[statecom] Nomination for State Committee

[Eli Beckerman]

Mike,

Lyn indeed is a solid force for justice and against this war and all war,
and is deeply involved in her community in a way that we would be
privileged (and should take responsibility) to learn from. We should
be honored to welcome her (along with the 20 other new nominees)
to our State Committee.

But this virtual meeting is not the right venue for that. On Sunday we
will meet in person, and if the 21 new faces show up, I would hope that
we would welcome them with open arms, hearts, ears, minds, etc. In
that situation, they too would be able to see us and sense us as human
beings, rather than the little monsters we have become behind our keyboards.

If you would like Lyn to REMAIN in the Green-Rainbow Party, I would hope
that you might be wary of recruiting her into this order of business, which
was
supposed to be non-controversial, but has already generated continued
complaints
against the CDLC allocation that -- by our own plan's rules -- has been
officially
accepted.

Any attempts to "rectify" that fact need to be made in good faith, towards
moving forward, together. Instead we get the attempt to open up this meeting
to serve whatever purposes you please (against the StateCom and AdCom
decisions to the contrary); and the bombshell addition of 21 new people to
this meeting.

Our diversity is pathetic... but as you might learn from Chuck's message to
us,
the answer is not simply in recruiting more diversity. We need to become a
welcoming and inclusive place that helps people's positive growth and
development,
and change our culture so that that's the case. That is MUCH harder work
than
springing 20 new people onto the committee at this stage of battle -- a
battle that
is very consciously being developed around race and class issues even when
the
true differences had nothing to do with race and class (and if I'm wrong, a
successful
case has not been made otherwise) -- into the State Committee. Of course we
would
benefit from the new viewpoints and everyone's backgrounds. Then why load
this
deep problem onto a virtual meeting that is demonstrably fucked up if we
want to
truly inspire them to remain a part of the party?

The question is not whether we raise the issue of diversity and "address" it
adequately.
The question is whether we are serious enough to approach it seriously and
thoughtfully,
and do the hard work it will take to truly diversify our party. The only
answer I have at the
moment is that people's "commitment" to diversity in this party is just as
shallow as
people's commitment to justice or peace or sustainability or building a new
kind of politics
and a new kind of society from the ground up. We are not serious. Plain and
simple.
Pretending otherwise is disingenuous.

When can we commit to being serious?

Eli

(Sorry, Lyn, for this unwelcoming introduction to Green-Rainbow politics)


On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Mike Heichman <mikeheichman at verizon.net>
wrote:

> Dear Members of StateCom:
>
> Lyn Meza has authorized me to send this letter to you.
>
> I have known Lyn and worked with her for over 30 years. She is a
> wonderful human being and a wonderful labor, community and educational
> activist. Along with her husband, Tito, they have been active members of
> the Latino community.
>
> Along with the other GRP members that we have asked to join the
> leadership of our state party, Lyn has the potential to work with us to
> strengthen our state party. Every single nominee also adds diversity,
> which I beleive that we acknowledge is a major problem.
>
> It is unfortunate that we are in the process of sending all of them an
> unwelcoming message.
>
> Mike Heichman
>
>
>
>
> acongo at aol.com wrote:
>
> > To whom it may concern:
> >
> > I understand that I have been nominated for the state committee of the
> > Green Rainbow Party and that my nomination has not yet been accepted.
> >
> > I am the coordinator of /Chelsea Uniting Against the War /which has
> > been actively mobilizing and organizing against the war in our
> > predominantly Latin American working class community since our group
> > was formed in 2004. Prior to that I was the Vice-President of IUE-CWA
> > Local 201 representing thousands of workers, mainly at the large GE
> > plant in Lynn. I also was the campaign manager for the successful
> > campaigns for Chelsea School Committee and then City Council in 1989,
> > 1991, and 1994 of Marta Rosa, the first Latino ever to be elected to
> > city government in Chelsea.
> >
> > Would you please explain why I was not accepted as a candidate.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Lyn Meza
> >
> >
> >
> >
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