Ok, so this article was posted over a month ago. But I just saw it!
One of the reasons I am so proud to work for this organization is because of the effort we’re making toward making RAN, and hopefully the environmental movement as a whole, a more inclusive, less oppressive place. It’s hard. We have a lot of work to do, both in our organization and throughout the movement. I am given hope by the vision of folks here, and by the work of people like Van Jones and Marcelo Bonta, who wrote this awesome article on Grist.
Like I said, we have a ways to go, but examining our commitment to our Indigenous partners, working in solidarity with folks across the social justice movement, modifying our hiring practices, and making RAN’s culture one that is open-minded and welcoming to all types of folks is where we begin.
For decades, the mainstream environmental movement has been dominated by upper middle-class white people. Whatever the barriers are to diversifying this movement, and they are many, we need to, as Bonta says, “get over it and start taking action.”