In these times, we must remember: Our People are the Original Philanthropists.
Sharing some of the words from this offering that are keeping me grounded:
"We are the descendants of communities that have been attempted to be erased and exiled.
Our people give back to the sacred land and celebrate its gifts. Our people have always taken care of us and tried to take care of y’all too because we value all life.
Your world of professionalized giving is a world of white supremacy confused for democracy and community impact.
You assumed that by letting us in, we would never question the foolishness, flaws, and glaring inequities; that our commitment to community would be a proxy to commit to an unjust system.
We work for the liberation of our people, but we won’t lay our bodies on the gears of the system.
We will reclaim stolen resources and we will not be complicit in further extraction or tokenization.
We will bring our people legitimate resources, and we will not bring our people crumbs and tell them it’s a full meal.
We own our roles in a broken system by taking back the legitimacy of philanthropy to what it was made for and should be; rooted in the vision and leadership of our communities.
We will build partnerships to create community-owned solutions and we will not be complicit in peddling the ideas of the day from venture capitalists. We work collectively to organize within philanthropy.
We will not work in the competitive silos you’re placing us in and replicate harm.
We will find actual solutions with and for our people, and not headlines and publicity stunts for your glorification."
https://lnkd.in/gH2CHMz3
Created with love and deep commitment to our communities: Aaron Cano, Evelyn Barahona, Adriana Garcia DeVun (she/her/Ella), Jenna O'Brien, Alexis newtown, Joanna Carrasco, Joel Hernandez, M.S. HR Management, Ausannette García-Goyette, Laura Vergara, Camila Navarrette, Maritza Bandera, Chloe Silva , M.A., Monica Cruz Zorrilla, Cynthia Sanchez, Natalia Siegel, Denise Nava, Dennis Gonzalez, Emilia Carrara, and Tom Vásquez. Some authors have opted for anonymity, acknowledging the philanthropic sector's inadequate support for our safety and well-being, along with its consistent efforts to suppress - through retaliation and backlash- our strategies to hold it accountable.
Thank you so much Laura D. Vergara (She/Ella) for sharing and uplifting our work!