October Surprise: No Room for Racism
Throughout the month of October, 2012, organizations and individuals committed to engaging white people in racial justice will join together in a series of actions designed to elevate the visibility of white people publicly asking white candidates, key media outlets and others to support racial justice instead of positions that reinforce racial and social inequities.
We believe in the potential to work together to build and strengthen the base of white people locally, regionally and nationally who can“show up” to support and partner with communities of color in moving forward shared efforts for racial equality.
Simultaneously, we are tired of the barrage of negative assumptions, assertions and allusions to people and communities of color in this election season.
Goals
- To raise the level of white visibility in challenging racial inequities;
- To hold white power-holders accountable by other white people for their actions or positions that have negative racial impacts;
- To expand public attention to systemic racism—particularly the racial impacts of public policies and policymakers’ actions;
- To develop and model ways to raise issues about racism in an engaging and constructive way, with an emphasis on advancing proactive solutions;
- To provide an opportunity for SURJ to develop more experience and opportunities for coordinated actions among white racial justice groups.
Time Frame
During each week in October 2012, SURJ has identified a different racial justice theme that will guide our actions. SURJ will distribute a tool-kit of actions with concrete, easy action steps that will take between five minutes and an hour to complete. The actions do not need to be on the same day around the country, but actions will be linked to weekly themes.
Themes
Each week will have a different focus. Over the five weeks in October we will look at: education, the economy, immigration, prisons and voter suppression. We will also be responding to key incidents that arise over the month of October.
Coordinating Organization
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
Participants
Any organization or individual — particularly those with a base-building strategy of engaging white people in racial justice efforts — that want to organize an action during this timeframe.
Examples
In the week focused on immigration, a local group could take pictures of their members to post on the blog highlighting Sheriff Joe Arpiaos’ record on human rights abuses arpaiodoesntspeakforme.tumblr.com.
During the week focused on voter suppression: participants could share an infographic via social media like this: www.newstaco.com/2012/04/09/voter-suppression-in-the-u-s-an-infographic.
On education issues, one action could be to use a lesson plan created by teachers highlighting key issues impacting students of color in public schools across the country.
How to be a part of October Surprise
- Pledge to take four actions for racial justice in October and record your actions to share with the SURJ community
- Invite other organizations and individuals to join the month of action
- Spread the word: use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc to share the action you have taken
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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.
