In Support of Seattle DSA Institutional reparations

On December 1st, 2020 the Seattle chapter of Democratic Socialists for Ameriva met to discuss a resolution to create a fund of roughly 30% of all contributions for organizational “small r” reparations to be paid to its black organizers. This is my argument in support…

My name is Alex Ajeto (he/him) and I am a member of the Afrosocialist and socialists of color caucus and I will be speaking in support of the resolution.

Thank you comrades for the opportunity to speak to all of you about a resolution that I believe beautifully directs our group toward the future so many of us believe in.

I have appreciated the thorough and thoughtful discussions I have witnessed over the past few weeks and I know even more productive discussions have likely gone unseen. I am buoyed by the comradely spirit of Democracy that is clearly alive in this group.

Now, I have heard from countless comrades tonight that we need to unite a multiracial coalition of workers. But I believe we are first going to have to fundamentally reimagine who we are as a group in order to do this. We must also first confront all of the ugly histories around us. This includes continuing to have difficult discussions regarding the role of race within our organizational AND within our movement at large.

At the heart of many concerns seems to lie a possible white worker backlash. Seemingly an ask to water down our message about supporting black comrades in order to broaden our coalition… much as the Democratic party compromises its vision to maintain its electoral relevancy.

In response to this I want to briefly invoke the spirit of James Baldwin who died on this very day 33 years ago. He elegantly argued:

“When we find ourselves making political decisions in light of our fear of backlash, we actually reproduce and perpetuate the very conditions that cause oppression in the first place. Backlash mistakenly views demands for fundamental dignity as demands for privileges. We have to confront this nation’s ugliness head-on without compromising. We certainly cannot compromise our description of a problem because we are afraid that it’s going to make somehow make a white person more racist.”

I would also hope that rather than be critical of black organizers who express frustration at the actions of white folks in our movement let us instead center the realities that underpin these frustrations in the first place. Let’s be critical of the physical, mental, emotional, and material conditions for all black organizers and intentional about how we address them. THIS resolution is a tangible way to address these conditions TODAY.

Much like we have no self-proclaimed racists in a clearly racist country we also seem to have no class reductionists in our group either. Yet we black and brown members continue to find ourselves under supported, unwelcome, and thus unfortunately under-represented. We clearly cannot continue to ONLY rely upon our foundation of class-focused strategies to guide our movement to the multiracial coalition we all covet.

So let me close with one more Baldwin quote:

“Not EVERYTHING that is faced can be changed, but NOTHING can be changed until it is faced. Every time we compromise, somebody, namely black America, must bear the brunt of that compromise.”

So to those for whom reservations remain I ask you on this occasion to consider bearing the brunt of compromise, to support the fundamental dignity of our black organizers, and to help Seattle DSA continue to grow for the better.

Thank you for your time!