I came across this Bluesky post from political philosopher Olufemi O. Taiwo that specified that when looking to organize, it would be better to find an organization that encouraged you to "DO a thing" vs trying to "BE a thing." https://bsky.app/profile/olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social/post/3latilqzsiw2e

I really want to join a political organization focused on protecting Trans Rights in red states, ending the genocide in Palestine, protecting abortive rights, or just in general fight against everything Trump, the GOP and Project 2025 are advocating.

My problem is, I have no idea how to make the distinction between joining an organization that encourages you to "do things" vs "being things." I figured this subreddit would be as good a place as any to start; does anyone know of any it's that fit these descriptions? I'm in NorCal btw.

College kid, staying in town over break due to an unusual home/travel situation.

I am half American. Many of my international friends of my non-American ethnicity are also in town for break, and I would like to invite them over for dinner on Thanksgiving. Problem is, the holiday has become super controversial here in recent years---mostly due to the inaccurate "history" taught about it in schools.

Growing up, my family never gave much attention to the Thanksgiving myth. We focused on food, family, and spending time with whatever community we were currently living in (I had an unconventional upbrining). I associate warm and fuzzy feelings with the holiday, and would like to carry on this tradition by sharing a meal with my friends, many of whom get lonely this time of year.

But. Since starting school, I have become involved with the local food sovereignty group, which has a heavy Indigenous presence. Our leader is Native, and we get invited to cater events held by state tribes. These are great people whom I like a lot, and I would hate to disrespect them by glorifying the abuses their communities suffered under colonialism.

How can I host a dinner for my friends while remaining respectful? I will obviously not be touting the "Piglrims and Indians" myth, or hyping up the Puritans/Manifest Destiny/colonialism. I've considered giving a brief statement at the beginning about how the myth came to be (and its flaws), and how Native people in our area are working towards food sovereignty.

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Pretty much title. I wanted to dig into any literature or writings that looks into how being able to trace one's ethnic/cultural roots (e.g. Irish, German, Chinese, etc.) sometimes with great precision is in and of itself a privilege, while others like Black Americans do not have that luxury.

Hi y'all, decided to ask this question here cause y'all probably have better perspective on this than I do.

I recently joined a climate justice/women's rights/social justice (primarily a focus on environmental justice) group on my college campus. I have attended and helped out at multiple rallies and have filled in taking photos and doing media stuff for the club. At the last meeting we decided we were going to do elections to decide our next leadership group (there will be 4 co-leaders and a secretary).

I was thinking about running for a leadership position because I have several years of student group leadership experience specifically in political areas. I feel as though I have legitimate and real leadership skills that I could bring to the table and I like leading. The group is pretty young and does not have a super organized structure.

My question for you all is should I run? If I were to run or lead it could potentially upset some of the women who feel at home in that group. I may damage the movement because I do not have the same perspectives as any of the other women in the group. At the same time I feel I would best be able to contribute to the group as a leader. Not really sure what the best choice is here or if I am getting something wrong in the way I am thinking through this.

I'm someone who believes there is more to a person than their political stances/actions and place a lot of value on interpersonal kindness. At the same time, I get frustrated by liberals/leftists who have strong opinions about our political system - but don't do much about it? And I try to invite them to events but its often unsuccessful. How do we get more people politically organized - especially in this moment? How do you handle friendships with good friends who just can't seem to care about important social justice issues - such as Palestine, attacks on our civil liberties, the climate, economic justice etc - beyond verbal support?

In many states a person can be forced into psychiatric treatment or placed on an involuntary hold if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. Does social justice view this as a violation of human rights or civil liberties? Are mainstream present-day social justice movements continuing the work of activists like Judi Chamberlin?

Hello! I have a friend who hates filling out the 'ethnicity' box on forms and doesn't like 'labelling her ethnicity'. I want to understand why people feel this way so I can have a better conversation with her about it. She is someone who doesn't understand why people see colour and that it causes divide. She hates talking about politics and I can sense her stress whenever a topic about race/elections/genocide/ etc come up...

For context she is a WOC, very kind and intelligent, I think she is just extremely conflict averse and finds it hard to think about the atrocities in the world lol.

Hello! I work for a nonprofit heavily involved with local food access. We do lots of work with the food bank, food pantries, local social justice centers, community gardens, nutrition education organizations, etc.

