Privilege and Charitable Giving

Hi Friends!

Hooray Alabama! As one of my friends pointed out, people of color were the heroes in yesterday’s election — they overwhelmingly voted for Jones. Here are more breakdowns if you’re curious. As before, there is so much more work to be done. On we go!

If you can attend the School Board meeting tomorrow, they will be voting on the middle school boundaries. I haven’t seen anything from the school board member posted online, so I have no idea what might happen at the meeting. It may be that there is a push to delay the decision until better options are considered. There is an opportunity to speak at the meeting, so if you can go, please do. And feel free to coordinate on our list to see if you want to try to go together or speak to the same purpose — the more voices we raise about this the better!

I saw an article in Medium by Molly McClure called “Parents, Privilege, & Public Schools.” It’s a really good read. Here’s a sample:

“For privileged parents, it can be especially hard to see the ways that our understanding of and approach to addressing challenges at school is shaped by our experiences of privilege in the world. We can show up to our new school community with race and/or class entitlement that can alienate teachers, other parents, and school staff. We may replicate some of the underlying structural inequities that created the things we find challenging about the school in the first place.”

I came across a publication that sounds really perfect for members of our group — Hold the Line Magazine, “where parenthood and social justice collide” which just published its first issue. The content looks amazing and is available in PDF form.

As you consider your charitable giving before the end of the year (and all year long), please keep in mind POC-led organizations. A powerful part of our anti-racism efforts is in reallocating financial resources to POC (more information can be found around reparations here).

Please keep in mind as certain legislation moves through our government that many of us are in a privileged position to be less affected by the results of these measures than many in our community. Please make space for listening to and supporting our friends and neighbors who have less privilege and less flexibility to absorb these changes if they are enacted. We must show that we are better than this with our actions.