We invite you to join us for our upcoming Unlearning Circle on Sat, June 11, 2022, where we continue our to explore our role in building accountable communities.

The aftermath of the Uvalde School shooting is a hard moment to talk about police abolition. For all the times we’ve said that policing does not solve problems, in the face of horrific violence, those of us racialized as white cannot imagine what else could. Despite clear evidence in this case and thousands like it, that police not only don’t keep us safe, they make life more dangerous, our multi-generational socialization kicks in.

From Gunsmoke to the Wire, from Law & Order to the nightly news, we’ve been brainwashed to believe that, in violent situations, police are our only option. Conservative politicians already ruthlessly spin the Uvalde story in their arguments for more guns and policing.

In the face of white supremacy’s delusions around policing, we cannot stand silent. If there was ever a moment that calls for Unlearning, this one is it. In UWSA’s June Unlearning Circle, we will examine and peel back layers of socialization.

We know that well resourced communities, those with housing, health care, mental health resources, and community connections are safer. Communities of people that institutions recognize as fully human and worthy of protection are safer. We will look at where each of us sit in our own communities and in relation to the violence that keeps us relatively safe. We will ask what we can do, individually and collectively, to make communities and schools safer for us all.  

Suggested Resources:

• What "defund the police" really means (video) - Vox Media. Highlights reallocating police budgets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9w841nrIBg

• Questions To Ask Before You Call Police https://dontcallthepolice.com/2020/08/15/questions-to-ask-before-you-call-police/

• Whose Security is it Anyway? A Toolkit to Address Institutional Violence in Nonprofit Organizations by Lara Brooks and Mariame Kaba https://files.cargocollective.com/c1012822/Whose-Security.pdf

About our Unlearning Circles -

UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way. The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.

In solidarity,

The UWSA Organizing Team