My question is- what sites are y'all using to find info about cool stuff that's happening around Food Access in the world? Does something like this exist? I'm talking anything- subreddits, blogs, media sites, whatever. I already follow a handful of food-politics blogs, which tend to focus on food-related injustices, but I'm looking more for a place that aggregates the good work being done in the food access realm.

Any thoughts? Hit me with them recommendations.

i’ve noticed when i check BI&PoC in at work i’m more familiar with them. like i’m less “professional,” i joke around more (usually self-deprecating humor, which is my go to), and i don’t do a “customer service voice.” i don’t know if it’s because i assume they’re less uptight than the white people i deal with (stereotypically suburban couples or old businessmen), or what. it’s the same way i behave when a single woman, someone my age, or someone i clock as queer is at my counter. is this racist? i’m a bit concerned i come off as less professional or less respectful.

I'm a white, upper middle class, cis, able bodied woman, so I know I have heaps and heaps of privilege. I also struggle immensely with my mental state. But, I also know that a poor person, a black person, a disabled person, a trans person, or any combo of the above is going to be struggling FAR more than me and thus, it's my responsibility to use my privilege for good and help them.

How do you push further when you're already burned out? And this isn't something that taking a break worked for, I did take a break for a few months and don't feel any better. I can hardly keep up with my own responsibilities, I'm failing classes and sleeping in nearly every day because I can hardly pry myself out of bed.

How can I still take responsibility? I feel like I'm failing to utilize my privilege and thus failing my responsibility to be a good activist. I try to donate to causes but it feels like I'm not doing enough.

Hi, I made a TikTok asking white women like myself to have the uncomfortable conversations with the white women in their lives. One thing I mentioned were all the black woman creators who have helped me to grow.

A white mother of a biracial daughter is in my comments. I’ve tried to respond, but this is out of my area of experience. On top of that I’m very new to this work. I’ve only been working on myself for about 3 years. Before that I just thought I wasn’t racist without understanding all that goes into racism.

Can anyone help with how to respond? I want to learn what I can do differently because I’m sure I will come across more white women in the same mindset.

My username is mctriplets and it is my last post.

@MommaJen: are you will to listen to a biracial family that has a message for you… please stop dividing us by colors… we are one family we all love, breathe, work hard… we matter too

@Kara | Homeschool Mama: Of course we all want the same things. But that doesn’t change the fact that as a ww I have opportunities to exist in places that black women aren’t welcomed. It is up to me to work to change that.

@Kara | Homeschool Mama: Listening to the perspective of black women has enriched my life. I have learned a lot about unconscious and internalized racism and how to really sit with an uncomfortable truth and work on myself.

@MommaJen: Bah haha like where?? Do you really think my daughter can’t go somewhere I can? That’s delusional!! Never once has this happened in the 20 years I brought her into this world.

@MommaJen: What are you seeing in real life? Do you actually see someone who can’t walk into any place you’ve ever been in your life?

@Kara | Homeschool Mama: Yes. I work in an industry where the leadership is very white washed even though the workforce is very diverse. I have a seat at that table and can push for more diversity in leadership.

@Kara | Homeschool Mama: I’m glad your daughter hasn’t experienced it. That’s fantastic. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in other parts of the country.

@MommaJen: It does, but it happens to EVERYONE! No one is immune to stupidity. Believe me there is stupidity everywhere, but it’s not only one race or gender.

@MommaJen: I didn’t say that… she’s just aware it happens to everyone and it’s not specifically about her. It tells more about the other person than it ever would her. She’s seen people do it to me..

I really feel called to get involved in organizing/advocacy in light of recent events, but I don't know how.

There are no groups that fit my values in in my small city. While there are ones in near by cities, I don't have a car, the public transportation here sucks, and I work so I don't have time to take a 2 hour bus ride for what would be a 30 minute drive by car.

I know the typical advice would be to start something in my city, but I know absolutely nothing about what would go into creating or running an organization. I'm also autistic, so I have no social skills, no friends I could convince to join me, and no idea how to connect with people to recruit them. Even on social media I've never known how to connect with people.

I just don't know what to do. On the one hand I don't want to use all the above obstacles as excuses, but on the other hand I just really don't know how to start. I really feel like it's my responsibility to do something, but I don't know ANYTHING about advocacy, organization, or activism.

Ok for context I’m (27NB) a queer Black femme, I grew up liberal-ish and expanded my social circles and experiences and got into being a full blown leftist on my own. I’ve had some super awful and punishing experiences trying to explain social justice to people before.

