Ask ReproJobs: Can white people be repro community organizers?
Dear ReproJobs:
I recently graduated college and I've always wanted to work in reproductive rights/justice community organizing. However, I'm wondering if, as a cis white woman, I should step back from this goal. Repro orgs really need to be focusing on BIPOC communities and I'm probably not the best person to be facilitating organizing work with these communities. Does this have validity? How can I best help the repro movement as a white woman with strong organizing skills and experience if not by becoming a Community Organizer™?
-- Well-meaning white person
Dear Well-meaning white person,
We're glad you're thinking through the most ethical way for you to engage in community organizing work. Your role doesn't have to be to step back from organizing in general, but instead working to organize your communities. By which we mean: organize white people. As you well know, white people, particularly white women, are overwhelmingly responsible for voting for anti-abortion politicians, particularly at the state level. We'd guess that reproductive health and rights-focused organizations could use someone who's willing to get in the muck and work on this.
If you see jobs with organizations that specifically focus on organizing communities of color, you may not be the right fit. You can still apply if you think you have the skills and let the hiring manager decide--they're the experts on what their organization needs. The "good" news is that there is a dire need to organize already sympathetic white people and educate them about racial justice issues as they relate to reproductive health issues. You could find a job at a Planned Parenthood, for example, and be that bridge. Be the person at staff meetings who always brings up issues of race and racism when your white peers don't. Notice who's in the rooms making decisions, and who is left to execute those decisions without giving input. Speak up about the micro and macro aggressions that you see in your work. Have conversations with coworkers about salaries and benefits, document patterns by race, by gender, by age, and advocate for salary transparency and equity. Guide your white co-workers to being co-conspirators and accomplices, to making monthly donations to their local abortion funds, to go beyond reading about how to be anti-racist do taking action in their daily lives.
White people have a crucial role to play in the fight for reproductive health, rights, and justice, and that is often supporting other white people in talking about race, fighting racism out in the world and within progressive movements, and supporting Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led organizations financially and with action. It's not the time to spin your wheels and drown in white guilt. If you need a place to start, read about how white people can show up to support Black lives, study the history and tactics of white anti-racist activists, and pick some steps to take, today. We need you.
-- ReproJobs