>Here's what appears to be their kind of founding manifesto:
>
>---
>
>http://colours.mahost.org/articles/martinez.html
>
>Where was the Color in Seattle?:
>Looking for reasons why the Great Battle was so white.
>
>by Elizabeth 'Betita' Martinez, special to ColorLines
>
>This article was originally published in ColorLines (Volume 3, Number 1,
>Spring 2000).
So the great evil of this 'manifesto' is that it was a level-headed look at the structural barriers for the involvement of people of color, namely:
* systematic lack of access to computers among low income people of color compared to low income whites. People have discussed on much of the behind-the-scenes communication and planning took place via email, etc. (this is quite accurate, at least then. one of the gigs I landed was working with a software company producing apps for cell phones. the target consumers were low income people of color because they used cell phone *instead of* computers -- a finding of their marketing research.)
* lack of money, resources, no childcare (recently, there was some white dominated feminist media gathering that apparently made little room for women with children. can't recall details, though. it became a point of contention when a lot of women of color, however. Apparently, feminist new media bloggers were all single, childless, and working in professional managerial positions. some of that, of course, reflects the lack of funds for the feminist alt media org itself. but then there's the issue of priorities. When I've been in orgs where we know that our base of people who do most of the grunt-work of the movement are women with children, we find a way to provide childcare and other support)
*She notes that it's clear that it's not an absolute issue, the lack of representation. She points out that people of color were well represented among unions. I assume what she was getting at was that unions have done the work to make "workers of the world, unite!" a meaningful phrase whereas anarchists groups have not.
* fear of police brutality -- another structural issue since we know that it's not unreasonable for people of color to fear that they might be subject to the brutality and possibly in worse forms. Additionally, fear of arrest if you have no resources for bail, fighting the charge, or really don't want to risk a record. We already know that people of color with no record and same skills/background will be put passed over for a white job applicant with a record and same skills/background.
* the "it's a white issue" perception and concern that it will take away from other community work is, likewise, a reflection of limited resources. It's also part of the history of feminist struggles where women of color hesitated to get involved in what felt like a white issue when there seemed to be much more pressing bread and butter issues in their backyard.
* media focus on white activists may have contributed tot he perception that it was a total WeisswurstFest.
* lack of trust is an historic issue. i'm not going to go into details on this one, especially to such a hostile audience, but the literature on it is significant and failure to understand that history and attend to it causes a lot of heartache -- heartache that isn't necessary. And tokenism has been a real problem, especially empty lip service. I've observed this in the feminist blogospher. It's why I have a hard time worrying about diversity festivals in the classroom. It doesn't really make a dent. People yammer a lot of b.s. and then, as a leading feminist blogger, publish a book with a cover featuring a white Jane Tarzan figure, replete with interior illustrations featuring ooga booga natives jumping around. No one in the publishing house, among the editors, the author... noticed that there was a problem with these illustrations. It happens all the time. Hence, people of color have come to see all this talk of diversity, yadda as meaningless.
* Maybe this is the crappy cultural stuff and disdain for it that shows through on this one, but it really does matter to people whether they see people who look like them. I know it matters among the women I work with. I'm the only white woman working in the IT trenches, the rest are women of color. But when we get together, we talk about how we can't make a home at the company we work for b/c they make it rilly rilly clear that we aren't welcome. I know. I know. Stupid stupid "silly" stuff as WBM calls it.
She then goes on to point out that, nevertheless, there was a lot of good that came of the participation of people of color at the WTO protests. She focuses on positive things, so as not to harsh anyone's mellow.
No finger wagging at the horrible horrible white people and their white privilege. Just a matter of fact overview of the things -- both real and imagined -- that kept people of color from participating.
I fail to see the horrid threat to the left such work poses.
shag