The Crunk Feminist Collection by Brittney Cooper Susana M. Morris Robin M. Boylorn

Author:Brittney Cooper,Susana M. Morris,Robin M. Boylorn
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781558619487
Publisher: Perseus Books, LLC
Published: 2016-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Making Movement Mistakes: What to Do When You F@*k Up

Eesha Pandit

That moment: when some words have escaped your lips and you realize they were wrong/insensitive/politically incorrect/hurtful. Or the moment when you have made a decision in a coalition that has broken the “do no harm” principle of coalition work. When your actions have undermined someone’s agenda. These moments can be big or small. These moments can consist of an interpersonal slight or they can be damaging to an entire political agenda. We all know these moments; we have witnessed them, experienced them, and committed them.

I am a professional activist. I’ve done work organizing and advocating for policy change at the local, state, national, and international level. And every single project I’ve ever worked on has had an element of coalition building and collaboration. That’s how you know you’re doing it right: If there are multiple stakeholders, with multiple goals. If we all, with our intersectional analyses and intersecting interests, can find a way to move our agendas forward, together. That also poses many challenges, as we who do this work understand. Intersectional work is hard, but of course, it’s the only way.

I say all this because there are few constants in this kind of work, but if we do it right, if we work across our comfort zones and reach out to unlikely partners, and those with different goals but with a shared vision of the future, we will undoubtedly make mistakes. Here, I’m talking about mistakes made in good faith. Not malicious, calculated ones. I’m talking about the moments where we think we’re doing right, but we mess up.

Why does this happen? Why is it inevitable? We make mistakes because we do not know better. We make mistakes because we don’t understand another’s truth, another’s lived experience. Because we operate from some uninterrogated position of privilege, perhaps. We make mistakes because we don’t think before we speak or just aren’t sensitive to someone else’s perspective. We make mistakes because we are human.

Here are some of my own strategies, things I’ve done myself, and things others have done that I’ve found useful. (Of course, all this depends on the offense, and these are generalizations.)

If you realize you’ve made a mistake:

1.Apologize. Sincerely. When doing this, think carefully about the best approach. It might not be in person, or it might be. It might need to be public. It might need to be done one-onone. This depends on the nature of the mistake. But nothing else can happen until you acknowledge your mistake.

2.Don’t conflate the mistake and your apology with anything else. The apology is not the time to try and fix the coalition or your relationship. It’s not the time to make your broader political statement. It’s a time to do just one thing. Recognize your mistake and apologize for it.

3.Ask what amends might be made, if that applies. Ask the person/team/group what might help. Ask without proscribing the answer. Wait. Listen. And then decide whether this is something you can or cannot do.

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