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KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM AND COMMIT TO MOVEMENTS
Now is the time to get involved with and fund poor and working-class led organizations doing year-round social justice work and focus on building power with communities who hold our elected officials accountable.
See our statement on insta @resourcegeneration here, too!
Strong poor and working-class led organizations and communities are critical not just to beat back the worst threats but to challenge the coming presidential administration to align with the social justice movement’s vision of resourced, safe, and powerful communities. Beyond who won specific races, this election was a huge win for our movements and so many people joined organizations to get out the vote and build local power. Our national campaign partners, Movement for Black Lives and Center for Popular Democracy have been making it clear that all across the country it was Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working-class communities of color who carried the victories across the finish line. So in addition to thanking the leadership of Black women and other BIPOC grassroots leaders that made this happen, let’s acknowledge that thanks alone aren’t enough -- we need to put in the work to win transformative systemic change and policies that help us all be more free.
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Our role as a multi-racial community of young people with access to wealth committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power is to divest from racial capitalism and white supremacy -- and to be doing this work year-round and for the long haul.
During this election season, the RG community showed up in force to phonebank for campaign partner groups based in Detroit and Georgia, and were part of important resource mobilization efforts to move unrestricted dollars to frontline organizers. We’re grateful for how so many of you threw down to back social justice movements this year.
And households of all racial backgrounds with a family income of more than $100K voted in double-digit margins for Trump. It’s clear that classism, wealth accumulation, and white supremacy are deeply intertwined and work together to further wealth inequality and racial capitalism.
Our role in movements has to be about more than any single individual or candidate, and it also is about more than mobilizing from a place of guilt or shame. We must organize to transform the conditions that make it possible for wealthy people to take refuge in wealth hoarding and systems of supremacy. To do this we act in solidarity with poor and working class-led movements who are building a world that is equitable and just, where we can all thrive.
Read our complete statement on the election, "Keep up the momentum and commit to movements" here.
"THANKSGIVING" AKA "THANKSTAKING" AKA "THANKSLYING"
As the days grow shorter and we grapple with the collective loss from COVID-19, state violence and isolation, it seems all too fitting that here in the states, Thanksgiving -- which many Indigenous People refer to as the National Day of Mourning -- is approaching. Thanksgiving brings to the forefront of our collective memory the glorified notions of the U.S’s inception and the brutal and ongoing realities of violence, especially against Black and Native communities.
It calls us to reckon with the attempted genocide of Indigenous people and theft of land that allowed for initital wealth accumulation to begin in the U.S. Whether you are spending Thanksgiving with others or alone this year, it’s (always) a great time to reflect on wealth, colonialism, and land rematriation.
With land comes the opportunity for sovereignty, cultural preservation, self-determination, and for some, wealth accumulation. These are all key components of power. The ruling class has never been interested in sharing land, and thus, nor sharing power.
As a multi-racial community of young people with access to wealth and class privilege, our family histories may include colonizers and those who were colonized, landowners and those forced from their land, and ancestors who fought against imperialism and then immigrated to the U.S. - and are complicit with settler colonialism here. Regardless, a key marker of our access to class privilege and wealth today is homeownership and ability to purchase and sell land. Whatever our individual ties to “property,” all money generated from the stock market is reliant on the commodification of the earth’s resources in order to exist and all young people with wealth with investments in the stock market are direct beneficiaries of these extractive practices.
This “Thanksgiving” let’s commit ourselves to being in alignment with Indigenous self-determination and land returns. This requires year-round commitment, multi-year funding, and ongoing collective action.
Below are a fews ways to take action and continue learning:
- Join us for Rethinking Thanksgiving and Taking Action for Indigenous Land Defense Thursday, November 26 at 3pm ET/12 pm PT (co-sponsored with SURJ, Indigenous Solidarity Network and Catalyst Project, more info below**)
- Check out RG's statement on land -- here we aim to connect wealth, land, and provide more context for why RG's mission specifically is to work toward the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power.
- There are Indigenous-led land and water protection fights happening all over the U.S and globally. Learn about, support and amplify their demands. A few examples are listed below:
- #LANDBACK: If you have not already done so sign this petition to close Mt. Rushmore and return all public lands in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin.
