A quiet message to the community.
Some of you have wondered why we do the the Asks and have questioned where the money goes. After all, it’s just a bunch of memes and musings, right?
I want to be plain. While I am willing to answer this question, I want to be clear that I am by no means obligated to do so, any more than Tim Wise or Robin D’Angelo or Jane Elliot are obligated.
Why activists of color, particularly Black activists, still more specifically Black women activists, are scrutinized and held to a higher standard when it comes to justifying our worth, but are considered less than worthy when it comes to what we produce, even if people consume it regularly, is a question that has an answer, and it is an unsavory one.
We won’t burrow too deeply into those rabbit holes today.
What I will say is that it takes more than you know to bring this to you.
A lot of you are new (we picked up a net gain of 200 over this last month. Welcome.), and are still wading in, so you might not have seen the posts about financial engagement, and why that engagement is crucial for the health of this community, and is also a no less crucial element of your everyday praxis.
Don’t worry. Even seasoned walkers here balk at the idea of financial engagement; fewer than 10 percent do so.
Probably, at least in part, because of the original query above.
So, I will give some detail, but also, for the sake of my own liberation, refrain from bleeding too much on the page for any given reader’s aggrandizement. I would hope that the quality of what we present and the community we invite you to would be enough for you to want to keep this space healthy and viable.
But for those of you (and that seems to be most of you) who wonder here is a partial list what we do:
–tangibly recognizes Lace and her work
–honors our Admin team; and I hope to adjust our collective goal so we can do that even better
–allows us to pay contributors (and again, more over and above our Basic will allow us to recruit more and pay even better)
–allows us to be generous with paying for conferences, symposia, and the like. Most of the places where we are requested cannot pay us market rate. We still want to be there. We should be paying our full weight, particularly for grass roots orgs
–allows us to pay for resources at market rate as well. Most of what we bring you are orgs like us, small and scrappy. We should be paying full freight. Actually, we are bigger and have stuck around longer than a lot of social justice spaces. We should be setting the standard; this should not be pulling teeth. Buying books at full price, not used, is the only way to get funds in the hands of those who actually wrote it. So we should not flinch at paying 25 dollars instead of 5 dollars, which only benefits the reseller.
–allows for proper dedicated space for Lace on Race. It should not still be in my living room. We need to have places where we can be generous and open and available.
–in theory, should allow for retreat/sabbatical time for me, and to a lesser extent for Admin staff. I work a full time job, on top of another 40+ hours here. In over two years, I have never had a dedicated weekend, much less week or two to do long range planning, and to do the deeper research and outlining I need to do.
–make it possible, someday, that I don’t have to work 80-100 hours a week. That means retirement, and feeling comfortable that my work here can indeed, with my pension, keep me modestly solvent and pay for medical. I am 56 years old and have been burning very thin candles at both ends for 2 years now; that’s not counting the work I was doing before LoR.
All of this, and more, for even our stretch, reach-for-the-stars budget of 6000 a month (which would cover all of the above) would be a bargain. Our Basic Budget is a third of that. Quietly, we should not have an issue with funding that amount with 4000 walkers of whatever tenure. Yet we do. This could well be the third month in a row we do not meet Basic numbers.
One of the boundaries I have set for myself and my self care and my liberation, is no more begging you all. If this is not something that 4000 choose to support even at these modest levels, and I have to find yet another job, we will fold. Graciously, and with deep gratitude for the last two years. But yes, it is indeed unreasonable for me to subsidize this space still further.
So yes, we need you, and we need my anxiety levels go down, and we need to make this a space as relentlessly reliable as we are all working toward being ourselves.
I hope this is the last time this year I need to write something this detailed.
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