About
Black, Indigenous and other people of color, women, trans, and gender nonbinary folks have been calling on white men to take responsibility for dismantling patriarchy and white supremacy at a personal and systemic level, and to hold other white men accountable for doing the same. White men are largely absent from feminist and anti-racist organizing and we must change that.
Organizing White Men for Collective Liberation is a national network mobilizing white men to learn, grow and take action against white supremacy and patriarchy. We recognize this work is long overdue and believe it is particularly urgent in this political moment, as racism and misogyny drive white men to contend for, and consolidate, power with increasing violence. We mobilize white men who acknowledge our complicity in perpetuating oppression, who understand our mutual interest in ending cis-white male supremacy, and who are ready to take bold action to dismantle the white supremacist patriarchal system. We seek to disrupt both the structural, organized and interpersonal violence of white men wherever that violence emerges, while engaging in the rigorous internal work of unlearning white supremacy and patriarchy within ourselves. We seek to support, and be accountable in this work to the leadership of women, trans and gender nonbinary folks; folks who are Indigenous, Black, and People of Color; and especially to those in that intersection.
OWMCL formed as a response to the call to action from women and nonbinary folks in Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), who expressed the need for white men to take responsibility for bringing more white men into the movement for racial and gender justice. Several men from the SURJ network across the country began to meet over video conference calls in December 2018 to figure out what something like this could look like. After several months of organizing efforts, we hosted a national call at the end of April 2019 to launch this network into the public sphere, which had about 250 attendees. Since the public launch, we have been growing this movement and we hope you will join us.
OWMCL’s network structure consists of working groups that carry out different functions, projects, and campaigns. The Coordination working group is the logistical and facilitative body that keeps all the parts moving together in a coherent fashion. It is responsible for the development of a lasting, resilient, and sustainable network structure and connects all the working groups because none of the work is isolated. Broader structural and ideological questions that affect the whole network are decided here. It is more administrative and makes sure the basic operations of the network happen. This team coordinates and communicates with the “outside world” representing the network as a whole. While the Coordination team is the central body, the working groups are autonomous and the network as a whole operates through a horizontal decision-making framework.
As a national network organizing white men for racial and gender justice, we are fully a part of and in alignment with the wider Showing Up for Racial Justice national network. While we are a part of the SURJ network, our organizing efforts and membership extends beyond the SURJ network. We work to connect white men across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial and gender justice campaigns and struggles led by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, women, trans, and gender nonbinary folks. OWMCL provides a liberatory space for men to build meaningful relationships, skills and political analysis to challenge racialized capitalist patriarchy on colonized land.