When white womyn drop out....

 So Linda tried one of our Atlanta zoom gatherings and then emailed me this:

Linda: ...thanks SO much for the invitation and the meeting last week. I don't have 90 minutes+ to spend on a call each week.

Do you mind being more specific re: why this gathering to share, discuss, strategize re:racism on Tuesday didn't make it to the top of your most important list? &/or maybe suggestions for how to improve the gathering to make it more important for you?

For me, it seemed more of a complaining, unhappy session than a way to make things better. I am comparing it to the other group I meet with once a week for an hour. We're more about talking about what's happening, having examples of things we've done during the week that have made a difference. It also could simply be energetically it's a better match for me. There's nothing 'wrong' with your group. The 90 minutes - 2 hours was much more than I would devote to ANY group. I'm also busy with volunteering with Stacey Abrams and I already have the other anti-racism group and I'm also on the board of my local Indivisible Group, so lots of activities. And I'm also working with my state senator on her campaign. Finally, although I think of myself as being very progressive and left-wing, I think your group is more left-wing than I am, so not a match there. Again, you're a nice group of women, just not a match for me. Thanks for asking. It's a good question and helpful for me to think through.

Oh Linda, so sorry - I think your right, we didn't have too many suggestions for improving...I'm going to go back in notes and figure out if that's so. Also, I might be mistaken, but I think you signed in late - maybe not. We always begin by introducing ourselves - name and neighborhood - and then answering the questions: 1) "What recent (as in this past week) challenge did you have addressing racism and on your journey to effective anti-racism? and 2) "What recent success have you had addressing racism & on your journey to anti-racism? Then we decide together on the "most pressing issue" we want to deal with in today's zoom. Or the issues raised in the current call to zoom - which last week were police violence and militia. I'm very glad your working hard on anti-racism and have other avenues to explore besides our zoom gathering. Thank you - your work is appreciated! As far as being "more left" I don't think I would frame it that way Linda. I think there is a wide range of experiences and knowledge brought to the zoom by all the womyn participating. Maybe some have more experience confronting racism and forging that anti-racism path than others, but we need everyone at whatever point they're at. That is another of our main purposes - to share our stories and come up together with stronger, more effective tools for identifying, confronting and smashing racism. Lastly Linda, I'd like to leave you with this thought: if white people are not feeling challenged, uncomfortable, angry, guilty, etc. ALL the feelings we are so very good at avoiding and trying to avoid in confronting racism, then we're not really doing the work necessary to smash racism. I know that there is and always has been a train of thought among especially white anti-racism theory/thought that we must make if 'safe', 'comfortable', not arousing feelings of guilt especially, shame too, etc. when assisting in the process of 'teaching' white people about racism. You might guess that this is not and never has been my position over the decades of doing this work. But again, we need every path, every journey, every theory/thought in challenging racism - if we knew the one and right way, we'd all jump on it and racism would no longer exist.