TOWARDS THE “OTHER AMERICA”: ANTI-RACIST RESOURCES FOR WHITE PEOPLE TAKING ACTION FOR BLACK LIVES MATTER
“Towards the ‘Other America’ is an important primer for new and seasoned white anti-racist organizers and activists in the era of #BlackLivesMatter. Today, the Right attacks and attempts to de-legitimize the movement for Black lives by using the age old wedge of white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy. But tomorrow, the one we must work together to build, will have millions of anti-racist whites who say 'Not in our name.’ This collection of essays and interviews, grounded in practical lessons, will help us get one step closer to that tomorrow.”
- Alicia Garza, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter organizing network
As the Black Lives Matter movement has taken to the streets and courageous Black activists around the country have shaken the racist foundations of the country, there has been a groundswell of anti-racist action in white communities. With millions of white people questioning their assumptions about race, longtime and new white anti-racists have mobilized to declare “White Silence = Consent”.
Towards the "Other America": Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter is a call to action to end white silence and a manual on how to do it. In addition to his own soul searching essays and practical organizing advice in his “notes to activists", Crass lifts up the voices of longtime white anti-racist leaders organizing in white communities for Black Lives Matter. Crass has collected lessons and vibrant examples of this work from rural working class communities in Kentucky and Maine, mass direct action in Wisconsin and New York, faith-based efforts among Jewish communities, Unitarian Universalists, and the United Church of Christ, and national efforts like Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
Chris Crass calls on all of us to join our values to the power of love and act with courage for a world where Black lives truly matter. A world where the death culture of white supremacy no longer devours the lives of Black people and no longer deforms the hearts and souls of white people. The goal of this book is to equip white people, politically, spiritually and emotionally, to work for the liberation of us all, with Black Lives Matter at the center.
“Towards the ‘Other America’ is an important primer for new and seasoned white anti-racist organizers and activists in the era of #BlackLivesMatter. Today, the Right attacks and attempts to de-legitimize the movement for Black lives by using the age old wedge of white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy. But tomorrow, the one we must work together to build, will have millions of anti-racist whites who say 'Not in our name.’ This collection of essays and interviews, grounded in practical lessons, will help us get one step closer to that tomorrow.”
- Alicia Garza, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter organizing network
As the Black Lives Matter movement has taken to the streets and courageous Black activists around the country have shaken the racist foundations of the country, there has been a groundswell of anti-racist action in white communities. With millions of white people questioning their assumptions about race, longtime and new white anti-racists have mobilized to declare “White Silence = Consent”.
Towards the "Other America": Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter is a call to action to end white silence and a manual on how to do it. In addition to his own soul searching essays and practical organizing advice in his “notes to activists", Crass lifts up the voices of longtime white anti-racist leaders organizing in white communities for Black Lives Matter. Crass has collected lessons and vibrant examples of this work from rural working class communities in Kentucky and Maine, mass direct action in Wisconsin and New York, faith-based efforts among Jewish communities, Unitarian Universalists, and the United Church of Christ, and national efforts like Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
Chris Crass calls on all of us to join our values to the power of love and act with courage for a world where Black lives truly matter. A world where the death culture of white supremacy no longer devours the lives of Black people and no longer deforms the hearts and souls of white people. The goal of this book is to equip white people, politically, spiritually and emotionally, to work for the liberation of us all, with Black Lives Matter at the center.
PRAISE FOR TOWARDS THE "OTHER AMERICA"
“White supremacy is an overwhelming crisis for humanity, one that is making it impossible for any human to evolve in right relationship with the planet and the species. It has not, and will not, be resolved merely by Black and other non-white people fighting for a change - it must be unlearned, relinquished by those who walk with the privileges of whiteness. Chris Crass has been stepping up into leadership in this work in ways that reach beyond ally, all the way to comrade. I know he does the work not to be politically correct, or down with people of color, but because his soul demands it. I am so grateful for this book as a deep dive into that work to heal the collective white soul.”
- adrienne maree brown, Co-editor, Octavia's Brood
"I am elated that Chris Crass has taken on with bold and courageous vigor the mantle of addressing this true reality. Race, racism and white supremacy are alive and well and must be named through our contemporary lenses. Language and practice has to be pointed to and correctives engaged. Thank you, Chris for this timely and honest work."
- The Rev. Dr. John Selders Jr., Associate College Chaplain, Trinity College Pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ, Activist and Educator
“In the post-Ferguson period, there appears to be a genuine effort on the part of white progressives to play both a greater role in the racial justice movement as well as a more meaningful role. This will require re-thinking and re-tooling of white privilege. Chris Crass has provided anti-racist leadership in this area for long time but his Towards the ‘Other America’ is a clarion call for conscious whites who seek genuine solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The book demands that white folks shed their skin privilege quicker so that they can get on with the business of organizing within the white community in a deeper way.”
