Being Pro-Black: What’s Black Love Got to Do With It?

As we mark Juneteenth, a day that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States, Tides Advocacy is kicking off our Black Love Rising campaign with some wisdom and reflections from our CEO, Romy Avila, on how love intersects with powerbuilding for Black communities and the role that funders can play in advancing this work.

How do you define Black Love Rising?

Romy: For me, Black Love Rising is about how we are seeing the world today and resisting hate with love. It’s an act to love Black people and support their dignity to live and have the tools to thrive. By actively choosing to love Black people and to continue to inspire your communities in which you are from or where you reside on how we can love and support each other more, that is how we help Black love to rise.

How does love, in the context of Black love, contribute to building Black political power and creating a pro-Black future?

Romy: So love is an act. When we are in a world where we don’t have all the social, economic and political tools to build communities where we are safe and have access to clean water, clean air, the ability to walk in our streets and not be threatened by state sanctioned violence, it means we have to act in a way where our legislators and the decision makers that represent us in places of power, have to move to the side of the people. When we say “to the side of the people”, it means that in your ability to represent me, I need you to act in my best interest, so I can not only live, but thrive.

Political power is influence and power is a tug of war. Anti-Blackness is not a unique American experience. Anti-Blackness is in our consciousness. In order for us to be pro-Black, we need to use our political influence to demand that we respect the dignity of Black folks. A pro-Black future means that we not only protect our communities and defend their rights– such as the right to vote– but also advance them and build independent power for Black communities.

How do you embody love in your work at Tides to support political movements and organizers across the country?

Romy: A lot of what philanthropy has been has been extraction, really disrespecting Native and Black communities and leveraging wealth in ways in which we don’t trust Black organizers. We ask them to jump through hoops to receive bonuses that actually came from the labor of their communities.

When I think about love as a political fiscal sponsor that is Black-led and Black serving in all that it does, it is basically around care. How do you show people you care? In a relationship, you show you care by giving words of affirmation and seeking to lift up folks’ needs to have money invested in them. It’s about your ability to connect with the leaders of these organizations who are tired and have been targeted by right wing extremists and say “we have your back, we're willing to support you” with security or relocation. We're willing to have the tough conversations around how to get more money into your coffers when folks don't believe in your work. Rather than having a transactional relationship that we're used to, it's about having a relationship that respects the humanity of what Black organizers are doing in a political world that doesn't want to see or respect them.

What strategies or initiatives are necessary to center Black love within the broader context of Black political power and beyond?

Romy: So there’s an ebb and flow to this work - it’s not just midterm elections or presidential elections. There’s also  local elections, school boards, utility boards - so many elections happening every day! If we only concentrate on two and four year cycles, we forget about what folks need to rest, reflect, strategize and come from a place where they are  restored and can sustain this work overtime. We have folks who are really thinking about how to pass on  the mantle to another leader or emerging leader and then we have folks who are saying “I need to step back for the safety of my family, for my sanity, and for my ability to have a livelihood where I can actually have a living wage and some measure of economic security.”

If we continue in philanthropy to not invest in living wages, in the ability for people to have overhead, so they can actually do the work, then we are actually killing ourselves off slowly. We’re asking folks to put their lives on the line and never rest and then give you innovation. 

In terms of strategy, we definitely need to invest in living wages, sabbaticals and security for Black political organizations. We also need to invest in political organizations period. A lot of this work has a spectrum of politics -there are 501c4s, coalitions, LLCs, PACs -, but philanthropy is often scared and emotions come up when they hear “political.” We have been trained to stay away from political as a field and be risk averse because we don’t want to have any negative press, heat or compliance issues. Yet, we're asking folks to push our political systems, our economic systems, our social welfare systems into a place where they help our communities to serve folks of color and low income communities in better ways.  In order for folks to do that, they can’t only use the charitable tools that you give them. We’ve trapped them in a corner but organizers want to have the whole room and all the tools to do their work. 

How can funders play a role in centering Black love, agency, and liberation within our current political landscape?

Romy: If we want to have wins in our community at a policy level with candidates that represent our communities and interests and a progressive world - we need to be election ready all the time. As a funder, this means your investments reflect that philosophy. If you want to center Black love, agency and liberation, are you investing in security support, overhead that pays salaries and benefits? Do you think about multi-year funding as not a one-off thing in the pandemic but something you actually commit to and think works? There's no way we can continue to have organizations be anemic and on life support and ask them to be superheroes - it just doesn’t happen that way.

Invest in organizations, not just programs. The infrastructure needs to be strong and that is how folks are able to rise to the occasion in a healthy way. If we want to support Black love and resistance, we have to be able to meet their needs at the most basic level. 

What lasting impact can a financial investment in a pro-Black framework have on Black communities?

Romy: Black leaders are doing a lot with a little. Ask what they need, hear their reflections, and then act on it. When it comes to financial investments, folks have often already told you what they need. If they haven’t, build a pathway for feedback and relationship. A financial investment with a pro-Black framework is typically unrestricted, multi-year, allows them to do lobbying, not just to turn out the vote but also candidate recruitment and cultivation, and think about  co-governance models after candidates have been elected. 

We have organizations that are 501c3, 501c4s, PACs, and other structures. The reason they do that is because of the IRS, but is not always what the community wants. So what we can do is also ask folks about the structure they have and how we can best support them. Sometimes it’s not a financial investment in dollars - it could be legal, in-kind, or capacity building. FInancial, legal and HR are often areas in infrastructure that often do not get attention because they are usually trying to fund programs. Sometimes investments can be really small, but if you ask folks how to do it in a way that supports them and embraces the fullness of their work, that goes a long way!

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories of Black Love Rising over the coming months - next up we’ll be exploring Black LGBTQIA voices and intersectional advocacy. 

We also want to hear your thoughts! What does #BlackLoveRising mean to you? Share with us on our social media channels!