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Towards the Other America: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter
Chris Crass calls on all of us to join our values to the power of love and act with courage for a world where Black lives truly matter. A world where the death culture of white supremacy no longer devours the lives of Black people and no longer deforms the hearts and souls of white people. In addition to his own soul-searching essays and practical organizing advice in his "notes to activists," Chris Crass lifts up the voices of longtime white anti-racist leaders organizing in white communities for Black Lives Matter. Crass has collected lessons and vibrant examples of this work from rural working class communities in Kentucky and Maine, mass direct action in Wisconsin and New York, faith-based efforts among Jewish communities, Unitarian Universalists, and the United Church of Christ, and national efforts like Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Jewish Voice for Peace.
196 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2015
About the author
Chris Crass
11 books30 followersChris Crass is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation. Throughout the 1990s he was an organizer with Food Not Bombs, an economic justice anti-poverty group and network; with them he helped build up the direct action-based anti-capitalist Left internationally.
Building on the successes and challenges of the mass direct action convergences of the global justice movement, most notably in Seattle against the WTO in 1999, he helped launch the Catalyst Project. Catalyst Project combines political education and organizing to develop and support anti-racist politics, leadership, and organizing in white communities and builds dynamic multiracial alliances locally and nationally. Through Catalyst Project, where he was the co-coordinator for more then a decade, he worked with tens of thousands of activists working on a wide range of issues in their communities and on their campuses. Through workshops on anti-racism, feminism for men, developing collective leadership and lessons from past movements, Crass has supported hundreds of organizations and leaders around the country.
In 2000 he was a co-founder of the Colours of Resistance network, which served as a think tank and clearinghouse of anti-racist feminist analysis and tools for activists in the U.S. and Canada. After Sept. 11th, 2001, he helped to found the Heads Up Collective which brought together a cadre of white anti-racist organizers to build up the multiracial Left in the San Francisco, Bay Area through alliances between the majority white anti-war movement and locally-based economic and racial justice struggles in communities of color. He was also a member of the Against Patriarchy Men's Group that supported men in developing their feminist analysis and their feminist leadership.
He has written widely about anti-racist and anarchist organizing, lessons from women of color feminism, and strategies to build visionary movements. His essays have been translated into half a dozen languages, taught in hundreds of classrooms, and included in over a dozen anthologies including Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World, On the Road to Healing: An Anthology for Men Ending Sexism, and We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America.
He graduated from San Francisco State University in Race, Class, Gender and Power Studies. Originally from California, he currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his partner Jardana Peacock and their son, River. He is a member of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and was worked with dozens of faith-based communities to help build up the spiritual Left.
Building on the successes and challenges of the mass direct action convergences of the global justice movement, most notably in Seattle against the WTO in 1999, he helped launch the Catalyst Project. Catalyst Project combines political education and organizing to develop and support anti-racist politics, leadership, and organizing in white communities and builds dynamic multiracial alliances locally and nationally. Through Catalyst Project, where he was the co-coordinator for more then a decade, he worked with tens of thousands of activists working on a wide range of issues in their communities and on their campuses. Through workshops on anti-racism, feminism for men, developing collective leadership and lessons from past movements, Crass has supported hundreds of organizations and leaders around the country.
In 2000 he was a co-founder of the Colours of Resistance network, which served as a think tank and clearinghouse of anti-racist feminist analysis and tools for activists in the U.S. and Canada. After Sept. 11th, 2001, he helped to found the Heads Up Collective which brought together a cadre of white anti-racist organizers to build up the multiracial Left in the San Francisco, Bay Area through alliances between the majority white anti-war movement and locally-based economic and racial justice struggles in communities of color. He was also a member of the Against Patriarchy Men's Group that supported men in developing their feminist analysis and their feminist leadership.
He has written widely about anti-racist and anarchist organizing, lessons from women of color feminism, and strategies to build visionary movements. His essays have been translated into half a dozen languages, taught in hundreds of classrooms, and included in over a dozen anthologies including Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World, On the Road to Healing: An Anthology for Men Ending Sexism, and We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America.
He graduated from San Francisco State University in Race, Class, Gender and Power Studies. Originally from California, he currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his partner Jardana Peacock and their son, River. He is a member of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and was worked with dozens of faith-based communities to help build up the spiritual Left.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 11, 2017
A resource for white people who want to end white silence on racism, with something for those who are just beginning to educate themselves as well as for organizers who have been working on the issue for years. I read it for a discussion at a Standing Up for Racial Justice meeting, and much of the book deals with SURJ and its work. The first third of the book, about why and how white people need to organize against white supremacy and for "collective liberation," was quite inspiring and useful; the rest, consisting mostly of interviews with organizers from a variety of antiracism groups, was interesting but repetitive. The book offers useful references to other books, articles, and organizations--wish they'd been collected as a list at the end.