- Jamala Rogers, Co-founder of a number of St. Louis based groups such as the Organization for Black Struggle and the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression. Convener of the people of color Accountability Team for the Anti-Racist Collective (The Justice Institute) and the author of Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion.
Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy
“Many call for a revitalized Left to challenge the neoliberal war on the 99%, but few explain what that might look like. Chris Crass not only shows us what an energized radical movement looks like, he demonstrates that it is already here—in anti-racist movements, in women of color feminism, in queer politics, in anti-imperialist and anti-war movements, and in a movement-based anarchism grounded in the struggles of ordinary people to collectively resist oppression and dispossession while building liberatory, democratic communities of resistance. Crass understands all of these movements as a source of strength and solidarity, not diversions from the class struggle. Towards Collective Liberation ought to be essential reading for anyone who believes a different Revolution is possible.”
- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
This book is for activists engaging with dynamic questions of how to create and support effective movements for visionary systemic change. Chris Crass’s collection of essays and interviews presents us with powerful lessons for transformative organizing through offering a firsthand look at the challenges and the opportunities of anti-racist work in white communities, feminist work with men, and bringing women of color feminism into the heart of social movements. Drawing on two decades of personal activist experience and case studies of anti-racist social justice organizations, Crass insightfully explores ways of transforming divisions of race, class, and gender into catalysts for powerful vision,strategy, and movement building in the United States today.
Over the last two decades, activists in the United States have been experimenting with new politics and organizational approaches that stem from a fusion of radical political traditions and liberation struggles. Drawing inspiration from women of color feminism, justice struggles in communities of color, anarchist and socialist movements, the broad upsurges of the 1960s and 70s, and social movements in the Global South, a new generation of activists has sought to understand the past while building a movement for today’s world. Towards Collective Liberation contributes to this project by examining two primary dynamic trends in these efforts: the anarchist movement of the 1990s and 2000s, through which tens of thousands of activists were introduced to radical politics, direct action organizing, democratic decision making, and the profound challenges of taking on systems of oppression, privilege, and power in society at large and in the movement itself; and white anti-racist organizing efforts from the 2000s to the present as part of a larger strategy to build broad-based, effective multiracial movements in the United States.
Crass’s collection begins with an overview of the anarchist tradition as it relates to contemporary activism and an in-depth look at Food Not Bombs, one of the leading anarchist groups in the revitalized radical Left in the 1990s. The second and third sections of the book combine stories and lessons from Crass’s experiences of working as an anti-racist and feminist organizer, combining insights from the Civil Rights Movement, women of color feminism, and anarchism to address questions of leadership, organization building, and revolutionary strategy. In section four, Crass discusses how contemporary organizations have responded to the need for white activists to lead anti-racist efforts in white communities and how these efforts have contributed to multiracial alliances in building a broad-based movement for collective liberation. Offering rich case studies of successful organizing, and grounded, thoughtful key lessons for movement building, Toward Collective Liberation is a must-read for anyone working for a better world.
- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
This book is for activists engaging with dynamic questions of how to create and support effective movements for visionary systemic change. Chris Crass’s collection of essays and interviews presents us with powerful lessons for transformative organizing through offering a firsthand look at the challenges and the opportunities of anti-racist work in white communities, feminist work with men, and bringing women of color feminism into the heart of social movements. Drawing on two decades of personal activist experience and case studies of anti-racist social justice organizations, Crass insightfully explores ways of transforming divisions of race, class, and gender into catalysts for powerful vision,strategy, and movement building in the United States today.
Over the last two decades, activists in the United States have been experimenting with new politics and organizational approaches that stem from a fusion of radical political traditions and liberation struggles. Drawing inspiration from women of color feminism, justice struggles in communities of color, anarchist and socialist movements, the broad upsurges of the 1960s and 70s, and social movements in the Global South, a new generation of activists has sought to understand the past while building a movement for today’s world. Towards Collective Liberation contributes to this project by examining two primary dynamic trends in these efforts: the anarchist movement of the 1990s and 2000s, through which tens of thousands of activists were introduced to radical politics, direct action organizing, democratic decision making, and the profound challenges of taking on systems of oppression, privilege, and power in society at large and in the movement itself; and white anti-racist organizing efforts from the 2000s to the present as part of a larger strategy to build broad-based, effective multiracial movements in the United States.
Crass’s collection begins with an overview of the anarchist tradition as it relates to contemporary activism and an in-depth look at Food Not Bombs, one of the leading anarchist groups in the revitalized radical Left in the 1990s. The second and third sections of the book combine stories and lessons from Crass’s experiences of working as an anti-racist and feminist organizer, combining insights from the Civil Rights Movement, women of color feminism, and anarchism to address questions of leadership, organization building, and revolutionary strategy. In section four, Crass discusses how contemporary organizations have responded to the need for white activists to lead anti-racist efforts in white communities and how these efforts have contributed to multiracial alliances in building a broad-based movement for collective liberation. Offering rich case studies of successful organizing, and grounded, thoughtful key lessons for movement building, Toward Collective Liberation is a must-read for anyone working for a better world.
