In our region, Western Massachusetts, like in the rest of the United States, white people have disproportionate power, authority and access to opportunity. White people make most of the important decisions that affect everyone’s daily lives and this limited perspective and experience hurts everyone, even the people in control. People who have been marginalized have been systematically denied access to opportunities and positions of power. Yet, it is the people who are marginalized who can offer insights on how to achieve the potential of the American Experiment.
Generations of people are pushed out of democracy through powerfully discouraging hardships that are the result of institutional racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, ableism and other forms of oppression.
Among the results are school committees, select boards, city councils, boards of directors, and public school administrations where people of color are not at the table. The consequences of homogenous leadership proves, over and over again, that under-represented groups do not enjoy the benefits of equity or equality. Large swaths of communities are disillusioned with the political system, and these people do not vote or participate in any way in the life of their community beyond their own family and friends. They do not serve on boards or organize around issues to make their street, neighborhood or city better.
They are missing out on the promise of democracy, through no fault of their own, and we aim to address this injustice. Democracy falters without their participation.
Participation in democracy is a complex challenge often represented as an overly simplistic two-step process: 1) Register to vote and 2) Vote.
But in reality, sustained participation requires years of rebooting the public conversation to wash away the overwhelming discouragement, cynicism and heartbreak that teaches people from under-represented communities that their voices do not matter.