Working Class Love Notes #6: The South Can Show Us the Way
In the fight against fascism, we blame those at the top, not each other
It’s tempting to blame white rural working-class Trump voters, to see them as ignorant, hateful or “less than.” It’s tempting to push them away, to signal to everyone else, “It wasn’t me. I’m one of the good ones.” That’s human, and it can feel good to lash out and to surround ourselves with those who think and act like we do. But we should not fall into this trap. Those of us who are fighting against MAGA must be crystal clear: the people to blame are the ruling-class billionaires, the people at the top. Not other working-class people.” — from my Barn Raiser opinion piece The Right Wants to Divide Rural People and the Working Class. Here’s How We Unite.
Dear friends,
The last time I wrote you, it was the weekend before Election Day 2024, and like so many of you, I was scared. In the weeks leading up, the terrifying images of a Project 2025 future intensified by the day. Multiple times I had to work on slowing my thoughts and staying in the present to keep myself from becoming immobilized.
The writer in me feels the urge to paint the picture, but I know I don’t have to describe it. If you’re reading this newsletter, you already know. We’re in this together.
Because we are in this together, you also know what happened next. Despite all of the incredible organizing work people did across the country, MAGA won the election. The nightmare happened and the results show what we must reckon with: White people delivered this victory to Trump. Out of 76 million votes cast for Trump (2 million more than in 2020), 84% of those were white voters.
Therefore, the night after election day, my political home Showing Up for Racial Justice hosted a national webinar to gather white people across the country to come together for a political assessment of what happened, why, and what we’re going to do now, including concrete next steps for white people to take action and gear up for what lies ahead. More than 6,000 people came to the webinar that evening. Over the next few weeks, nearly 2,000 people attended a SURJ meeting in their town. It was powerful to be in that online space and it gave me a sense of belonging, hope, and community I deeply needed.
For my love note this month, at the top of the newsletter, I’ve included a short five minute video clip of my comments on the webinar that evening, a short talk focused on what we can learn from the rural South and Appalachia as we fight fascism, what it means to be working class, and some of the most important things we can do right now: build working class solidarity, stay together no matter what, and direct our blame to those at the top, the billionaires running this country and hoarding wealth while millions struggle to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.
The independent rural news outlet Barn Raiser contacted me after the webinar and asked me to turn my talk into an opinion piece which I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do. You can read it here and the quotes featured in this newsletter are pulled from that article.
Through the Southern Strategy, the far right has spent generations capturing state legislatures and local governments, cutting funding from public schools, rural hospitals and other programs for working people, suppressing voters, and terrorizing queer people. As a region, the South is the poorest in the country, and the rural poverty rates here are significantly higher than urban poverty rates. But, unfortunately, the South is also the region the liberal Democrats have all but abandoned.
Instead of blaming us, let’s look to the rural South for answers, because of all the people in this country we are some of the most well equipped to deal with fascism and its origins. From slavery to Jim Crow, we have lived under and fought against fascist rule for generations. We can and have always been leaders in this struggle. Let’s look at our region as a key region to invest in, and know that when we win the South, we can win the whole nation.
If you’re interested in SURJ’s Gear Up program, a 10-week training series for white people to fight back under Trump, it begins on Dec. 4th. Sign up here.
I’m sending love, solidarity, and care to all of you. Let’s take care of one another.
Love, Beth
Rethinking Thanksgiving
I was way too old before I unpacked the myths we are told about Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for political education like this annual Rethinking Thanksgiving webinar that aims to “celebrate the victories of Indigenous Peoples, while confronting the ongoing impact of genocide and ecocide tied to settler colonialism and the military-industrial complex from Turtle Island to Palestine.”
Watch it and share it with others!
The webinar features: Eve Reyes-Aguirre, Tonatierra; Juan Mancias, Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas; Aisha Mansour, Honor the Earth; Sarah Nahar, Anticolonial Arrivants; Betty Lyons (Onondaga Nation) American Indian Law Alliance, Moderator; Mikaela Curry, Indigenous Solidarity Network, poem; Curtis Waterman (Onondaga Nation), Traditional Flute
Also, the Rethinking Thanksgiving organizers are asking people to donate to Indigenous-led organizing. So far they've raised $16,000 to support the work of Tonatierra. If you’ve got it to give, please donate and share the link with others to donate.
Robin D.G. Kelley on Democracy Now: “We have a class that’s suffering, but we don’t have a class that thinks of itself as a class. If we had a class that thought of itself as a class, then working people would say, ‘We refuse deportation. We refuse racism. We refuse transphobia,’ because that’s what the class does. Solidarity is what’s missing — the sense that we, as a class, you know, have to protect each other.”
My writing mentor, fellow working class Eastern Kentucky Appalachian feminist, and friend Shawna Kay Rodenberg just launched her Patreon last month and I am obsessed, devouring every word. Gorgeous essays that break my heart in the best way, get my intellectual brain working, and make me laugh. Shawna asked her patrons what we wanted to read so I requested a ghost story and she delivered a beautiful essay called The Ash Tree and Me that just dropped this week. Subscribe!
Author, Organizer, and Educator Kelly Hayes’ newsletter Organizing My Thoughts is really getting me through right now. So much sharp political analysis, heart, and hope.
I started reading comic books last year, and after a strong recommendation from my husband, I discovered the brilliant, powerful series Earthdivers by Stephen Graham Jones and Illustrated by Davide Gianfeliceby. Described as a “time-hopping horror thriller about far-future Indigenous outcasts on a mission to kill Christopher Columbus”, it’s perfect for the ThanksTaking holiday season.
I have a big crush on my publisher Haymarket Books and they have a great Against Settler Colonial Reading List you should check out. Plus, they have a 40% off sale right now. Their books make great holiday gifts and keeps your money out of the hands of billionaires, plus you get tools to overthrow them! You can’t beat it.