‘The Left Has A Misogynoir Problem Anti-Blackness AL the Midwest Leftist Assembly Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas 1th September 2019 Printed & Distributed by True Leap Press (2021 j Contents From an Anarkata- From en anonymous Black Anarchist, Long post aboat the Midwest Left Assembly From an Anarkata- I went to the Midwest Leftist Assembly to present « workshop with my homie —— on Black Anarchisms, and to connect with ‘other Black radicals working in different parts of the region. came with a lot of excitement and hope that folks would engage with us and the material T wound up facing down zn armed wh te leftist who was visibly agitated that attention kad been brought to the rampant anti Black- ness uf security, organizers, and other participants by my friend, a Black woman, who had been profiled and targeted for harassment throughovt the weekend. So when Itell you that the wh_te left hes a problem with racism, Tm telling you so that other Black, Brown & Indigenous folx are ‘not put into dangerous situations just by being near you people And when I say that we are not safe around you, i'm not being hyperbolic ‘This was one group of increcibly unprepared, non trauma in- formed, wh_te “leftists” who did not give an ounce of f**k about unpacking their anti Blackness before urging Black folks to attend an event they kottom lined. But the screwed up thing is that many leftist orgs create and foster the same type of anti Blackness that allow for the safety of Black participants ~ like those wo attended the MLA with me last weekend ~ to constant'y he put in sketchy situations, We are constantly placed in settings where we are ce~ smanded (0 interact in good faith and agree to empty, fo-mless non apologies for incredibly racist words and (in)actions by wh_te left- ists ~ all the while being cast as “hostile”, “criminal”, and “threat- ‘ening’, even as our access to platiorms and ability to participate in organizing spaces are routinely stripped away through procedural death... The leftist bureaucratization that allows the same fuckin discrimination we experience everywhere else to happen in sup- posedly radical spaces. ‘This is how the wh_te left polices Black bodies whale maintain- ing the optics of equitable, revolutionary praxis, simnlianeously ‘upholding wh_te supremacy and the privileges it gives them. MLA was fucked up. But IWW? Y'all better take the waming From an anonymous Black Anarchist Long post about the Midwest Left Assembly haven't really been posting a et of positive stuff abou: Midwest Lett Assembly the past few days. It's sad because this was an event that I had been promoting and supporting for the past months leac~ ing up to it. I've been a member of Horizontal Stateline since it began and helped set up the land trust prior to the even this year, ‘Anyone can tell you my enthusiasm prior io the event. | invited a number of people from across the country inchiding fellow black anarchists to facilitate a ciscussion about black anarchisra with me. 1 drove and picked up black folks frum around rockford, arranged travel, arranged housing so people could attend. I believed in this event. 'm saying all of this because I know how white leftists can come st people for atterapting to “wreck” and I want to mike it clear that my intentions were the best However, despite the positive experiences of the firs: day (WL talk about in a later post), Tm writing this as a record fur accensrtability. That's because I had to leave early because one of my friends (a black woman) was repeatedly harassed by the security because they “mistook” her ideatity for someone else. ‘That's raciel fucking profiling. We were stopped twice at the gate even though security should have known that my friend was not banned from the assembly. She had been promoting it with me in the upcoming months. It was traumatizing to my friené who ‘was confronted again by security about not belonging al the event (something about her driving a car around the land trust even though she drove to the trust with me toth days) while myself and another homie were about to play a show. She grabbed the mic and begar to address the assembly about what happened. Many white folks weren't taking what she was saying seriously and had to be silenced by other black attendees. (this isn't just coming from me and her by the way, there were a number of other black folks who saw this happen and left as a result) From what Tunderstand, none of the organizers or security team has even offered her an apology. I wish they had taken her and my concerns more seriously. Furthermore, the event organizers should not have tueated my friend like a situstion to be handled. The only situation that should have been handled was the chauvinistic behavior of the security tee. —-— should not have been the person yelling at the white folks after that happened, that should have been the ‘organizers. White people need to keep other white people in line. Isincerely regret bringing her and inviting other black people into the space (despite all ofthe good connections that Imade). Activist spaces are meant to be safe and they need to be safe for everyone, especially black women and bleck queer folks. I understand the need for security at events like this bul the security apparatus rust be horizontal and needs to be grounded in anti-oppressive polities. (repeatedly stepping a black woman is not a good look when ya'll radical white folks claiming to be somehow different from these killer cops). I don't know what acccuntability locks like at this point but I know it hes to involve formal apologies from the security team, the organizers and I believe seme sort of financial ‘compensation for my friend to support her organizing work (been telling yall to pay reparations). Frankly, what is even more fucked up is that my identity as a fair skinned college educated biracial man makes yall take this more sericusly while if she had posted this, ya'll wouldn't have given a flying fuck, Once again, the risogynoir in this situation is palpable. We can't claim to support Hack women and femenes in our rhetoric while not doing it in 7 our actions. ~——— is nct a troublemaker, she is not lying about this to start drama, i yall even attempt to insinuate thet bullshit, Tam goiny to block you. She and I had been repeatedly talking ‘over the past few months about how to bring black people out to the event and how to suppor it as a whole, Passing this repeated harassment off as a misunderstanding and not taking it seriously is deeply anti-hlack and racist. As the black anarchist Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin says “I give white radicals the tools to work with, a theo- retical framework, and some analysis of racial oppres- ion. I cannot, however, make then lake the steps to actually use in dismantling racism inside radical move- ments, I just tell them that their lip service and feeble actempts to this point ere unacceptable, and one day itwill all be taken out of their hands. So they had bet- ter act now, or they will ind themselves on the wrong side, when these decisive battles take place.” Ifyou want to speak more to meabout what happened in length, ‘engage in sme sort accountability, please send me a private mes. ‘sage. More importantly, please apologize to the black women and femmes that were harmed. Also, please don’t bother them need- lesily, they are both very busy people with lots of important work to do. Idon’t believe in callout culture but I can’t see explicit anti- blackness exist in so-called radical spaces and not call it out. It is completely unacceptable shat my friend felt like she didn't belong in that space which lead to her, myself and others to leave early, T'mnot really going to be engaging with waite comments (I'm ac. twally going to delete tem) onthis postbut if you're black, fee free to comment and ask any questions. White people should go read the progressive plantation right now. Our spaces must be informed by a coramitted intersectional politic. | hope white organizers take this lesson to grow and confront white supremacy within theirown spaces. 8 “These peuple want 1o demand ideological coafor- mity, to make those incoming people of color toe the line, I believe they are threatened by the idea of possibly large numbers of people of color joining the Anarchist movement and especially by the idea they might create autonomous tendencies that would challenge white hegemony of the overall movement. Predictably, there will thase among them who will rise up in mock alarm at the very notion... “how dare you say this?” "See there, he's making trouble again!” But I have seen it happen numerous times over the yeass and am frankly sick of it. There is no use pretending there is no racism in the Anarchist scene, or trying to discredit me for raising the issuc, have both seen and experienced it myself” Lorenzo Ervin ‘The Anarchist Library. Anti-Copyright SE ARR | Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas The Left Has A Misogynoir Problen Anti-Blackness At the Midwest Leftist Assembly 1th September 2019 hittps://afanarch sts.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/ the-left-has-a-misogynoir-problem-ant:-blackness-at-the- midwest-kflist-assembly/ theanarchistlibrary.org