- Line 3: Line 3 is a proposed pipeline that would carry dirty tarsands oil through Anishinaabe treaty territories and across the headwaters of the Mississippi. Read & watch to learn more. Indigenous water protectors and accomplices have been resisting the pipeline for years, and this is a critical time. Some ways to support.
- #WaterBack: Support Pueblo Action Alliance to reclaim all unsettled Indigenous water claims in the SouthWest
- Warriors of the Sunrise is an encampment in the Hamptons, Long Island, NY led by a group of Indigenous women from the Shinnecock Nation. Tell officials to drop the lawsuit against the monument.
As always, let's commit to funding poor and working-class led organizing and ecosystems for the long haul. This election season has highlighted the importance of multi-year grassroots funding strategies. Huge campaign wins don’t happen in a day, nor do we honor Indigenous resistance and existence only once a year.
In solidarity,
Jes Kelley on behalf of the RG Team
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Art for Resource Generation by @ashlukadraws
FALL DRIVE UPDATE:
$50M TO MOVEMENTS, HELP US FINISH STRONG
Some very exciting news: the RG community has officially surpassed $50M in pledges to social justice movements in 2020!
What once felt like a distant goal is now a reality. Thanks to everyone who signed the Giving Pledge, organized others to sign, or were otherwise a part of this huge collective effort. Now, the most important part comes: making sure that we each follow through. If you haven’t heard from us already, expect RG staff & member leaders to be reaching out in the coming weeks to ensure you’ve followed through on your pledges, including to our campaign partners Movement for Black Lives and Center for Popular Democracy. We still have fundraising gaps to meet for those last two in particular, so if you haven’t given yet, it’s not too late!
And it’s never too late to join or renew your RG membership, too.
UPCOMING RG WEBINARS & ONLINE EVENTS!
Thursday, November 26 at 3pm ET/12 pm PT
Rethinking Thanksgiving and Taking Action for Indigenous Land Defense - register here!**
We invite you and yours to join us for a special virtual event, co-sponsored with Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ), Indigenous Solidarity Network, and Catalyst Project. We will be screening the short film “Invasion,” after which there will be some time to hear from Sleydo' (Molly Wickham), spokesperson of Gitdumden Clan, and take actions together to support Indigenous land and water defense. INVASION is a film about the Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people. One minute trailer here.
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Monday, November 30 at 8pm-9:30 PM ET/5-6:30 pm PT
Organize Your Family to Fund the Movement for Black Lives! - register here!
Come hear from a team of RG members started by Hanna Mahon and Sam Vinal (lovingly called the Grant Liberation Committee or GLC) who are committed to expanding donors' understanding of this moment in Black-led organizing through a beautiful new interactive presentation that has been created to do just that! These members created this presentation specifically as an organizing tool for family foundation boards but it can be used more broadly.
The goal of the GLC is to organize families and family foundations to meet the Movement for Black Lives call to "fund us like you want us to win" by increasing the number of unrestricted multi-year grant commitments. This 90 minute presentation will be facilitated by GLC members and will include a movement ecosystem overview, powerful family organizing stories, and tips on how you can implement this tool in your family organizing.
If any of these questions apply to you, definitely attend: Are you someone who wants to organize your friends, family, or foundation board to support The Movement For Black lives? Do you want your crew to not just give money but really start to understand and feel the power of M4BL's vision for Black liberation? Are you confused about where to start?
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Thursday December 3rd at 8-8:30pm ET/5-5:30pm PT
Fall Membership and Giving Pledge Drive Celebration - register here!
This year's Fall Giving Pledge and Membership Drive has made it increasingly clear that RG members are organized, committed, and ready to redistribute the resources our social justice movements need to win!
So many people have been working hard to ensure that our members are following through on their giving pledges and making new, escalated commitments to poor and working-class movements for justice. Hear from RG members about what becomes possible when we are organized, updates and celebrations about RG's work this year, including the total dollar amount our network has pledged to social justice movements through our giving pledge! And as we celebrate the people and resources RG has moved together this year, we'll look to our RG community to fortify us for the work still to come.