So for years I just gave up on teaching people what they don’t want to know, and more and more of my social circles became leftist (and it’s pretty nice I won’t lie). But lately I hit a new challenge. This person I know is amazingly empathetic towards me, but I have never gotten to know anyone this politically right of me this well before.

Now they’re asking me to help the understand “identity politics” and I don’t know how to talk to someone uninformed about them, especially without using so many in-house terms I’m just used to using (“hegemonic masculinity”, “intersectionality”, “generational trauma”, “institutionalized racism”, “landback”, etc). Also I’m getting super triggered by my bad past experiences when they shoot back with questions (sometimes pointed, sometimes not but the tones all blur together because I’m neurodivergent anyway).

So do you all have any good recommendations on where you started when you started learning about the colonialist white supremacy of it all? (Also I’ll appreciate any material recommendations because this feels terrifying to try to help someone learn again as a Black femme, and hoping that they are receptive to it while trying to push through my stress with it.)

Throwaway account just in case the person in question ever finds this.

So I [25M] am not Asian, but I am POC and born in America. My friend [21M] is Chinese and also born in America.

I've known him for about half a year. I've met him through mutual friends. I enjoy his company. But for a while I and others have noticed him exhibiting problematic and toxic behaviors, and it's getting to a boiling point. Excessive complaining, ambiguous communication, violates boundaries, redirects blame onto others, constant drama, and so on. I've had a conversation about it not too long ago, with some of the same tendencies showing up and this time I've been calling him out on it.

Even before then, he would always talk about how his Chinese upbringing has caused him to internalize a lot of bad behavior and to be conditioned like that. And he likes to talk about saving face and conflict avoidance in East Asian cultures, and I totally get it. But man, every time we point out stuff that's what he resorts to. And during our conversation, he asserted I'm coming into this conversation with Western individualistic assumptions and ideals about East Asian social interactions and that I can't just expect him to change because, while bad, his cultural baggage makes it difficult. It is biased on my part to call him out on cultural elements that are integral to his identity, and my notion of healthy social expectations and communication are loaded with Eurocentric assumptions.

He once did the same thing to me about projecting heteronormative assumptions onto him because he's gay, but the rest of the friend group has sufficiently called him out on it so he dropped it (most in the group are queer). But now he's resorting to this to avoid accountability. Idk what to say without coming off as an anti-Asian racist.

To those of you who are Asian, what has been your experience? I know how to deal with this in my community but idk I feel at a lost here. What can I say or point to (esp from a progressive standpoint) to argue that his Asian cultural upbringing doesn't justify toxic behavior? Tysm in advance.

Please join and add whatever ya got! And as always, stay safe kids!

https://www.reddit.com/r/PeacefulProtest

What can I do to help and learn from the minorities that will be most affected by Trump's presidency? What are volunteer opportunities? I live in upstate ny where it's super white and conservative. It pains my heart to see such intolerance and hatred disguised as religious morals. What books can I read? How can I become more educated? What are organizations that I can donate to and support? I want to be more active in social justice but I'm not sure where to start. What are documentaries I can watch? How can I start to channel these feelings into my actions to be a part of positive forces in this country?

I have to work more than I can already handle to be able to survive. I live in a constant state of burnout. I WANT to lead, be active in causes, attend meetings, organize, volunteer etc, but it seems all I have the energy and time for is speaking out on social media and sharing others ideas, causes, resources etc. I want to do so much more, but it’s already so hard for me to even survive day to day doing the bare minimum. I know the system is designed this way intentionally, to keep us quiet and obedient and repressed but damn if I don’t dream of being a leading voice in the fight for good. I want to do so much more than I’m physically and mentally able to do. What are some other ways I can help support, advocate, and educate others with limited time, money, and energy?

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 - "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲" (👄 Warning @ 0:35)

https://youtu.be/eSY-WFdZ9WQ

I am a little heartbroken by what happened yesterday. I personally will be okay, but I know many others will not. I want to know how I can help make a difference and counteract this harm as much as possible. However, I am not quite sure where to start. I live in the NYC area. So if anyone is doing anything on the ground to help or know of anything I can do to start helping. Please let me know.

After today, I am a little bit heartbroken. While I will personally be okay, I know many others will not. I want to know what I can do to make a difference and help minimize some of the harm we will see in any way that I can. The thing is, I’m not sure where to start, but I do really want to. I live in the NYC area. So if anyone has anything they are doing to help others during this time or has any ideas for things I can start doing. Please let me know.

i think i see people who can’t speak english/speak english well as less intelligent, and i think in trying to make communication easier i speak to them like they’re children. trying to communicate with them in a customer facing position can be frustrating, and i think because of that i can come off patronizing or condescending. how do i change the way i think and make sure i don’t come off prejudiced?

