Hi, I'm a progressive white organizer in the South. We just primaried out a conservative, HB2-voting centrist Dem in favor of Kim Hardy- social worker, solid progressive, & Black woman - in a red state.

"Progressive" whites who think Black folks are the problem need to sit down. https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/1235076080878247936

Deliberate cross-racial organizing is complicated. It's more work for white folks than white-centered pol. You have to go out & find the right candidate & team, they're not just gonna spontaneously emerge from the political system ready-made for you.

But it's also SO POWERFUL.

We did what we did by being really thoughtful about the Black vote that powers our district. We've spent the last 3 years networking with local progressive Black activists. Whenever a campaign came to town & wanted to hire local staff, we gave them *their* names. Not ours.

Sometimes the upper echelons of those campaigns didn't listen to our local Black organizers.

We had one literally send Black canvassers into the Klan country part of the district. They're in it to win it, so they went- and got guns pulled & dogs sicced on them.

Yes, for real, in 2018.

But the campaign brass didn't believe them. They kept telling them to canvass in Klan country "or you're fired & blacklisted from Democratic politics"

Some pro-worker campaign lmao

You know who they did believe though? The progressive *white* organizers in the county, after we called up campaign brass & chewed their ass out for putting our colleagues in danger like that.

We said "Give us the Klan districts, they'll leave us alone." And they did. Mostly lol

A few years later, we have a really strong local Black progressive presence. They were always there- but now they have more formal campaign experience, higher-level jobs & influence within campaigns, & pull in recruiting new candidates.

So now we're getting progressive Black candidates that are interesting to Black voters. Because *that's who recruited them to run in the first place.*

It's wild how much inclusion you get from, idk, being inclusive.

You don't get that by ~telling Black voters how to be progressive.~ That is nobody's place to do.

You build alliances like that by just SHOWING UP FOR PEOPLE.

Young progressive Black team members here have started transitioning from working other candidates' campaigns to running for local office themselves. We supported them with canvassing, donations, & social media.

We were able to do this in the space of 3.5 years. By just showing up for people. Letting ourselves be led by what they need & want on the political agenda & their own professional development. Not just telling people what they're supposed to vote for.

And like OP said, the Black vote's not a monolith. There are some more conservative Black leaders in town who aren't too happy about there being a biracial progressive coalition. That's ok. It's not like the conservative white folks around heah are thrilled about us either

And that's actually THE reason that it's so important for any progressive coalition to have a strong internal Black voice. Real, not token, Black leadership. That's what it takes to be a viable alternative for Black voters.

Anyway, white progressives around the country have all had the same 3.5 years that we've had here.

Sorry to have to say it. But if they didn't use that time wisely to take Black folks seriously & build bridges, that's on them.

It's not like we've been perfect or anything. Building multiracial coalitions is HARD WORK. It's not a passion project, you have to have the guts to keep going even when it's depressing & ngl kind of humiliating bc it takes a lot of ongoing learning.

twitter is killing my phone brb

I don't think it's really even that appropriate for a white organizer to be addressing this. We're not the folks that the left needs to get better at listening to.

But hey if there's anything I learned from working in leftist politics

it's that a whole lot of white leftists have to hear information from a white person before they'll take it seriously HEYO

So in the vein of showing up for colleagues of color: the only way to get political power in the United States is to give it to organizers & voters of color, first.

Even if the only reason you've got to empower people of color is enlightened self-interest? Well, live up to that.

Campaigns that fail to do this are making the most predictable, self-defeating mistake that you can make.

Your heroes had the same three and a half years that we had, and they wasted it.

Sit with that. Really think about what it means. Make some decisions about moving forward.

The Bernie campaign, for all its energy & ideas, had since at least 2016 to work on its Black outreach problem. It failed to do so.

The Warren campaign, for all its energy & ideas, had years (decades, even) to actually square itself w Cherokee law & practice. It failed to do so.

At the end of the day, decisions like this are made because a candidate & their campaign simply don't consider voters of color important enough to work for.

It ain't pretty but it's true.

Would YOU show up for someone who doesn't show up for you? I wouldn't.

The US is transitioning to a minority-white country.

There is simply no excuse for leftist circles to keep treating voters & candidates of color like a sideshow.

If we want to win, then we START by showing up for our voters & colleagues of color. It's not complicated.

It's not too late to get started. Better late than never. If we really want to live up to our goals of ending poverty, we have to learn how to build a functional coalition.

We live in a country founded on racial division. You can't heal that by NOT looking at it.

Trying to do race-blind leftism in America is like trying to waterski on a lake covered in white-top waves yelling I THINK THIS WATER SHOULD BE SMOOTH THOUGH and being surprised that you keep getting knocked on your ass

So. If you're working in a pocket of leftist activism that 1) is over 50% white, 2) has been getting a lot of flak about race issues, and 3) you just got handed a big confusing upset

this is a great time to regroup & think about how to move forward.

Unless you're actively employed in a campaign's upper levels, local is the place to start.

What activists of color do I know? How can I help them achieve their goals (canvassing, donations, signal boost on social media)?

Start showing up for them. That's how power happens.

That's how you conquer the unconquerable. You have build big teams. You have to give up power to get it.

That's how we primaried out a 6-term incumbent with a riDANKulous 8- or 9-point margin. It's how we're going to take back our state legislature.

I would also encourage all of us to have a longer time horizon than just 2020.

Trump is not a one-time phenomenon. He's the first dying gasp of a white majority grappling with becoming a minority.

These death rattles are going to continue for the rest of our lives.

It's never too late. Again: we've still got a lot of work to do here, but we've made huge strides just in three and a half short years. Deliberate multiracial organizing in our little county already paying off at the local & state levels after just three years.

Let's be frank, y'all: if the white left can't make peace with being a minority & taking people of color seriously, then the country as a whole for sure can't do it.

That's the job in front of us, white progressives. Give power to get it.