We encourage everyone to attend us for this celebration -- whether you are a longtime member or newly interested in our work, we want to connect and build with you for the work ahead!
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Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 4-5:30pm ET /1-2:30pm PT
RG 101 Orientation Space - register here!
If you are new to RG or coming out of the conference are thinking of other people with class privilege who might want to be involved, come on over to our RG 101 Orientation! In this monthly orientation space we’ll be sharing about what RG does, who we are, do light money stories, and share ways to plug into RG’s work! This is for folks who are in chapter areas and folks who are not!
CHAPTER & EMERGENT CHAPTER UPDATES
RG Atlanta
Chapter members hit the Atlanta Beltline to chalk messages and recruit new members! Chalk messages read: "No need to hoard your wealth, redistribute that sh**!" and "Are you rich?"
*New chapters alert!*
RG Connecticut
Rich kids in Connecticut are mobilizing! After a catalyzing moment of relationship building at 2019 MMMC, Connecticut members of Resource Generation have come together and co-created a beautifully radical space for young people with wealth and class privilege to be in supportive community while deepening relationships with movement partners across the state of CT. We’re in the beginning stages of building a base of chapter members while also actively building sustainable, long-term relationships with movement partners. A unique thing about the CT Chapter is that we know people come to Connecticut to attend the many universities and colleges here or are connected to the state because a family member lives in CT. We are building an analysis on how those situations significantly impact inequities in CT and we encourage you to be a part of our chapter, even if you live in Montana!
Every event or meeting held by the Connecticut Chapter is open to all members and inspired by our friends in New York, we use Sociocracy as our structure for meetings and chapter building. The whole chapter meets monthly, online, where members can build connections with others, gain political education and other skills, and share/learn where to plug into the landscape of CT movement work. If you would like to join events or our chapter meetings, you can see our Google Calendar. If you’d like to join our CT listserv, you can sign up using RGs form.
We’re excited to work with all the members and chapters of RG!
RG New Mexico
RG New Mexico has achieved official chapter status and now we're meeting monthly! This month 9 of us met and learned about the new Honor Native Land Tax being organized by Albuquerque SURJ (Showing up for Racial Justice). Many of us filled out the calculator and pledged to give to Pueblo Action Alliance and the Red Nation as our tax. We also discussed end-of-year giving and other money stuff we're each working through. We decided next month we'll do some coworking to hold each other accountable to working on these goals! We are a new chapter - if you know of any RG constituents in New Mexico please send them our way via this interest form!
Emerging chapter - RG Ohio!
We are meeting monthly with new and returning faces each meeting. Super exciting! We're working towards finishing end of year giving commitments and launching into 2021 with powerful programming- continued monthly meetings, deeper geographically grounded alliances, and potentially even our first praxis!! If you have family or friends in Ohio who are ready to link up with RG please put us in touch! xoxo the emerging chapter of Ohio! ps we are still rocking our contact gathering survey, take it here.
***RG has several local chapters (established and emerging!) across the U.S. and growing! If you are interested in connecting with your local RG chapter or community to support local organizing movements (and the long-term fight for social justice!), please check out the RG intake form.
MAKING MONEY MAKE CHANGE (MMMC) 2020 WAS A SUCCESS!
Huge thanks to Charles Long of Movement for Black Lives for leading us through a powerful workshop on what reparations are and are not and how visceral the need for repair is. Huge thanks to Jill Cartwright from Southerners On New Ground who took us through the history of policing in the US and the many roles young people with wealth can play in investing in an abolitionist future. And a huge thanks to our powerhouse panel with Karissa Lewis from the Movement for Black Lives, Nsé Ufot from the New Georgia Project, Natalia Salgado from the Center for Popular Democracy Action, and Michael Johnson from the NDN Collective. This dynamic group of leaders shared reflections on the election, how wealth redistribution fits into their work and expectations of donors. We’ll be sharing parts of this panel next month for folks who missed.
**Reminder, if you attended MMMC 2020 and have not yet filled out the eval please do so!** Contact [email protected] if you have questions about this.
FROM PARTNERS
Learn more about RG membership here
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