Racism

I was listening to Bob Dylan’s Hurricane the other day.

So I looked up the story on Wikipedia…Rubin Carter…20 years in prison for a crime that he did NOT commit.

We don’t always do so well with “and justice for all.” Racism triumphs over and over and over…

No matter that LBJ worked hard to get the Civil Rights Legislation passed back in 1964 and 1965. No matter that Barack Obama was President for 2 terms.

The day before listening to Bobby sing Hurricane… Tom and I watched the 2017 movie Marshall about Thurgood Marshall and his 1940 case in Bridgeport, CT.

Such sadness and anger about racism. Such admiration for those who fought and fight and will fight. Forever.

Some favorite YouTube videos.

I use them in my classes at SMUMN – where I teach in the masters program in Philanthropy and Development.

If I were on staff at an institution (instead of being a consultant) – I’d insist all staff watch these together….And then talk.

HEY! What a great way to start a board meeting…periodically watching something like this and talking about the implications for your clients, your donors, your organization, the community, and on and on and on…

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE MARVELOUS VIDEOS is about the work that you and I do. The work that pretty much any human being does.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE INSIGHTFUL VIDEOS is about life…your life and mine, and the beneficiaries of our work and the volunteers helping in our organizations, serving on boards.

AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE HUMAN AND HUMANE VIDEOS is about our donors.

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Watch these. Share these. Explore the implications. Learn. Make change. Do and be better.

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Ahmen, “Batman of Social Impact.” Nonprofit leader by day and hip-hop artist by night. His marvelous opening for IFC 2017. I was there. I took the knee with my hand in a fist.[ https://twitter.com/TheResAlliance?lang=en]

#likeagirl “What does it mean to do something like a girl.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs]

Ash Beckham: We’re all hiding something – coming out of the closet. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSR4xuU07sc]

Brené Brown and vulnerability. [https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability]

“What is Privilege?” The privilege walk is one of the most insightful, saddening things I’ve ever seen or experienced. Better than watching it, you can actually do it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5f8GuNuGQ]

I believe that conversation is a core business practice. And conversation is different than discussion. Very different!

Theodore Zeldin wrote the most beautiful book about conversation: Conversation – How Talk Can Change Our Lives.

Here are some of my favorite Zeldin statements…direct quotations from his lovely book.

1. Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards; it creates new cards.
2. Having one’s ideas challenged and transmuted by verbal intercourse makes one aware how much one owes to others, how much a partner can contribute to one’s intellectual, moral and emotional development, thought one remains a separate, unique person.
3. Conversation, like families, dies when it is inbred. Or when your guests have had more or less the same experience as yourself.
4. Conversation has to explore new territory to become an adventure.

Thankful for … friends and family and donors and business colleagues and employees and bosses and board members …

Thankful for the nonprofit sector and those willing to fight and risk speaking out and …

I said I wouldn’t talk about the U.S. election anymore. But I just read the single most marvelous summary of how I feel and how so many feel… the single most marvelous call-to-action for those who can take the risk to speak out … And yes, I can and will continue to do so.

Thank you Charles M. Blow. Brilliant and wonderful and deeply sad and galvanizing and kick-ass and…. “No, Trump, We Can’t Just Get Along.” 

Thank you New York Times. For keeping Charles M. Blow with you always.

Very good LinkedIn comment from Kevin Feldman about following U.S. law. And being donor centered. I agree.

But I have additional comments. About silence is consent. About public policy and advocacy. About the ethical and moral role of the nonprofit sector.

First read Kevin’s remarks: Do Not Let Your Politics Ruin Your Fundraising. Then scroll down for my response.

Do read Waldemar Nielsen’s monograph “The Third Sector: Keystone of a Caring Society.” See Chapter 1 in my book Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last, 3rd edition, beginning on page 6, “Why does this sector matter?”

And always keep nearby John Gardner’s beautiful monograph, “Building Community,” also discussed in my book Strategic Fund Development.