Hello, let me preface this by saying my mom is 100% white, and I am hispanic white. I really would like to know from black people only if her beliefs align with you and people fighting for racial equality in general. She's very vocal about being inherently racist, how America was built on racism, and paying reparations (which I agree are all important issues to acknowledge) but I believe she takes it too far. She has always been an advocate for equal rights for the majority of her life, but recently she's been expressing beliefs such as she needs to degrade herself and give up all self worth in order to uplift the black community and is willing to be treated any which way by black people for simply existing as a white person. I'm well aware of the fact that your community suffered a tremendous amount of mistreatment and bigotry and still does but I can't help but to think that your desire for equality is to be respected by and receive the same opportunities as white people, not to make them suffer eternally, and that your intention is to come from a place of love and not recycled hate. I posed the question, "If an organization was telling you to physically harm yourself to show your solidarity with the black community, would you?" and her response was "I just might. You're not wrong." As far as I know she gets all of her knowledge from TikTokers (She uses this app to an unhealthy degree imo), and has told me that these are people in their 20's. But rarely, if ever, does she listen to a public speaker for any well known organizations. She doesn't really have anyone to talk to so she always brings these topics up to me, and every time she talks about it she gets very heated and I feel a lot of negative energy which is unintentionally being directed toward me and it's been getting more and more difficult to absorb. It's only recently that I put my two cents in because I personally don't enjoy her perpetuating the idea that I, myself, need to fear/hate white people and that every white person on the planet is evil and a MAGA supporter, and she denounces my belief to live a life openly allowing every human being to show me who they are before I cast uneducated judgements. For instance, I went to a lake to take a walk, and I told her that it was near a very southern white neighborhood, and she told me that as a hispanic gay man I need to stay away from any white person there because they're MAGA, and I told her that that's not a fact and I'm not going to fear someone I don't know (Yes, I realize that me being able to say that is a privilege), but she insisted that factually every white person within the vicinity of where I was had to be a Trump supporter. Her beliefs that she should be worthless in the eyes of a black person concerns me because right now she is living states away from me and her ex boyfriend, who is a black man that has physically and mentally abused her, is her only resource for things like transportation and groceries, and by her newfound logic if he were to ever put his hands on her again she would deserve it. Am I wrong for not being okay with this?

Edit: Grammar corrections, added example, and sentence restructuring

Sorry, should say mixed race identities

What are people‘s thoughts regarding racial identities in a mixed race individual? The presidential race is raising this issue since Kamala Harris is half Black half Asian (Indian). So would she be the first Asian president or the second black president?

Or are people of mixed race creating a new category? Like black and white person typically called mulatto, but sometimes they get to choose I guess? Any thoughts on this?

The right are now so insane that this is actually going mainstream within conservatism.

What do you think is the correct response to it?

Hello everyone, I've had a difficult situation lately and I'm not sure if I've done something wrong. The issue is between me (an undergrad) and my Professor at a pretty respected university.

Basically, like a lot of people the US election is a nightmare for me. I'm Ukrainian-descended, I have relatives in Ukraine. I know if trump wins then Ukrainian support will dry up and Putin will most likely conquer it. And I deal with incredible anxiety because of this. I spent basically a month after the invasion began not leaving my house and drinking all day because I was so scared.

Anyway, I'm taking a Shakespeare course, and my Professor loves to make flippant comments about current political issues. Things like "Oh man, if trump wins there's probably going to be WWIII and we'll all die lamo!"

But like, for me this kind of thing is not funny. I hear comments like this at work, on the bus, at school, everywhere. And it almost always results in me having an anxiety attack that I have to violently stamp down. My therapist recommended that I advocate for my well being, and that I should politely explain to the people around me what I'm dealing with, and if they could please try to not trigger me.

I sent my Prof an email, explaining that I deal with anxieties about this, and I asked if he could keep the references to the election at a minimum. I also said:

"Unless if you feel that this is relevant to the lecture you are delivering or the text we are analyzing"

And

"I understand that this is something you do not need to do at all, it would just make my time in class a little easier."

I believed that this was a respectful way to ask. The response I got was that my Professor will always stand up for his hard fought right to exercise his freedom of speech, how as a decedent of an enslaved people he will not allow himself to be silenced, how much he dislikes having been asked in the past to use 'trigger warnings."

