Like it or not, the United States of America is a
multicultural nation. There are those who decry the fact, those
who wish to change the fact. But it remains the fact, and any
plan with more than local scope that denies the fact is destined
for failure.
The plans of human rights activists cannot be allowed to fail.
However, the multicultural nature of our society makes planning
difficult. Each subculture in each specific location has both
subtle gross differences in priorities and needs that often make
it difficult to even decide what to do next, much less how to do
it. There have been successes, though, and by studying them we
can gain insight into the possibility of a general approach to
building coalitions.
This is the purpose behind the
"http://www.arc.org/index.html">Applied Research Center.
Launched in 1981, ARC was born out of the community
organizing experience. Both activists and academics recognized a
need for rigorous study of the practice of organizing and the
need for solid research into the issues around which organizers
were mounting campaigns.
During the early years ARC worked closely with the
href="http://www.ctwo.org/" target="_blank">Center for Third
World Organizing producing publications, offering
trainings and embarking upon the Community Strategy and
Training Initiative, a model effort to improve the practice
of organizing that has since been replicated in several
states.
Moving into the 1990s, ARC published Beyond the
Politics of Place, a landmark study of community
organizing. This report ignited a controversy still raging about
the importance of organizing around the identity concerns of the
marginalized: people of color, gays and lesbians, and women.
Their most recent publication, MultiRacial Formations, focuses
specifically on community organization of multiracial coalitions.
By examining six efforts from across the nation (two issues based
alliances, three electoral based alliances and the develipment of
Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition) MultiRacial Formations
presents the issues without rose colored glasses:
…while the civil rights movement yielded significant
gains in legal equality, structural racism remains evident in
myriad arenas, from family income levels, to education, to prison
sentencing patterns, to healthcare access. Yet, that reality is
juxtaposed with a growing neoconservative, colorblind ideology
where, “Race-conscious remedies, policies, and
practices—such as affirmative action, minority setasides,
and redistricting—are increasingly being critiqued,
contested, and dismantled. Any hints of race consciousness are
now suspiciously viewed as inherently racist and impermissible in
a good, just, and supposedly colorblind society.”
This disjuncture between grassroots reality and prevailing
theory represents a major challenge to organizations confronted
with the centrality of race in forging viable alliances. An
additional and unanticipated barrier is the impact of September
11, 2001, especially in immigrant communities where civil
liberties are being curtailed. This provides a new set of issues
in the move towards multiracial formations.
Having been at this since 1981…in fact, having
essentially created the “identity” political approach
to organizing…ARC is very good at this. The report is
clear, concise and closes with general observations, key lessons
and suggestions for effective multiracial organization. And
unfortunate though it is, I feel the need to point out that the
first case presented is a coalition of Native Americans and White
Americans against corporate mining interests in Wisconsin. The
need to point this out is explained in the first chapter of
MultiRacial Formations:
COMMON ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT MULTIRACIAL FORMATIONS
- The leadership of the multiracial formation is both shared
and representational. It is often assumed that an organizational
action or position is the end result of an inclusive process that
considers the interests of all racial groups involved in the
formation.
- Multiracial coalitions are instruments that increase the
collective voice and power of disenfranchised
groups—particularly low income people of color.
- Multiracial formations are also multicultural.
- These coalitions will implicitly address cross-racial issues
of competition for political turf and scarce financial resources.
Even when coalitions are single-issue-based, they are often
assumed to be vehicles for addressing racial conflicts internal
to communities of color, and/or between whites and specific
groups of people of color.
- The aforementioned point notwithstanding, it is also assumed
that multiracial coalitions are relatively easy to organize
because groups of people of color have more commonalities than
differences.
- The most common form of multiracial coalition is
electoral.
- They are more legitimate and effective instruments for
advocacy than monoracial organizations, particularly monoracial
organizations of people of color.
- These formations will be the primary new instruments for the
democratic expression and participation of people of color.
Few of these assumptions are true in every situation.
Points four and eight are those relevant to the need to
explain. It is generally assumed that multiracial coalitions are
for the benefit of minorities in struggle against the mainstream,
when it is often the case that they are the best method for White
Americans to address their needs. Not always, but often. It is a
message that Americans of all races need to understand.
Multiracial coalitions are difficult, challenging…and
necessary. The Applied
Research Center has done a great service in producing this
work. And an equally great service by making it
"http://www.arc.org/downloads/MRFormations.pdf">available for
download as a PDF. Every community activist, everyone
interested in working for justice, should get a copy.
"http://www.arc.org/downloads/MRFormations.pdf">Now.
