Control, Disruption and Democracy: Philanthropy’s Role in Inclusive Civic Engagement

By Gara LaMarche

The following is adapted from the key- To that end, our civic engagement needed to achieve social justice for all. note speech at the Funders Committee framework must make room for the In that same vein, in the last sev- for Civic Participation conference in growing use of direct action tactics and eral years, many more traditional pro- Washington, D.C., on October 6, 2015. the role they play in sparking a more gressive activists have decried the fail- responsive democracy. It’s important ure of movements like Occupy Wall In Citizen, the poet Claudia Rankine, to note that, beyond providing more Street and Black Lives Matter to take writing about the abandonment of core, flexible, rapid response support a form they see as familiar and effec- Black lives after Hurricane Katrina – a for the new, emerging infrastructure of, tive. Among the questions they ask are: signal event in the shift toward the cur- say, The Movement for Black Lives, phi- “Who are the leaders?” “What are their rent political moment – says “the fic- lanthropists cannot control how direct specific demands?” and “Why don’t tion of the facts assumes innocence, action tactics are used. But we can con- they work through the system and mo- ignorance, lack of intention, misdirec- trol our responses to direct action and bilize for elections like the Tea Party tion; the necessary conditions of a cer- disruption. does?” If a movement does not emerge tain time and place.” As Washington State Senator Prami- in a form they easily recognize, they’d To overcome the fictions we tell la Jayapal wrote in response to disrup- do well to ask, “Is the fault with us and ourselves requires us to acknowledge tion by Black Lives Matter protestors at not the movement?” that the way the criminal justice sys- a recent Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle: Moreover, let’s be blunt and recog- tem operates for Black and brown peo- nize that the direct action tactics of Oc- ple, like the way our national security “If we want to win for ALL of us cupy, the Dreamers, the fast food work- system has operated since 9/11, and on racial, economic and social ers and carwasheros and Black Lives the way our immigration system has justice issues, we need multiple Matter, while not taking a traditional functioned for virtually all of Ameri- sets of tactics, working together. civic engagement-electoral form, have can history, is to restrict and confine Some are disruptive tactics. Some achieved the philanthropic Holy Grail participation in American democracy are loving tactics. Some are truth- of impact at least as much as any other – to squelch civic engagement in the telling tactics. Some can only be campaigns, electoral or otherwise, of most literal sense. taken on by white people. Some recent years. Administrative relief from Many funders are leading the way can only be taken on by people deportation, body cameras on cops, toward a broader approach to civic en- of color. Sometimes we need the shift of an entire public discourse gagement that narrows the (too-often someone from the other strand around the economy and policing – racial) divide in our approach to social to step in and hold us up. Other these are real and tangible achieve- justice issues. Admirable as this is, this times, we have to step out and ments and must never be minimized or broader approach should acknowledge hold them up.”1 discounted even as longer-term cam- two ideas. First, that the way the crimi- paigns and strategies develop. How we, nal justice system works should be While, of course, it can be an un- as funders, make space in our thinking seen by philanthropy, as it is clear it is settling experience to be blocked from and planning for the resurgence of ef- seen by those taking to the streets, as a speaking, as Sanders was, the angry re- fective and coordinated direct action core democracy issue; and second, that action of his largely white supporters re- will vary, as is always the case given the tactics and approaches that advance veals a great gulf in priorities. To be told pluralism of philanthropy. democracy also can be found well out- this is not your time or place to speak At the Democracy Alliance, which, side the ballot box. is toxic to the cross-movement solidarity like all institutions, has a far from per-

Responsive Philanthropy Winter 2015/2016 11 New and Renewing Members

Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE)

Barr Foundation

Blue Shield of California Foundation

Common Cause

Deaconess Foundation

Fund for New Jersey

Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

Foundation for Child Development

Foundation for the Mid South Black Lives Matter activists disrupt an August 2015 Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle. CC image by Tiffany Von Arnim. Hagedorn Foundation fect history where race and gender are economy. I hope the civic engagement Lumina Foundation for Education, Inc. concerned, we have infused a race sector will start to see this kind of dis- and gender lens across our new prior- ruption in the same way. Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation ity areas of economic justice, democ- And democracy, because every racy and climate change. Among other definition of it I have seen centers on a Mendelsohn Family Fund reasons, if civic engagement strategies system of government in which power don’t take account of the urgent con- is vested in the people. Native American Rights Fund cerns of people of color, young people, We need to make sure, always, that women and others for many years left all the ways in which people challenge National Birth Equity Collaborative out of the political process, and if they and exert their power are reflected in Nellie Mae Education Foundation are not present at every key decision- the way we think about and talk about making table, how can those strategies civic participation. n Perrin Family Foundation possibly succeed in bringing about the robust participation essential to pro- Gara LaMarche is president of the De- Saint Luke’s Foundation gressive victories and to holding those mocracy Alliance. He is also vice chair we put in power accountable? of the board at the National Committee Silicon Valley Community Foundation I want to return as I close to the three for Responsive Philanthropy. Tecovas Foundation words in the title, which I chose for a reason. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Control, because those who fear Notes a full participation democracy have 1. Pramila Jayapal, “Guest Editorial: William Caspar Graustein Memorial many ways to control civic participa- Why Saturday’s Bernie Sanders Rally Fund tion. This must change. Left Me Feeling Heartbroken,” The Disruption, because I want to em- Stranger, August 9, 2015, http:// WInthrop Rockefeller Foundation brace the more positive ring it has as a www.thestranger.com/blogs/ Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Silicon Valley buzzword, where disrup- slog/2015/08/09/22671957/ tion shakes up businesses and sectors guest-editorial-why-saturdays-bernie- and brings about a more productive sanders-rally-left-me-feeling-heartbroken.

12 National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy Responsive Philanthropy