Check the Independent Sector for the Gardner and Nielsen pieces. I read both of these more than 20 years ago– and they’re still favorites.

Okay. Enough.

About the election…About what it says about this country. Oh Papa Georges, je suis si triste. C’est toi qui m’a instruit.

I’ve been listening to Mavis Staples sing We Shall Not Be Moved. And I sing along. And then I listen to Andra Day sing RISE UP and I cry.

I promise that I shall not be moved. And I will continue to rise up.

Equity be with us all.

Some people don’t like my social commentary blogs. That’s okay. Don’t read them. I have enough other blog categories [governance/boards, fundraising, nonprofit management, etc. etc. and so forth]. Read those.

But I promised myself years ago that my website would do two things:

• Provide free resources for the nonprofit sector worldwide. And my Free Download Library and monthly newsletter do that.
• Second, that I would speak out regarding justice and fundamental human rights. Because silence is consent. And I choose to take the risk to speak out. Those are my social commentary blogs.

Today is Thursday, November 10. The second day after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Here are more articles to stimulate thinking:

• Women Actually Do Govern Differently. And research tells us over and over and over that women’s way of leading adds significant value.
• Damaging Global Prosperity. Trump and Brexit and …. may actually harm prosperity.

I’ve just left #2016IFC, the International Fundraising Congress.

Wonderful seeing colleagues from around the world. Wonderful to get beyond North America and beyond western Europe. So many voices and perspectives and stories and dreams and comitments to caring for the world and its people.

Talking with people outside the U.S. And everyone asks me, “WTF is going on in the U.S.? Who is this Donald Trump? How could anyone support his hate and ignorance and ego and….

So here’s something my nephew Daniel the movie critic posted on Facebook right after the last debate. I’ve highlighted what I consider is the most wonderful statement from Daniel.

• While I’ve been an open Hillary supporter since it became apparent Bernie no longer had the math to win, tonight was the moment I decided (realized?) she really might be a great President. Between the three debates, we’ve seen Hillary stand up to five hours worth of a clinically insane man lying to her face, lying to the country, and insulting her in every way imaginable. Her poise in those five hours is truly an act of superhuman resolve and composure. And tonight, in a debate that dug much deeper into the issues than mere soundbites, she so clearly has ideas, passion, and optimism–at a time where almost no Americans have optimism–and she really knows what the fuck she’s talking about. My vote for Hillary Clinton switched tonight from an act of necessity to an act of pride and excitement. 

Gun violence. Political nonsense. Fascism. Racism. Sexism. Nationalism. Islamophobia. Building walls, even real ones. Shooting Black men and boys. Shooting police. Who is punished?

So what are you doing about all this? What am I doing? What are our nonprofits doing?

Business as usual doesn’t work anymore. Sticking to your knitting is pretty awful.

Transformation is needed. Everywhere. And certainly here in the USA where I live.

Transformation…where love meets social justice

• Is there any hope for new age politics?
• We already know how to reduce police racism and violence
• Reading Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” after the Dallas shooting

Excellent article about electing women and people of color.

“What I want to know from my Democratic Party is, when will the voices of people of color, when will the voices of women, when will the voices of labor, when will the voices of black women, when will our voices be effective, legitimate equal leaders in a big-tent party?” Asked Representative Donna Edwards.

And the op-ed author, Jill Filipovic, concludes by commenting: “Right now, ‘the woman card’ and ‘the race card’ are broadly seen as cynical tactics. Democrats should make them central components of a winning hand.”

When will this change? How long must we wait? How much harder must we fight around the world – and yes, even in the U.S. of A. We’re #72 in the global ranking of women’s representation in the lower house. Australia is 45. Canada is 48. Sweden is #5. Rwanda is #1.

When will this change? How long must we wait? Because actually, research repeatedly finds that women are better than men as leaders in so very many ways and in so very many instances.