To New RoAR News:

Ron Chisom, the father of the undoing racism movement, says that the pillars of anti-racist communities are those who remain consistent over time.

The celebration of New RoAR’s Tenth Anniversary on April 26 led me to reflect that those who are intimately involved in the work often don’t see how incremental changes over time transform people, spaces, and communities.

Sometimes it takes someone who is not directly involved to see the progress and the things that you are blinded to, and that’s what happened for me at the anniversary.

I attended the Tenth Anniversary celebration with a friend to introduce her to the movement. When we left she asked, “Who are those people? Wow…I didn’t know all that was happening.”

This is exactly why anti-racist organizers who are making change need to celebrate – to shout out, document, archive, share and inspire others to take the steps that you have taken to get the results that you have achieved.  

You are leaders who moved boldly into “business as usual” spaces with an alternative–a model grounded in humanity, guided by principles, and delivered by everyday people who are consistent, persistent, and effective in bringing about change.

This is what we saw. Anti-racist, multiracial collectives working within their circles of concern and influence to examine themselves, their institutions, policies and practices and make accountable changes with a shared vision of building strong, diverse communities of nurturing families, caring for each other in civil society, demanding ethical businesses, and creating local government that protects and secures our mutual human rights. 

So much has been achieved:  New health care resources, parent-teacher associations for disenfrancished educational communities, greater accountability in policing, community gardens, interrupting gentrification, an anti-racist news blog, challenging political candidates, success in installing a people’s City Council, and much more. 

The New RoAR model for change is to be celebrated and shared!

Thank you to the New RoAR family!

And thank you to David Peters for his clear and everlasting leadership.

With respect and love,

Sandy Bernabei

Antiracist Alliance

Power to the People!