LESSONS & REFLECTIONS IN COMMUNITY: THREE YEARS AFTER THE SUMMER 2020 UPRISINGS

In July 2023, Sông2Sea hosted a small, intimate conversation to reflect on three years after the mass uprisings of summer 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

We intended this to be a space to reflect on the role of protest, what we have learned, what we have yet to achieve, and how we keep moving forward.

Here, we share a few things we heard and lessons we have taken away from that conversation.

Shortcomings Following 2020

• Missing widespread analysis of the interconnectedness between capitalism and racism

• Lack of unity and a political baseline against neoliberalism

• Increased funding opportunities for organizations fighting racism, but demonstrated the limitation of NPIC structures via competition and misuse

Neoliberal policies in the past four decades created and intensified precarious living conditions for many people, what Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls “organized abandonment.”

The fact that neoliberal capitalism continues to reproduce racism and perpetuate the legacy of anti-blackness in the U.S., however, was not a widespread common understanding during the uprisings.

We saw a liberal antiracist approach that offered individualized solutions to structural problems, such as “undoing unconscious bias” workshops and the proliferation of the DEI industry.

Many adopted limiting identity-based practices. Identity politics is a starting point, but one’s identity does not automatically provide analysis of the causes and solutions for racial capitalism. For example, Stop Asian Hate is a reformist liberal movement that individualizes systemic violence such as Orientalism and U.S. militarism in Asia.

The Importance of Political Education

• Importance of having a shared understanding of problems, their causes, and their possible solutions

• Poli ed is an opportunity to reach into history and learn how people before us analyzed their problems, came to solutions, and how those have panned out

• Political education allows us to move beyond reactive tactics

  Sloganeering is not helpful without further politicization. For example, Yellow Peril for Black Lives was a popular slogan for many people to display, but few followed up with further organizing or analysis

• Another example is the performance of symbols such as turning a profile picture black or posting a black square, which temporarily expressed a sentiment, but in and of itself not a solution, as very little material change followed

• Solidarity work, protests, and mobilizations need to be built upon analysis of social, political, and economic contexts we live in to be able to sustain itself and keep going.

• Political education can take a very long time, but it is necessary to grow our organizations and sustain ourselves beyond bursts of energy and agitation.

• We often remind ourselves of this quote by Hồ Chí Minh, “To reap a return in ten years, plant trees. To reap a return in one hundred, cultivate the people.”

The Role of Protest (Even When We Don’t Get What We Want)

• Raise awareness and bring people into movements or organizations;

• Sharpen our skills in mobilizing, such as rapid response and de-escalation;

• Build leadership skills and create organizations (like Sông2Sea!);

• Develop and grow mutual aid networks and community connections.

Ongoing Questions

• How do we make time and space for political education?

• When is a centralized planning body needed? When are autonomous organizations the right strategy?

• How do we keep going amidst low motivation, burnout, or when organizing is not “trendy”?

• In the face of rising state repression and resurgent fascism, what new strategies do we need? What strategies do we need to re-evaluate?