"There is something you can do."
July 20, 2016 3:35 PM   Subscribe

Seattle-based artist Natasha Marin has started a project called Reparations, intended to go through the end of the year, in which people of color make requests and white-identified people volunteer to fulfill them or make offers of their own.

One of the ways in which people may contribute is donating to the Troll Fund, in which backers pledge a dollar to the site, distributed to those who have expressed financial need, for every hateful or racist post received.

From the Facebook post which launched the project:

"What if you actually did something meaningful for someone before the end of the year?

What if a stranger restored your belief in humanity, if only for a moment, by supporting you and allowing you to claim something you need in a material way?

I invite People of Color to ask for what we need to feel better, be happier, be more productive by posting in this space. These may be both material and immaterial requests.

I invite people who identify as White to offer services or contributions to People of Color in need of time, energy, substantive care, and support."
posted by Errant (19 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
Omg someone is offering a private preschool slot for a 3-5 year old until the child is old enough for kindergarten. That shit is as good as gold if it's a quality program. Also the offerings outnumber the requests so far.... I like it when people are nice to each other. Such a mood lifter amongst all the grim.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 4:31 PM on July 20, 2016 [9 favorites]


This is really sweet and I'm thinking of what I might be able to offer. On the other hand, it's ripe for abuse in some counterintuitive ways. One white person is offering themselves to be shouted at for catharsis. That's ... I don't know, man, it reminds me of guys on Craigslist who offer to clean a woman's house for free, in a French maid outfit.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:56 PM on July 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


If you're asking 'why should this be a thing?', as a starting point I would refer to you the writings of Ta-NeHisi Coates: The Case For Reparations
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:58 PM on July 20, 2016 [13 favorites]


In a vaguely related vein: I was having a conversation with my husband the other day about education. Specifically, desegregation is the best way to close achievement gaps between children of different races. But we're not willing to send our own child(ren) to poorer schools and would even consider (expensive) private schools if it's the right fit for our child(ren). So how do we reconcile that? I proposed that we also sponsor an underprivileged child about our child's age for the same opportunity, as one possible solution. Of course, right now, all of this is just pure hypothetical talk.
posted by ethidda at 5:01 PM on July 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


Here's a thought: that there shouldn't be "poorer" schools. All public elementary and high schools should be funded so that they're all providing an equitable education. That's what they do in Finland, and the Finnish school system is considered to be one of the best in the world.
posted by orange swan at 5:19 PM on July 20, 2016 [25 favorites]


One white person is offering themselves to be shouted at for catharsis.

That's just Tuesday at our house.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:34 PM on July 20, 2016 [10 favorites]


This is amazing. I can't wait to go through and find ways to help! Some of them are so simple - a kindle, or some help with tuition.
posted by Deoridhe at 5:48 PM on July 20, 2016


I would love to set up an Amazon subscription to send groceries, but I can't find a request for something similar.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 5:59 PM on July 20, 2016


I really like this project a lot.
posted by Annika Cicada at 6:21 PM on July 20, 2016


This is community building in action. The woman who started this is a huge inspiration to me!

And tears.... the man looking for help to buy a new service dog really touched me. RIP to his beloved dog, Meme, who sounds irreplaceable, but nevertheless I hope he does get a new buddy soon. I'll help him as much as I can.

Small note: it would be awesome if users could search by location.

MonkeyonCrack, this person specifically requests groceries.
posted by areaperson at 6:41 PM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


I like this. I hope it grows.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:40 PM on July 20, 2016


What could possibly go wrong with this offer?

OFFERING: Stick & Poke Tattoo
posted by mollymayhem at 7:44 PM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Hmmm. The postings go up with the poster's actual email address, which exposes that info to trolls and so on. I was thinking, it probably wouldn't be too hard to set up a mail-alias gateway to obfuscate that information and protect the posters. Maybe just a 1-way gateway (posters receive an alias; replying senders' email is left alone), or maybe a 2-way gateway (like Craigslist's, where both correspondents' addresses are munged). There's a little thought that needs to go into it, such as preventing DDoS of the munged-address-service by inbound mailbomb. Would anyone be interested in collaborating with me on building and testing, if I offer to try and set something up?
posted by sldownard at 11:22 PM on July 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


orange swan: Here's a thought: that there shouldn't be "poorer" schools...

Yeah, you'd think so, but here we are. The decision to send one's children to their local public school is where the rubber meets the road for Seattle liberal ideals. (previously on Metafilter)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:03 AM on July 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


One thing Seattle residents can certainly do, which will have true positive impact on Seattle residents of all stripes, well beyond art projects, is vote for real progressive candidates who are running in the August primary election. Get your ballots in.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:05 AM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


But we're not willing to send our own child(ren) to poorer schools and would even consider (expensive) private schools if it's the right fit for our child(ren).

We send our kids to a private school (in Seattle) whose primary focus is on diversity and social justice and which boasts a 45% financial aid rate to support economic diversity.

We tried to make Seattle Public Schools work, but I looked really hard at the school we were placed in, and it was just a very very poorly performing school that would not meet the needs of my eldest son and you're right, when the rubber meets the road you gotta do what is best for your kids and even considering a massive commitment to volunteer with our public school, I didn't see it working out. So, we vote in favor of every education levy that comes up and in the meantime, our kids go to a place where diversity is understood to be the educational enrichment that it is, we subsidize the education of other students in the same school, and we are content that, although our kids don't have a brand new building or iPads on every desk like a lot of private schools costing the same, our boys (and all the students at this school) are in a place where their education is as excellent and diverse as we want without any hint of elitism. Any Seattlites, please MeMail if questions.

Thanks for the post errant, will be following for any requests I might be able to help with.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:49 AM on July 21, 2016 [8 favorites]


"As someone who has personally benefited from the ongoing and centuries-long disenfranchisement and oppression of your family and community, I'd like to offer you a free, one hour mindfulness class."

Perhaps I'm just a jaded asshole, but the vast gulf which separates the title's promise, the scale of the requests, and the scale of the offers makes this seem very different from heart warming. Taken at face value, it will almost certainly do more good than harm, and that's a great thing and worth celebrating. But, it seems even more valuable as a commentary on the inadequacy of private charity to confront systematic, institutional inequalities.

Which isn't to say encouraging white people to give free coffee and professional coaching of dubious value to people of color is a bad thing. Carry on.
posted by eotvos at 9:40 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


The decision to send one's children to their local public school is where the rubber meets the road for Seattle liberal ideals.

I don't blame them. If your local public school is terrible and you have the option of sending your child to a better one, of course you're going to prioritize your child's quality of education over whatever small difference you can make by supporting the public school system. We need to stop blaming parents for making rational choices that any good parent would make, and instead think about systemic reform. At present in the U.S., schools are funded from local property taxes, which means that wealthy neighbourhoods get better funded schools than poorer ones. Then everyone tries to move into the better school districts, which drives up housing prices. If the government were to change this system and fund all the schools to an equal level, both public education and the housing market would be better for it.
posted by orange swan at 5:27 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't think equitable funding is enough to fix the schools. Poorer performing schools need more money than the ones in wealthy neighborhoods, and even then institutional racism is enough to reinforce the existing dynamic for a long time. The solution is busing. I don't blame people for trying to send their kids to a "better" school, but if we want to actually fix the problems we need to make it hard for them to do so, and break the link between housing and education.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 10:34 AM on July 25, 2016


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