You asked me about some of our fellow anti-racists saying that the 9/21 symposium is just about the Child Welfare system and thus they are not participating.
I have many opinions on this and some are historical in nature. But, I would say to them that the race construct in the U.S. is systemically interconnected and that we can all learn something from efforts to dismantle systemic i racism in one arena and apply it to our efforts in other systems.
The Child Welfare system, for example, is a primary feeder system to the criminal justice system and both are fed by the educational system. Would any of us say that the criminal justice system is too specialized to address the racism embedded in it?
I would also add that in my work with systems the past few years in NYC that the same principles that guided my efforts over the years in community serve me well in systemic settings. I also have been educated by the facts that the same realities exist as in other settings: Internalized Racial Superiority/Inferiority; Power Analysis within structures were the same; White Dominant Culture ruled in terms of policies and practicies; structure and hierarchy; use of time and budget to resist change. One differences between community-based organizing and structural-based efforts has been the "calendar wars"- the repeated use of conflicts and institutional requirements to stunt anti-racist organizing efforts. This creates an organizational conformity and a fear of retribution. I have seen this in tenure processes; programs and curriculum decisions; etc.
The historical note: I believe that the fragmentation and specialization tied to certification, licensing battles, funding and a host of other pressures are counter-revolutionary strategies employed by all the systems in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement that moved natural organizers into systemic apologists who by either choice or applied oppression made us gatekeepers tied to the arrangement.
So, those of us outside a given system or to use your word "specialty" need to know this because all of our constituencies must deal with this structural arrangement even those of us who work in them. We might learn something.
