Democracy Spring knows what’s right…

…and that’s exactly what might be wrong.

I’ve taken the past few days since returning from a tumultuous, amazing, and educational National Training to reflect on my conversations with so many wonderful people and re-read the controversial statement that Democracy Spring released last week.

First, I want to say how truly appreciative I have been of Democracy Spring, the Interim National Coordinating Committee (INCC) and the National Support Center (NSC) throughout this year. I wouldn’t be where I am as an organizer or activist without their mentorship and encouragement. They are all beautiful & caring people whose commitment to the cause has never been in question.

There is no doubt that the leadership of Democracy Spring wants to get money out of politics, restore the VRA, and ensure free and fair elections for all. I know they feel they are making the best decisions to advance the cause — and perhaps they did in the case of last week’s statement.

However, if you are looking for another intellectual argument on why we should or should not strategically vote for Hillary, you won’t find that here.

I want to discuss why we shouldn’t feel so certain about being right. In order to build a sustainable movement we should all resist that tendency towards unquestioned certainty (as people, as teams, as a movement). We must ensure we are doing what is best for all — and that we are doing this intentionally.

There have been a handful of indicators leading me to believe that decisions made by Democracy Spring might have been made hastily, not deliberately — exclusively, not inclusively.

There’s an African proverb:

I think Democracy Spring has been trying to move too fast and has missed a few critical pieces and considerations to movement building that might prevent us from going as far as we all desire to go.

I’d like to see us slow down and take time to consider a few things:

1. Real Solidarity — Mobilize a dormant DS base to show up for actions in solidarity with Black Lives, #NoDAPL, the labor movement, LGBTQ & women, the peace movement, local causes around affordable housing & homelessness. We do this not just to build cred, but to remind ourselves and our people of all the reasons we’re fighting to fix our corrupt democracy.
2. Coalition Building — There was a huge coalition of organizations that scattered to the wind after the April week-long action. We need to reengage. We need to offer them the same support they gave us in April. It must be a two-way street.
3. Inclusion AND Integration — Right now, it seems we are only trying to prevent the appearance of tokenism. Democracy Spring has tried so hard to diversify. While I applaud the focus on these efforts, it’s not enough and has still been interpreted by many as tokenism. If we don’t follow through with doing the work of integrating all people, their ideas, and understanding the benefit and great value of their diverse perspectives, then it’s wasted effort.
4. Intensive Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression Training — We must be open to doing this transformative work to achieve the broadest & deepest understanding of the oppressions & violence of which we are unaware or just don’t understand. This work is critical for ensuring the best decisions for our movement, allowing it to grow free from the impediments of oppressive practices that would otherwise stifle our progress. Knowledge is power, and we’re lacking knowledge in this department.
5. Organizational and Decision-making Structure Overhaul — We must solicit outside opinions, examine all collectively held assumptions & biases, and seek out missing perspectives before choosing the “right” course of action — for until we do, there no way to know what is truly right.
6. Toxic Whiteness & Masculinity Check — The manifestation I see most often, is an overconfidence or “knowing” we are right. This can be dangerous. I know this one well, because I still suffer from time to time. I will catch myself spinning it to seem like a more nobler thing than toxic male stubbornness — instead I’ll frame it as the “courage of my convictions”. Ha. I believe this overconfidence was a contributing factor to the release of the controversial statement. Also, I see (even in myself) a good bit of savior complex in our movement. These are things we shouldn’t fault anyone for holding, but only encourage them (and ourselves) to take a hard look and do the work to prevent it from affecting our movement’s progress.
7. The movement can’t be well unless you are well — Let’s take care of each other and ourselves. I have seen too many destructive and unsustainable practices to name here. How ‘bout we start by getting enough sleep, and stop glorifying the 15 hour workday. If we want to get the bad habits out of our democracy, we must also get the bad habits out of ourselves by make self-care a priority and something that is made ample space for in our work.

With all that said, Democracy Spring’s INCC may be right about strategic voting. I could also be wrong about all of the above. These are my humble opinions, and I am open to discussion from all.

However, I do believe that until we all do the work outlined above, we will continue to be wrong in our approaches to strategic communications & engagement, peer review processes, inclusivity & integration, recruitment & absorption, coalition building, and truly nonviolent direct action & civil disobedience. It must be done the right way for us to win. It must be done the right way to ensure we don’t inadvertently cause violence to people or harm to our movement.

I want Democracy Spring to go far. I want us to play an integral part in the overturning of Citizens United, restoring of the VRA, public financing of candidates, and ensure that the constituents, not the contributors, drive our politicians’ work.

But we need to do it together. The INCC tried to do this alone. A lot of you, just like me, wished they would have brought more voices into the process.

Let’s all let INCC know they are not in this alone. Let’s help them build a nonviolent movement that is worthy of and has room for us all.

I want Democracy Spring to go far. But we need to do it together.