingly manifested all these years later.

I suggest that you start by studying as far back as the abolitionists to that candidate, and you'll figure out how we've been left out in the cold. Early threads in this forum starting last summer on that candidate and the whole movement is a good place to start.

I think you've answered your own questions in the OP but, for some reason, reasoning stops when it comes to POC though all the answers are there.

[Blasphemer]

6. I do not find the economic justice movement to be at all revolutionary

Your question seems to speak to the idea of placing other issues under the umbrella of economic justice and thereby creating a coalition of people that fight multiple injustices but are united by economics. I fundamentally reject the premise that we are united by economic injustice. I reject the idea that racial injustice must be seen through the lens of economic injustice. This notion has it backwards. The only revolutionary fight worth having is one that eradicates racial injustice. Economic populism is not new. It is not revolutionary. The country has been down that road many times. It always fails. Why? Because we continue to avoid dealing with the real problem - race. From the days when both black and white indentured servants were brought onto the killing fields we eventually came to call the United States of America, those in power knew (and still know) that race and is the most effective tool of marginalization and disempowerment.

You want economic justice, then the the real fight is for racial justice. Economic injustice must be seen through the lens of race. You eliminate the racial hierarchy and the class hierarchy falls down with it. Capitalism feeds on racism. It constructed "race," which has no biological meaning, to sustain itself. No politician who promotes an economic justice movement without leading FIRST with race will ever get my support. And certainly not one who was part of the civil rights movement and therefore knows better. Certainly not one who threw away the opportunity to teach a younger generation that which it is naive to. What has happened in 2016 is not simply wrongheaded but actually dangerous to the plight of POC. Many young people believe a colorblind myth about economic injustice. If there is to be any kind of coalition building, we need to replace these mythologies with truth and those who consider themselves to be allies of POC need to get real about race and privilege. Collective accountability begins with personal accountability.

[JI7]

7. try listening. they viewed Clinton as the candidate who will bring economic justice

[JI7]

8. you are wrong about lack of trust when it comes to sanders. it wasn't about sanders as much as

Support for Clinton and what she has done over the years.

Just like support for Obama over Clinton had nothing to do with feelings towards Clinton but rather about support for obama.