by Erin Heaney, SURJ National Director
I believe our movements can win. And I know white people have a crucial role to play in getting us to the world we all deserve.
Over the course of the next eight weeks, we are going to share powerful stories from our work across the country — work that ignites my hope for a future free from racist, Rightwing control. I hope you join us as we celebrate our movement’s victories and learn from strategies that prove the power of multiracial organizing.
We know our most powerful resource is you. The vast majority of our funding comes from folks just like you, and we hope you’ll join with thousands of SURJ donors to build the transformation work that’s possible only when we all come together.
We are collectively at a time of great upheaval, reckoning with the death of millions globally from COVID-19, the rise of global temperatures and super storms, the threat of white supremacist vigilantes patrolling capitols and communities, and the continuation of unrelenting state violence. But we are also at a moment of possibility, as resistance movements grow and we continue to see movement victories secured by Black feminist organizing. Within SURJ, our numbers are growing and our strategy is sharper than ever before.
In 2022 – a midterm election year – white supremacy will continue to be used as a political tool to maintain violent and racist systems. We need you, your families, and your friends to commit for the long haul to break rank with whiteness and join us in putting time, energy, and money on the line for racial justice.
I am inspired and deeply moved by SURJ’s work to date. I hope you feel motivated by SURJ’s strategy, that you embrace the critical work of organizing in the South, and that you support SURJ as we scale up and go deep in order to break the Right’s hold on white people. With your support, we can move thousands into multiracial movements for an anti-racist democracy, build a different way for white white people to find belonging, and secure greater safety, access, and dignity for all.
It has been a pleasure to learn from all of you over the past year, and we look forward to sharing our collective knowledge with weekly deep-dives into our campaigns through the end of the year.