Praise for towards collective liberation
“Grace Lee Boggs once told me that one’s political orientation is often determined by the milieu in which one comes of age. For Chris Crass and others of our generation, it was our generation’s refusal to accept the end of history, that capitalism was the only way. But, along the way, other structures of domination pervaded our spaces, defined by race, class, gender identity, and sexuality. Many of us tried to reconcile with this contradiction, but none as successfully as Chris. His thoughtful essays in this collection wrestle with this and many other questions, a testament to the example Chris has set for the generation of committed white organizers that followed.”
—Yvonne Yen Liu, Colorlines.com
“Chris Crass goes into the grassroots to produce a political vision that will catalyze political change. Drawing from the history of the anarchist tradition, Crass offers lessons and inspiration for a revitalized fully human left, alert to the
distinctions between people and the social hierarchies that smother the full liberation of our humanity unmarked. These are words from the heart, overflowing onto the streets.”
—Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World and Karma of
Brown Folks
“In Towards Collective Liberation, Chris Crass has shared with us a valuable collection of thoughtful, honest, and humble reflections on what it means to build the world that we are waiting for. Chris achieves the difficult task of practice driven-theory—encouraging and allowing all of us to be present in our work, to lead with our hearts, and to embody the change that we seek. It is through these critical and sometimes painfully honest reflections that we as organizers, activists, and social change makers are given the courage to do the same.”
—Alicia Garza, National Domestic Worker Alliance
“As a young Affrilachian woman engaged in the struggle, it is refreshing to hear analysis that is contemporary from another young person who is connecting the dots between practice and theory in the struggle to smash white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. In Towards Collective Liberation, Chris’s openness in talking about his own process and experiences is timely as we try to build movements that don’t reproduce the systems that we’re trying to overcome. I look forward to sharing it with my comrades in struggle.”
—Ash-Lee Henderson, organizer with Project South and former steering committee member of Appalachia Rising
“With compelling honesty Chris Crass shares his journey toward understanding his own privilege in order to become a more effective ally in struggles for justice. Towards Collective Liberation provides inspiration and practical guidance for working across differences of race, class, sexuality, and gender. It is a thoughtful and engaging handbook for our times.”
—Barbara Smith, author of The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom, founding member of the Combahee River Collective, and editor of Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology
“Towards Collective Liberation is an important contribution to the history of social movements. It a powerful, beautifully written account of twenty years of political organizing in the anarchist movement, by a young man whose entire life has been dedicated to the struggle for social justice. The book is a careful analysis of the origins, strategies and debates within movements like Food Not Bombs, the Rural Organizing Project, the Catalyst Project, showing that ‘anarchist organizing’ is not an oxymoron. Most impressive is Crass’s commitment to confront the sexism and racism within the movement and willingness to scrutinize his own life in this perspective. For anyone interested in learning about the soil from which the Global Justice and Occupy Movements have sprouted from, this is an essential read.”
—Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body, and Primitive Accumulation
Towards Collective Liberation Panel on the book in Santa Rosa, CA
Panel organized by the Racial Justice Allies, the Black Student Union (Santa Rosa Junior College chapter), and the California Student Union (Santa Rosa Junior College chapter).
Radio interviews with chris crass about his book
Against the Grain on KPFA/Pacifica Radio
Wed 3.27.13 | Movement Work
Working for economic justice has its rewards, but it's far from easy. Veteran organizer Chris Crass has learned a lot about the nuts and bolts -- and ups and downs -- of organizing strategy, movement-building, and antiracist and feminist praxis. Part of his new book focuses on the efforts of Food Not Bombs, which combines the serving of free meals with radical political work.
Wed 3.27.13 | Movement Work
Working for economic justice has its rewards, but it's far from easy. Veteran organizer Chris Crass has learned a lot about the nuts and bolts -- and ups and downs -- of organizing strategy, movement-building, and antiracist and feminist praxis. Part of his new book focuses on the efforts of Food Not Bombs, which combines the serving of free meals with radical political work.
Voices of the 99% on Occupy DC Radio
Eyes Open with Justin Jacoby Smith
An interview with author of Towards Collective Liberation, Chris Crass, about anarchist organizing, leadership for liberation, praxis-based organizing, and lessons for today's activists.
Eyes Open with Justin Jacoby Smith
An interview with author of Towards Collective Liberation, Chris Crass, about anarchist organizing, leadership for liberation, praxis-based organizing, and lessons for today's activists.
