STAND is a group of people who benefit from white, male privilege in the Bay Area engaging in movements for racial, gender, and economic justice. We participate through education and social action rooted in and accountable to the leadership of those most impacted by oppression.
Our Base
We work with people assigned white and male, who support racial, gender, and economic justice, and are looking to take active steps to put their values into practice.
Our Goal
We aspire to be a reliable and accountable resource to organizations on the frontlines of grassroots struggles for justice led by people of color, indigenous people, women, queer, trans and gender nonconforming people by mobilizing money and volunteer time from white men to support their work.
Our Approach
Through community building, training, and facilitated dialogues, STAND members are supported in:
- Connecting with an authentic and personal motivation for participating in justice work;
- Identifying meaningful contributions to make to justice movement work in their community;
- Cultivating competence and commitment to living their politics in their personal lives by relating to others and themselves in anti-oppressive ways;
- Practicing emotional awareness, vulnerability and empathy;
- Building capacity to work skillfully and considerately in partnership with women, gender-nonconforming people, and people of color;
- Developing an ongoing commitment to engage in justice movement work.
Our Rationale
We live in a society that centers the needs and experiences of white, cisgender men. This society has trained us to be disconnected from ourselves and our fellow humans. As such, even self-described progressive white men tend to stay on the sidelines of social justice movement work, and when we do show up, it is often harmful, distracting, and inconsistent. We see an opportunity to liberate time and resources gained through white and male privilege to support social justice movement work and combat white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and classism in our own lives. We actively invest in support and accountability to help us do this work in a generative and considerate way. We seek healing and liberation, for ourselves and our communities.