A few quotes for my own notes:
"We don't need messages from white people yearning for reconciliation unless it is joined with a courageous call for white people to hear Black rage, follow Black-led resistance, and get active for racial justice." (8)
"To put it another way, we can't think our way out of the problem of white privilege by being really aware white people. We need to be aware white people on our own personal growth journey, who want to bring large numbers of other white people into movements to bring down white supremacy . . . ." (16)
"[My friend's] mom said, 'It's a shame about all those illegals being deported.' My friend jumped all over her mom for using the word illegal and only later realized her mom was expressing sympathy that could have then been explored and potentially developed into solidarity. . . . Start with where people are and move them where you can." (20)
Rev. Ashley Horan: "I'm trying to get people to understand collective liberation, and to sense both the blessing and the responsibility of claiming a belief that none of us is free until all of us are free. . . . Liberal white people use bureaucracy to throw up red tape where it doesn't need to exist. They ask whether there's a policy in place to allow the institution to focus on racial justice, or raise concerns about safety and fiduciary responsibility . . . pushing back against visionary leadership that demands a rewriting of the status quo, and spending a lot of energy making sure the institutions and structures in which they live and move do not undergo true transformation." (36-37)
Dara Silverman of SURJ: "Part of my evolution as an organizer has been to move from a transactional framework towards a transformational framework. This means that it isn't just about what we win, how many actions we do, how much news coverage we get, but, What is the quality of the relationships? How are we supporting local groups of white people to listen and build trusting connections and partnerships with local communities of color?" (105)
Liz Perlman and Seth Newton Patel of AFSCME: "We are challenged because police unions are part of our labor movement, and many AFSCME affiliates represent law enforcement officers. A month after Michael Brown was killed, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka . . . said '. . . How can we not get involved? Union members' lives have been profoundly damaged in ways that cannot be fixed. . . . Our brother killed our sister's son.' Trumka referred to the fact that both Michael Brown's mother and killer are union members." (135)
Kate Shapiro of Southerners on New Ground (SONG): "Volunteer at a local Black-led organization. Sweep the floors, stuff envelopes, do whatever needs to be done, set up for meetings, etc. If you have resources, commit or donate them without controlling the work or telling people how they should be doing their work. Commit for a year and demonstrate your commitment to local Black leadership through simple and humble acts." (146)
Rev. Anne D. Dunlap: "The Bible is not the victory handbook of the Empire, but the outcry and deeply human wrestlings of the oppressed." (156)
"The All Lives Matter reaction, just like the white people who decried Civil Rights as 'special rights' in the 1960s, is based in white resentment and anger towards assertions of Black equality and Black humanity, particularly when those assertions disrupt the 'normal (racially unequal) order.'" (161)
A few quotes for my own notes:
"We don't need messages from white people yearning for reconciliation unless it is joined with a courageous call for white people to hear Black rage, follow Black-led resistance, and get active for racial justice." (8)
"To put it another way, we can't think our way out of the problem of white privilege by being really aware white people. We need to be aware white people on our own personal growth journey, who want to bring large numbers of other white people into movements to bring down white supremacy . . . ." (16)
"[My friend's] mom said, 'It's a shame about all those illegals being deported.' My friend jumped all over her mom for using the word illegal and only later realized her mom was expressing sympathy that could have then been explored and potentially developed into solidarity. . . . Start with where people are and move them where you can." (20)
Rev. Ashley Horan: "I'm trying to get people to understand collective liberation, and to sense both the blessing and the responsibility of claiming a belief that none of us is free until all of us are free. . . . Liberal white people use bureaucracy to throw up red tape where it doesn't need to exist. They ask whether there's a policy in place to allow the institution to focus on racial justice, or raise concerns about safety and fiduciary responsibility . . . pushing back against visionary leadership that demands a rewriting of the status quo, and spending a lot of energy making sure the institutions and structures in which they live and move do not undergo true transformation." (36-37)
Dara Silverman of SURJ: "Part of my evolution as an organizer has been to move from a transactional framework towards a transformational framework. This means that it isn't just about what we win, how many actions we do, how much news coverage we get, but, What is the quality of the relationships? How are we supporting local groups of white people to listen and build trusting connections and partnerships with local communities of color?" (105)
Liz Perlman and Seth Newton Patel of AFSCME: "We are challenged because police unions are part of our labor movement, and many AFSCME affiliates represent law enforcement officers. A month after Michael Brown was killed, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka . . . said '. . . How can we not get involved? Union members' lives have been profoundly damaged in ways that cannot be fixed. . . . Our brother killed our sister's son.' Trumka referred to the fact that both Michael Brown's mother and killer are union members." (135)
Kate Shapiro of Southerners on New Ground (SONG): "Volunteer at a local Black-led organization. Sweep the floors, stuff envelopes, do whatever needs to be done, set up for meetings, etc. If you have resources, commit or donate them without controlling the work or telling people how they should be doing their work. Commit for a year and demonstrate your commitment to local Black leadership through simple and humble acts." (146)
Rev. Anne D. Dunlap: "The Bible is not the victory handbook of the Empire, but the outcry and deeply human wrestlings of the oppressed." (156)
"The All Lives Matter reaction, just like the white people who decried Civil Rights as 'special rights' in the 1960s, is based in white resentment and anger towards assertions of Black equality and Black humanity, particularly when those assertions disrupt the 'normal (racially unequal) order.'" (161)
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March 5, 2021This one is a DNF
First, it's a book by a white dude and it heavily centers white ant-racists. Look, I am all for being anti-racist. That is my goal, too. That said, the book was in the form of several interviews with community organizers, and I'm not looking to start any organizations. When I see "Resources" then I'm hoping for set strategies to be a better anti-racist. I'm not looking for a lot of word salad about base building and meeting white people where they are. I want to know where to donate my money. Is there a website that will help me better vet political candidates? What programs should I be donating to? which organizations should I go volunteer for?
