Leadership Development
Showing Up for Racial Justice calls, June 19 and June 23
UPDATE, 6/18: SURJ IS HOSTING A CALL TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE ON THE GROUND IN CHARLESTON AND ACTIONS THAT WHITE PEOPLE CAN TAKE TO SUPPORT THEM AND BLACK COMMUNITIES RIGHT NOW. THE CALL IS FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 8:00 EASTERN. REGISTER HERE.
As our vision statement tells us, KFTC is “working for a day when Kentuckians – and all people – enjoy a better quality of life.” And for a day “when discrimination is wiped out of our laws, habits, and hearts.” Getting there requires that we commit to standing up against racism and oppression and encourage and equip our members to do the same.
With that in mind, we invite KFTC members and allies to participate in an upcoming conference call with SURJ—Showing Up for Racial Justice.
Challenge: Invite more torch bearers to join this movement
I grew up on Air Force bases, crisscrossing this country like a new pair of shoelaces on an old pair of shoes – Tacoma, Washington; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and Hampton, Virginia, just to name a few.
No matter where we were in the world, whenever we went somewhere on a base, my father, a Flight Line Instructor and a gregarious man who never met a stranger, would strike up a conversation with a young airman, and before you knew it the young man was coming home with us for dinner.
It used to drive me insane. One moment I am minding my own business in the commissary, trying to convince my dad to deviate from my mom’s stringent shopping list, to avoid the sensible oatmeal in exchange for the latest sugary cereal with coveted prizes swaddled somewhere, covertly, between the middle and the bottom of the box. Salivating, I could practically imagine the decadence my deprived taste buds would experience the following morning. The next moment, Dad, with his brown eagle eyes and easy inviting smile, was adding 25 to 45 minutes to our “quick” shopping trip because some guy was homesick, and he knew my mom would make room for this stranger at our dinner table.
Attend your local Annual Chapter Meeting!
KFTC chapters will be holding their annual business meetings in June this year. These meetings are an important part of our democratic process where members have the opportunity to:
Elect members to fill chapter leadership positions.
Make suggestions for KFTC’s issue platform (guidelines for changes)
Nominate members to serve on KFTC’s statewide committees
Decide whether or not to remain a KFTC chapter.
KFTC members attend the Populism 2015 conference in Washington, D.C.
Members from Jefferson County, Northern Kentucky, and Central Kentucky recently traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in Populism 2015, a conference organized by National People’s Action (NPA), Campaign for America’s Future, Alliance for a Just Society, and USAction. The conference was a gathering of grassroots organizers, activists, and leaders “committed to building a new, multiracial populist movement to transform our country.”
Steering Committee looks at intersection of Economic Justice and Racial Justice, prepares for ramped-up tax justice campaign
“Obviously there’s a connection between poverty and racism. In our work, there has to be a connection. If we address economic injustice but not racial injustice, we aren’t finished with our work,” noted Meta Mendel-Reyes of Madison County as the KFTC Steering Committee opened its spring retreat.
The Steering Committee gathered May 15 and 16 in Bowling Green to explore the intersectionality of economic justice and racial justice. The workshop built toward a discussion of KFTC’s campaign for progressive state tax reform and ways to ramp up and build public support for that campaign.
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