Ways to Support Movement Work & Reallocation of Resources

Every historically marginalized community is suffering world-wide. This is a symptom of white supremacy, authoritarian regimes and the way capitalism is presently operating under the current conditions. There are so many communities suffering and in need of support it is overwhelming. Not everyone is positioned to contribute financially. There are seemingly countless organizations that exist and are in need of support. I’m not able to list them all. Here is a starting point from the Bay Area Council. Transform Belonging is unable to research and provide information about all of these orgs please do your own research to confirm these organizations are in alignment with your values and contribute to their causes in the ways they purport to do so/say they’re doing.

Wealthy/Beyond Financially Secure - Your Large Sums of Money Makes Money for You as an Income Source

If you are wealthy, upper middle-class and financially secure please reallocate your resources in support of movement work. Consider ongoing contributions, large donations to organizations working in support of historically marginalized communities and understand that a current call to action from movement leaders is to actively support restorative & transformative justice, police reform (as a stepping stone) and abolition. It should not be an act of pity and is not a “hand out.” It is also an act of generosity and a gift from one community member to another and in support of our larger society. This gift supports all of us.

If the wealthiest individuals in the world reallocated even a small portion of their wealth world hunger would cease to exist. We would all be housed, clothed, fed and have access to clean water. There is enough wealth for all of us if it is reallocated. We will continue to be in the current conditions and operating under the same systems if we don’t all learn to practice giving and receiving in support of solidarity. Try to allocate to causes whose work brings you a sense of joy. Practicing giving is one way to contribute and please don’t stop there! Self-education and educating others as well as contributing to political causes that support the wellbeing of all are also crucial. If you find yourself becoming resentful consider why and how to shift your mindset. There are also many causes and you are welcome and invited to focus on communities for which you feel a personal connection. For instance, you are a survivor of violence (which transcends class) consider allocating to causes in support of survivors of violence.

Middle-Class/Lower-Middle Class - Financially Secure & Still Working Full-Time/Financially Somewhat Secure

If you fall into the middle-class and lower-middle class realm consider making direct contributions to members of your community who are trying to meet basic needs (rent, child care & elder care, food, shelter, rent/mortgage to preserve home, medications and transportation). When you may be at times paycheck to paycheck, attempting to pay down debt, responsible for student educational debt and struggling toward your own class ascension this is the most impactful way to stretch your dollars since you have less of them to contribute. There are many mutual aid funds both nation and world wide. If you aren’t connected to mutual aid in your community you are invited to contribute to non-profits as well as looking to calls to action from on the ground organizers that include mutual aid funds. You may also volunteer your time, emotional labor and educate yourself and others. Don’t forget to rest and take care of yourself. You are likely struggling yourself in a number of ways.

Those Experiencing Economic Hardship/Distress

If you are actively experiencing economic hardship/distress where your basic needs (rent, child care & elder care, food, shelter, rent/mortgage to preserve home, medications and transportation) are not met please consider practicing receiving from others with the understanding that reallocation of wealth is an act of solidarity in support of our individual and collective liberation/freedom. You get to focus on surviving from day to day. If you have access to a phone consider listening to podcasts and news in support of self-education and education of others. Know that the more you do this the more you may feel class rage build. Please be gentle with yourself.

If you need to pay less attention to the atrocities of the world and the ways you are experiencing harm in order to survive you get to do that. Know many of us are aware more than hopes and prayers are needed and that we are doing everything we can to change these conditions. Know also immediate long-term help may not come in this generation and if you can find a way to move toward more financial freedom please struggle toward that in the ways that are available to you.

Educational Resources

There are a vast number of educational resources on anti-oppression across multiple identities and anti-racism specifically. Please pay particular attention to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities including the Asian community (which is a vast and diverse community in and of itself). It is important you engage in your own research. Pay attention to your own lineage and ways that your family lines have impacted the historically marginalized people around you. This is true no matter your identities, because most of us experience both privilege and marginalization in some aspect of our identities. We must navigate the complexity of that reality. Those who experience a lack of belonging must overcome that core wounding to be able to do anti-oppressive work. Those who may experience privilege around most or all of their identities often find that their shame is the largest issue to navigate to be able to overcome barriers to taking responsibility for that unearned privilege.

Learn to identify where you hold privilege and where you experience marginalization and focus attention on those areas. Here is one assessment tool. A simple internet search will also provide a vast number of resources from reputable news sources such as National Public Radio’s (NPR’s) Code Switch. There are books, magazine and news articles, training, conference, mandatory work training and much more. There are too many to list here. I am particularly fond of the Racial Equity Tools from multiple organizations. If you’re already doing this work that’s great! Thank you for being in solidarity with your community. If you’re just starting your journey welcome please keep going.

History of Indigenous Land & Labor Acknowledgements

Land acknowledgments originate from indigenous practices. Acknowledging indigenous origins is one way for those without indigenous roots to move toward reconciliation and a way for those disconnected from their indigenous roots to move toward connection. Indigenous people were and remain the first stewards of the land. A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes and respects indigenous people as the original stewards of the land and for those who are not indigenous that we are occupying stolen land. Transform Belonging recognizes the education they have received about the information on this page that originates from Kanyon CoyoteWoman of Indian Canyon Nation available here via Kanyon Konsulting, LLC.

 Transform Belonging Acknowledges the Ohlone People

Transform Belonging is situated in Ohlone pronounced “oh-Lone-e” (also known as Costanoan) lands. More than 58 independent tribal groups are the original stewards of Bay Area land. Present day San Francisco Bay to Monterey Bay, the Big Sur Coasts and San Benito areas are within originally indigenous territories. The Ohlone people have survived multiple centuries of biocidal and genocidal policies and continue to inhabit their ancestral land. Transform Belonging is specifically located on Ramaytush land (San Francisco) and has connections to transformative and restorative practitioners in Chochenyo (Berkeley & Oakland) and Coast Miwok (Marin) lands. Learn where you are situated here. Transform Belonging actively works against ongoing settler colonialism through coaching and consulting practices.

The Ongoing Process of Accountability & Unsettlement

“If we think of territorial acknowledgments as sites of potential disruption, they can be transformative acts that to some extent undo Indigenous erasure.” - Chealsea Vowel, Métis, Beyond Territorial Acknowledgements . “A territory acknowledgment should not be seen as an item to be ticked off, but as an ongoing process of accountability and unsettlement. It should be uncomfortable. We settlers are not ‘good allies’ for doing a territory acknowledgment; it is the very least we can do. At the end of the day, we’re still here, benefitting off colonialism, dispossession, and exploitation of Indigenous land and communities.” - Kay Ho An Introduction to Settler Colonialism

Self Inquiry & Reallocation of Resources (Beyond Indigenous Acknowledgements)

We must move beyond land acknowledgments toward reconciliation. We must do all that we can to help return stolen land to indigenous stewards of the land (rematriation), supporting indigenous calls to action including activism around biocide/land destruction, prioritize access to clean water, prevent pipelines and address climate change (an result of colonialism). We must also deepen our self-inquiry to assess how we as individuals can participate in reconciliation.

 Restorative & Transformative Practices are Indigenous

Transform Belonging offers the above indigenous acknowledgment as a part of their own de-colonization practice and to honor that Transform Belonging could not exist without the restorative and transformative practices that come from indigenous practices. Community circle practices & harm circles are tools rooted in indigenous practices. Transform Belonging recognizes the history of colonialism and a need to change settler colonial societies to transfer wealth and access to resources to the original stewards of this land. This is a practices used with coaching clients, consulting clients, speaking engagements (events and institutions), rituals and ceremonies and offers the larger context for doing so. Please find ways to honor indigenous people (financial and otherwise).

Respecting Indigenous Identity & Mixed People

While our ancestral trees may connect to people of many lineages it is important to not claim indigenous ancestry with no immediate connection to indigenous family members or questionable genetic tests that are actively skewing data in the census. Check out this NPR article for more on this topic. This is disrespectful to indigenous people, as well as multi-racial/mixed people who have an immediate familial connection to their identity as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC). Transform Belonging’s founder does have extended family who are indigenous and engages in this acknowledgment to honor and respect their family members as well as other loved ones and community members who are indigenous.

While the founder of Transform Belonging is a born and raised San Franciscan they are not indigenous identified. If you are a born and raised San Franciscan who is not indigenous you are invited to reconsider using the word native when describing your relationship to the Bay Area.

Indigenous Related Resources (not an exhaustive list please also do research!)

• Bay Area Native Solidarity in Ohlone Territory

• Beyond Territorial Acknowledgments

• First Nation Protocol on Traditional Territory

• Indian Canyon & Costanoan Indian Research

• Native Land Digital

• Ohlone Curriculum from East Bay Regional Park District

• Sogorea Te’ Land Trust - Shumi Land Tax

• Shuumi Land Tax for Foundations

• The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone

• Unsettling America Decolonization in Theory & Practice

Support the Artist

Artist Micah Bazant describes this image as “the first poster in my series ‘No Pride for Some of Us Without Liberation for All of Us’. I made it in June 2014 to challenge corporate, whitewashed gay pride and to celebrate Marsha P Johnson.” Please consider supporting and amplifying the art and artist. You can purchase a print here. If you work in an activist oriented work environment you may be able to access organizational funds to buy prints for your office space.

Please consider your relationship to the LGBT+ and specifically trans community as an organization or company if you display an image like this. Ask yourself how the org or company is in solidarity with the LGBT+ community (such as through donations, employment policies & procedures, insurance benefits that prioritize safe and accessible trans healthcare, LGBT+ reproductive health care access, parental leave, etc.)