I don’t want to go on and on taking up space here in this comments thread but I would be happy to share my own experiences trying to make interventions in past years, speaking at or sitting in on some of the problematically named panels this year, interacting with the conference organizers at the behest of the people of color caucus this year and last year, or anything else that might be at all useful. I could share information privately or take up space on my own blog if folks are interested.

Also, I have to cop to responsibility for “engaging,” which I suggested as an alternative to the much more problematic “outreach” — although what I wanted them to say was “engaging the feminist movement,” “engaging anti-racist activists,” etc — with the idea of social change movements engaging each other in a process of *mutual* change rather than one movement standing unchanged and “reaching out” to the unenlightened (pun intended) masses.

And, no, I have no idea how many times I and others have to stand up and say “people of color are the majority of the world’s population and soon will be the majority in the United States too” before they will quit saying “minority.”

Gary — aw, thanks! If I do end up going to the conference (who knows), maybe we will see each other.

Chad — thanks for the comment. I get that conference panel slots are always, always going to be too short for a discussion, but… OTOH, if nothing else, a non-diverse movement will never change things, simply because it won’t have the mass backing that it needs. So, yeah, I get that AR conferences focus on animal-related topics, but considering how all these oppressions are linked anyway, I think it’s more than relevant.

serenityinseoul — I’m glad you found us! I’ll e-mail you about joining the blog, if you’re interested.

Tamara & Noemi — yeah, I’m w/you on the linked oppressions thing, heh.

Chad Miller: letlive@foodfightgrocery.com
and http://www.letliveconference.org

thanks.

Not sure if they’ll be better/worse than the national AR conference, but we’re trying our best. It’s a tough issue to effectively tackle in a couple of talks, it’s something that warrants an entire conference itself, really. I’d hope people can cut organizers some slack and realize most folks are doing their best with limited time and working around a conference that is basically trying to focus on non-human issues, not all of the problems of our society.

If anybody would be interested in working on something for next years Let Live NW AR Conference, we’d love to hear from you and be able to include something more focused on race and economic status.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch, really, we’d love to have something like this next year.

xoxo
Chad / Let Live