Over the next few weeks, the Leadership Team will be sharing brief introductions to our work with SURJ, along with a resource (or several!) that we have found helpful along the way, or would recommend to folks new to racial justice work. Without further ado, meet Monica:
New to La Crosse in 2014, I was uncertain if this community was the right fit for me. I had discovered SURJ national while researching online and heard good things about them from activist friends in other parts of the country. I was disappointed there was not a local chapter in La Crosse and felt unsure how I would be able to start a group when I didn’t know anyone here. I felt disempowered, anxious, and ill-equipped to do much on my own.
I started getting involved in La Crosse grassroots organizing in the 2016 primaries, which led me to meeting many incredible people, some of whom became my best friends. Through those relationships, I was connected to other local people working for racial justice, and when I heard about a meeting to discuss starting a SURJ chapter, I was excited to attend. After that meeting, I started hosting meetings, and I felt increasingly convinced that this values-based manner of organizing for change was the kind of work I was meant to do.
Our chapter has grown, shrunk, shifted, and grown again, with relationships deepening and trust in our community building. I continue to learn more and more about white supremacy and its relationship to patriarchy, imperialism, and capitalism, and I am grateful to be part of this emergent collective of conscious beings working together for liberation.
Most resonant influences:
- Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins (dense academic book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/353598.Black_Feminist_Thought)
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown (more accessible book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29633913-emergent-strategy)
- Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi wa Thiongo (academic but short book/long essay: https://archive.org/details/DecolonisingTheMind)
- Killing the Black Body with Dorothy Roberts (podcast about her book: https://www.blubrry.com/thedig/30414873/killing-the-black-body-with-dorothy-roberts/)
- Revisiting Racecraft with Barbara and Karen Fields (podcast about their book: https://www.blubrry.com/thedig/29579310/revisiting-racecraft-with-barbara-and-karen-fields/)
- A History of Human Caging with Kelly Lytle Hernandez (podcast: https://www.blubrry.com/jacobin/28950077/the-dig-a-history-of-human-caging-with-kelly-lytle-hernndez/)
- Marxist Feminism: The Struggle Against Capitalist Patriarchal Hegemony (podcast: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/marxist-feminism)
- Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks (book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168484.Feminism_is_for_Everybody)
- The work of Winona LaDuke (video, Winona starts speaking at 3:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEsI4czZBSw)
- Works from Lila June (music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr2VLI8jKww and writing: https://whiteawake.org/2017/01/05/the-vast-and-beautiful-world-of-indigenous-europe/)
- White Awake: Waking ourselves for the benefit of all (mega resource: https://whiteawake.org/self-education/themes-and-resources/)
- Reconnecting with the land and traditional ecological knowledge (environmental experiences)
- All the friends and teachers who have been willing to be patient with me along the way as I continue to fumble and learn (personal experiences)
- My informal and formal education in high school, undergraduate, graduate school, and studying a summer in Buenos Aires, Argentina (academic experiences)
- My career as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner working intimately with people from all walks of life in their times of suffering and resilience in the face of violence and oppression (professional experiences)
La Crosse Area SURJ 