White people: what are we willing to do to end our legacy of violence???
We are heartbroken, angry and full of grief and despair regarding the unrelenting violence and terror targeting Black and Brown people in this country. You can meet this moment with the commitment to personal and structural transformation - to fight as boldly against racism as it so relentlessly attacks Black and Brown people.
Showing Up for Racial Justice - Ohio (SURJ OH) is a statewide organization including a network of groups and individuals working to undermine white support for white supremacy. Sign-up to get plugged into the work - we promise to support you in taking accountable action for racial justice in Ohio.
Through campaign work, community organizing, mobilization, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of multi-racial coalitions for justice with passion and accountability. SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change.
All systems of inequity in this country are built on the foundations of white supremacy - with deadly consequences for all of us. SURJ OH believes that in order to live in a just and equitable world, white people must ground all of our social justice activism in a framework of personal work + collective action. This means that white people must examine and unpack our relationship to whiteness and white supremacy and its impact on who and how we are in this world. This is quite simply, our work to do as white people.
This personal work extends beyond self transformative and into the communities we’re a part of. White people have a collective responsibility for addressing and undermining white supremacy in all of the ways that it shows up in our society. Structural and systemic racism won't be dismantled by only changing how we show up as individuals - it requires white folks to take collective action - with each other and with organizers and communities of Color fighting for a better world.
THE WORK OF SURJ OH
PERSONAL + COLLECTIVE ACTION
Undermining white support for white supremacy
PERSONAL WORK
Self transformation:
Book clubs and reading lists
SURJ OH chapter network
Workshops and trainings
COLLECTIVE ACTION
With other white folks:
Educating, organizing, and mobilizing white people
Building deeply with white communities most impacted by injustice and structural oppression
Being in relationship with other white folks on their anti-racism journey
Breaking white silence in everyday spaces
Fundraising for grassroots organizations
With Communities and Organizers of Color
Following and supporting the leadership of organizers of color
Participating in coalition building and campaign building
Showing up for actions led by racial justice organizers
Building deep relationships of accountability with organizers and leaders of color