So I sent him a follow up revoking my request and apologizing for asking him this (I sure as hell don't want to fight with someone who controls my marks). But I've been in a state of 'wtf' all day.

Like, I get that if this were a journalism, or political science course, how my asking this favor would be ridiculous. Hell, maybe even in a Shakespeare course this was a stupid request on my part, maybe the election is extremely relevant to Shakespeare's themes.

But like, is my asking this really an example of me trying to 'silence' a descendant of enslaved people? I would have made the exact same request if the Professor was a white man.

One argument I've frequently heard on the Stolen Land movement is that Stolen Land, as it relates to colonized lands like the US, is not simply land that was purchased or even conquered in war, but that was taken after the land had already been guaranteed to natives pursuant to treaties (with the treaty then being violated) or where the treaty transferring land was procured fraudulently. For example, see this essay: https://www.indigenousgeotags.com/frequentquestions . In addition, allowing land acquired through military conquest to be considered stolen land would render essentially all of Europe stolen land and make Europe a problematic part of the world for most people to live in today. For example, many areas in Europe have been successively conquered by the Celts, Romans, and Vikings, and we don't have a very good idea of who had the land before the Celts or whom they conquered it from.

Considering the definition of stolen land as limited to broken, fraudulent, and coercive treaties, and not including land transferred by true military conquest and/or through fair treaties, are there any specific areas of the modern-day US that would not be considered stolen land? For example, I'm looking for something like, "The portions of modern-day Lakewood, New Jersey south of 11th Street and as more precisely designated on this map here [shows map] were never part of any native land treaty, broken or otherwise, but were directly conquered by the British Army in the springtime of 1735 in a land battle against the regular military forces of the local native tribe which then controlled the land and thus white people living on 9th or 10th Street in Lakewood are not on stolen land as sovereignty passed legitimately to the English crown and then the US." If non-stolen land cannot, at the present time, be described with such exactness, do we have any ideas on generally where in the US non-stolen land is likely to be found or where in the US it is most likely that there are significant swaths of non-stolen land?

Addendum:

If, as I suspect, there are areas of non-stolen land today in the US but we are not yet at the point where we can print a map or generate a digital map overlay showing the exact borders between stolen and non-stolen land, I'm interested if there are places I can go to read the latest research in this area. For example, something like, "While no definitive maps have yet been produced, it has become the general consensus of academics working in the area of Native Land Sovereignty and Stolen Land Studies (e.g. see Smith (2007), Jones et al. (2013), and Rogers and Brown (2022)) that significant portions of the southern shore of Lake Erie and probably including at least the northern neighborhoods of Cleveland were obtained legitimately by white settlers and are not stolen land, but Clarke (2019) dissents, claiming, on evidence widely regarded as dubious, the existence of a forgotten 1755 treaty that was violated by British settlers in 1773, thus making the entire Erie shore region stolen land." would do nicely.

Im a young white person (in college) and I do not feel white shame or guilt as far as I can tell. I work very hard to fix inequalities and am an activist. I am always trying to be actively anti-racist and am on the path to becoming an educator so I can help teach future generations to be anti-racist and to practice abolitionist teaching in public school systems. I have been aware of white guilt and what it means for many years, and have never been able to relate to it. I am aware that I have a voice and I should use it, and that I should not be punished for my whiteness; instead it is a tool I can use to make further progress for others who are minoritized more so than I. But now I am wondering, should I feel white guilt?

Hi friends, i am writing this post simply to hear your thoughts and to become more educated on subjects like micro aggressions and cultural appropriation. So it might be helpful to know that i grew up in orange county california where majority are white or asian, there are veryyy few black people. I recently moved and have come into contact and made friends with many more black people (compared to what i grew up with). I have asked friends before if i may touch their hair and i now am realizing that that may have been rude to ask. Ive read that asking that can be dehumanizing and can make that person feel exotic. I want to know more about this, because genuinely i just find black hairstyles like the braids and the twists so cool and beautiful. Its almost like a sensory thing? With anyone, regardless of their race, if i see long or glossy or soft hair i just want to feel it! Even with like a soft fuzzy blanket or something squishy im drawn to touch it lol. I would never go up to a stranger and ask this i can definitely see how that is an invasion of space and just weird to ask. I guess what im saying is that i dont see black hairstyles as exotic, i find them unique and cool. I would like to learn more about this subject or anything related that could benefit my actions towards others. I do not want to come off rude or ignorant or anything like that. Thanks for reading :)