Now, that last one is something you can find in this book, but the organizations are scattered through out and a Google search would've done me just as well. Oh, and I'm not going door to door to talk to people like some kind of anti-racist evangelist because that feels as though it would be a waste of my time.
I'll keep looking.
If you're looking for books to educate you on the subject, I'd recommend that you read books by any number of Black authors: bell hooks, Mikki Kendall, Austin Channing Brown, Ibram Xendi--just to name a few. Heck, read Alice Walker or go all the way back to WEB Dubois. Unless you are specifically trying to start an organization, then you're probably better served with those original sources.
First, it's a book by a white dude and it heavily centers white ant-racists. Look, I am all for being anti-racist. That is my goal, too. That said, the book was in the form of several interviews with community organizers, and I'm not looking to start any organizations. When I see "Resources" then I'm hoping for set strategies to be a better anti-racist. I'm not looking for a lot of word salad about base building and meeting white people where they are. I want to know where to donate my money. Is there a website that will help me better vet political candidates? What programs should I be donating to? which organizations should I go volunteer for?
Now, that last one is something you can find in this book, but the organizations are scattered through out and a Google search would've done me just as well. Oh, and I'm not going door to door to talk to people like some kind of anti-racist evangelist because that feels as though it would be a waste of my time.
I'll keep looking.
If you're looking for books to educate you on the subject, I'd recommend that you read books by any number of Black authors: bell hooks, Mikki Kendall, Austin Channing Brown, Ibram Xendi--just to name a few. Heck, read Alice Walker or go all the way back to WEB Dubois. Unless you are specifically trying to start an organization, then you're probably better served with those original sources.
October 17, 2021
I’m grateful for Chris Crass and have truly enjoyed his workshops at UU General Assembly.
This is a great introduction for white people to begin their journey against white supremacy.
The structure of this book are short essays, most of which are questions and answers format.
I preferred the chapters where Chris shared his opinion, rather the interview style.
This is a great introduction for white people to begin their journey against white supremacy.
The structure of this book are short essays, most of which are questions and answers format.
I preferred the chapters where Chris shared his opinion, rather the interview style.
June 21, 2020
Good beginners book for anti-racists, especially those in faith communities
October 22, 2020
Will be useful and used going forward.
January 31, 2017
Very important book for white people who are or want to become anti-racist activists. Contains numerous essays, mostly 5 pages or fewer and written in the early-mid-2010s. (Having each of them dated would have been helpful.) Perspectives include Christian, Jewish, atheist, lesbian, gay, trans, queer, genderqueer, straight, cisgender, and others.
A note to the publisher: In future editions, you should consider making each essay heading much bigger and the offset quotes a lot smaller (perhaps switching the two font sizes). Also, the margins are way too narrow, leading me to have to move my thumb every time i got to the bottom of a page so that i could read the words under my finger. Not a huge deal, but really annoying.
Definitely recommended!
A note to the publisher: In future editions, you should consider making each essay heading much bigger and the offset quotes a lot smaller (perhaps switching the two font sizes). Also, the margins are way too narrow, leading me to have to move my thumb every time i got to the bottom of a page so that i could read the words under my finger. Not a huge deal, but really annoying.
Definitely recommended!
July 13, 2016
I truly believe this book has the power to change lives. Chris Crass describes and discusses in detail what white people disgusted by racism and white supremacy can do, in a variety of different ways, to be the change we wish to see. I feel so inspired by his work for racial justice - this book lights the flame of passion and inspiration in anyone who's been afraid to act for Black liberation and the Black Lives Matter movement.
January 18, 2017
Important content, and good information for white allies working for racial justice. Rather than a cohesive book, however, this is a collection of essays, interviews, and "notes", so to sit down and read it cover to cover feels repetitive and redundant. Might make a great book for a study group, reading just one section at a time and then talking about it.
August 23, 2020
The book is an important work with interesting anecdotes, interviews, and suggestions. However, the format was a turn off for me. The book seemed more like a collection of emails sent to various groups rather than a synthesis of ideas. For this reason the book felt redundant. However, if these topics are new to you, such redundancy is likely useful so I would still recommend the book.
June 9, 2020
Full of useful information, especially for those of European decent trying to learn more about how to be anti~racist.
November 8, 2020
Great resource!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews