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Team re:power

Statement on Amir Locke

To our re:power community, 

It’s taken some time for me to weigh in on this because we don’t want to be another organization using tragedy to promote our work or to rile people up. And we don’t want to add to the trauma.

But as hard as I tried to not say anything, I’ve been moved to speak. Because the injustices Black people and other communities pushed to the margins continue to face are why re:power exists, they are why I do this work.

A couple of weeks ago, a SWAT team of the Minnesota Police Department quietly entered a home before 7 AM and within seconds murdered 22-year-old Amir Locke. 

I’m not going to spend my time, or yours, detailing the various circumstances that led to Amir’s death. There is enough of that happening in the news/media. From my vantage point, there is no justification for Amir’s killing. I don’t want to engage in the nitpicking of whether Amir had a gun, was it legally purchased, where was it at the time of shooting, etc. I don’t need to get into that, because it’s clear to me, and you, that the system isn’t set up to protect the lives of people like Amir. The lives that were protected last week were the officers. Protected at any cost. Even if the cost is an innocent life, like Amir’s. 

What I want to do is to say that Amir mattered. Amir’s life mattered. And it still matters. Amir’s life was callously and carelessly taken away in a matter of seconds, but that doesn’t mean that we forget him. Amir was an aspiring music artist who had planned to move to Dallas to be closer to his mother. He was 22 years old. 

Amir is not just another statistic, another number, another news story that continues to desensitize us. Amir was a human being. He is survived by his family, his friends, his community… and us. We say his name, just like we continue to say Breonna, George, Tamir, Sandra, Daunte, Eric, Freddie and so many others

I’m doing all I can to center Amir as a person. And as I do that, the question I still sit with is this—why are the people who are hired to protect us, so willing to kill us without regard? The answer I keep coming up with is: they aren’t hired to protect us. At least not me, not Black and Brown people, not my people. 

Black people—we are forced to move through this world with no protection and no safety. We don’t get the opportunity to explain ourselves or justify our actions. Due process just isn’t a part of our reality. Our trials are over before they even start, because the system wasn’t built for us to begin with. 

I don’t have all the answers. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember what the work I’m doing is in service of, when nothing around me seems to change. Sometimes the unknown of a new system feels overwhelming—what will that be like? It can be scary to try and embark on something new and leave behind something that’s already built. 

But this right here—this doesn’t work. Not for me. And not for you. It doesn’t work for any of us. And I’m tired of this cycle.

So today, I’m remembering Amir and those who were killed that came before him. I’m holding our Black children in my heart, portals of our future. I hope you will take some time to do just that. Continue to tend to your physical and mental health. Replenish your enduring strength. Connect to our ancestors. And recommit yourself to this fight.

We speak your name, Amir. 

With love, 

Karundi

Future Coalition

Throughout 2021, re:power partnered with Future Coalition to train nearly 1000 participants across 7 unique training series geared toward developing new youth organizers in the fight for climate justice. This was one of the most ambitious training operations re:power has ever undertaken and likely one of the largest comprehensive training series held for youth climate justice organizers. 

Future Coalition is a national network for youth-led organizations and youth organizers across the country. With a focus on supporting BIPOC young people, queer young people, and young people on the frontlines, Future Coalition works collaboratively to provide youth-led groups with the resources, tools, and support they need to create transformative change in our communities and in this country. During our partnership,  they spent the year building new campaigns opportunities for youth to hold fossil fuel financiers accountable for their role in contributing to climate chaos – and we were so excited to be a part of it.

Here’s some more information about what re:power and Future Coalition did together:

Trainings Held

Re:power developed and designed 7 unique training series in partnership with Future Coalition. These included:

  • Pilot Grassroots Organizing
  • Grassroots Organizing 
  • Facilitators’ Training
  • Action Design Training 
  • Recruitment Training 
  • Action Safety & Police Liaison Training
  • Political Education Series 

Future Coalition was intentional in working with re:power to design a training series that would build upon itself and allow them to not only develop new organizers but also new trainers.  All of this work was part of building their Youth Climate Finance Alliance to organize big banks to stop funding the Fossil Fuel industry.

Wins

40 on-the-ground actions demanding a Fossil Free Future including:

  • 21 youth-led actions targeting Chase Banks;
  • 11 Federal Reserve actions;
  • 2 BlackRock actions;
  • 2 university divestment actions;
  • 1 Vanguard action; 
  • 2 solidarity actions; and
  • Secured meeting with Chase executives
  • In addition to on-the-ground actions, digital campaigning resulted in 113 phone calls and 1,775 emails to Chase executives demanding a Fossil Free Future.

Learnings

In working with a youth-led organization, there were significant lessons learned for each entity: 

  1. Move more slowly—urgency is important, but does not sustain people in the long fight. 
  2. Be ambitious! Future Coalition is a youth-led movement that does not put unnecessary barriers on their ambition. It was a great reminder for many of us who have done this work for a long time.
  3. Utilize a people-centered approach—the people are what truly matter in this work. Invest in the people first. 

What’s next

With the learnings and trainings from re:power, the Youth Climate Finance Alliance is entering their first ever shareholder season, where young people across the country will be calling on Shareholders to tell fossil fuel financiers to put an end to fossil financing.

Future Coalition is continuing to rapidly expand, opening its doors to even more youth movement support opportunities, coaching, resourcing and incubating of youth organizations. We are excited to watch them grow and continue to support!

This work was led by Conrado Ferreira dos Santos, re:power’s Director, Movement Building Programs.

Democracy Alliance—New American Majority Action Fund

In 2020, we partnered with the New American Majority (NAM) Action Fund to train 30 of their grantees across 11 electoral battleground states on digital organizing and infrastructure. This work helped to support the larger mission of the NAM Action Fund and the Democracy Alliance by electing progressive candidates, passing progressive policy changes at the state level, and implementing successful voter mobilization campaigns.

In June 2021 the NAM Action Fund asked us to come back for a second time and we launched a Digital and Communications cohort with their grantees. The cohort, which consisted of 13 staff of progressive state-based organizations, was created out of the recognition that many groups lack digital and comms expertise in-house, and that staff who hold those roles often do not have peers with whom they can strategize. Several participants appreciated that, in addition to skills-building, the cohort also focused on relationship-building and coaching.

“The opportunity to work with a professional mentor and small groups was invaluable in getting critical feedback that was very helpful.”

NAM Action Fund grantee

The trainings were also directly applicable to participants’ day-to-day work. One person told us they were already “trying A/B testing with our mailers” while another shared that they had presented our training materials on definitions of power with their staff.

Director of NAM Action Fund, Becca Guerra said, “The NAM Fund sought to find a training organization with deep content knowledge, verified cultural competency, and a deep enthusiasm for building the skillset and leadership of our grantee participants. Working with re:power has been a dream! Our initial training cohort led by re:power was a huge success with our grantee participants raving about the program. We are now about to kick off our second training cohort through re:power, which will serve as true professional development for our grantee leaders. The re:power team brings their expertise to every conversation but allows our team space to co-create the final products. We cannot recommend re:power enough—they are an incredible asset to building the capacity of our movement!”

The NAM Fund sought to find a training organization with deep content knowledge, verified cultural competency, and a deep enthusiasm for building the skillset and leadership of our grantee participants. Working with re:power has been a dream! 

Becca Guera, Director of New American Majority Action Fund

The pain of leading while Black

May 25, 2021 marked one year since George Floyd was murdered by the police.

re:power Executive Director Karundi Williams used this solemn occasion to reflect on what Black leadership looks and feels like in a world where Black bodies are constantly under attack. 

“I am trying to create a new reality for people like me — not only in our impact work but also within my organization, and so are many of my fellow executive directors of color across the country. We are all trying to answer an impossible question: How do we lead when faced with the never-ending and persistent trauma we are experiencing in America?“

Read her piece in the Philanthropy News Digest.

Alumni Spotlight: Cassy Jones-McBryde

Today, we’re talking with re:power alum Cassy Jones-McBryde who is the Black Organizing Program Manager with Planned Parenthood of Michigan. In her role, she’s responsible for making sure Black people are centered in reproductive access and sexual education. Cassy participated in our We Will Not Be Muted Training series last fall.

Q: What does power look like to you?
A: Power is the ability to change the conversation – with yourself and with those around you. It’s also knowing your worth and knowing your voice is valid.

re:power affirmed the difference between being busy versus being strategic. The cohort sustained me during this isolating election cycle and helped us all understand that our liberation is bound together. I also learned new ways to be unapologetic when advocating for my people.

Cassy Jones-McBryde

Q: When have you felt most proud of your work?
A: The fact that I am able to do intentional work for my people! I cannot imagine what I would be doing outside of this. Despite the trauma and both micro and macro-aggressions, I am so grateful to be able to do this work.

Q: In what ways has re:power’s training supported you?
A: I appreciate being in a community with people of color and particularly women of color that are able to speak truth to power. I learned not to be afraid to do the things we need to do for our people. I learned a lot of real community building that was missing in this election cycle. We generally operate in transactional ways and it was good to be refocused on connecting with the community.

What is Justice?

Yesterday, George Floyd’s murderer was found guilty on all three charges. This verdict confirms what we already knew—that what the world witnessed last summer, as we watched a Black man slowly die at the hands of a White Minneapolis police officer, was murder. But let’s be clear, this is not Justice. 

This guilty verdict is the bare minimum that America owes George Floyd, and this conviction is important. But, the reality is that Chauvin, the officer who murdered George Floyd, is the product of a larger system—a system of policing that was created from its inception to control and harm Black bodies. Chauvin’s actions represent a system working exactly as it was designed. The conviction and sentencing will not bring George Floyd back to us.

Mere moments before the guilty verdict was delivered, Ma’Khia Bryant—a 15-year old Black girl—was shot four times by a police officer in Columbus, OH. She is now another victim of this state-sanctioned violence on Black and Brown bodies across the country. Black folks will be forced to listen to the justifications of this violence, but the reality is another Black person has been erased from existence. 

So what is Justice? Justice is about dismantling the system that allowed this atrocity, and the many others like it, to happen. Justice is reimagining and fundamentally transforming the system that continues to murder its own people. Justice is moving beyond holding an individual accountable to ensuring that the system that breeds and shields murderers is held accountable. Justice is a due process under the law, not a system where police decide to be judge, jury and executioner. It must be a re-envisioning of what it means to protect Black people and other people of color in this country. It must see Black people as those who are worthy of protection and investment, not as those the system is protecting itself against. Justice is bringing an end to the current system of policing in the United States as we know it.

We are proud of the case George Floyd’s legal team assembled and grateful to all of the witnesses who shared their trauma on the stand to ensure this verdict, and to Attorney General Keith Ellison for filing these charges against an Officer. And we’re left wondering, what is it going to take?  

It’s been almost one year since George Floyd was murdered, and in that time we have witnessed continued killings of Black and Brown people at the hands of the police. Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Rayshard Brooks, Andre Hill, Marvin David Scott III, Duante Wright, and Adam Toledo.  What will it take to see these people as humans deserving of life? What will it take for the state to recognize that their system is flawed and must be changed? 

What will it take for Justice to be served?

Take care of yourselves.