Our beloved collective has made the difficult decision to sunset our organization this year (2023/2024), and to make space for other expressions of our work to continue to grow and iterate out in our movements in our lives. As a part of honoring our legacy, we are proud to share these messages from close collaborators of WNC, Ream (they/them), Josephine Radbill (she/her) and Cynthia Ashley (she/her). They share memories and reflections about WNC's impact, along with wishes for our work for future generations.
Our beloved collective has made the difficult decision to sunset our organization this year (2023/2024), and to make space for other expressions of our work to continue to grow and iterate out in our movements in our lives. As a part of honoring our legacy, we are proud to share these messages from close collaborators of WNC, Ream (they/them), Josephine Radbill (she/her) and Cynthia Ashley (she/her). They share memories and reflections about WNC's impact, along with wishes for our work for future generations.
Hello listeners and welcome to the White Noise Collective podcast. This is Jay sharing an update. Our beloved Collective has made the difficult decision to sunset our organization this year and to make space for other expressions.
expressions of our work to continue to grow and iterate out in our movements and in our lives. As a part of honoring our legacy, we are proud to share this archival series featuring our core collective members,
close friends, and comrades. Here we share our stories, history, and context for our work, including our learnings and questions, knowing that some of what has emerged for us could also likely be of use for other movement organizations both now and in the future.
If you're interested in reading our full statement detailing more about our sun setting, please check out conspireforchange .org. We are grateful for all the ways you and so many have shaped and brought us together.
the vehicle of White Noise Collective to life. I'm Ream.
I use they /them pronouns, and I'm located on a lony land in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. I remember a gathering of people who said, "We are grateful for all the ways you and so many have shaped and brought the vehicle of White Noise Collective to life." organized by the White Noise Collective around 2014,
2013, at the Movement Strategy Center. It was white people who are committed into anti -racist organizing, talking about the spiritual lineages that we practice in.
And yes, the role of white people, white consumerism, and cultural appropriation. appropriation. What I remember most of all from the gathering was just a sincere engagement of what it means to be transformed by the practices of Buddhism,
of yoga, of contact with spirituality from around Latin America, like these lineages that people were naming, that have made it possible for them to do their movement work in new ways and be in relationship with themselves.
and their own suffering in new ways and introducing the principle of how we bring our commitment to racial justice to the ways in which we show up as practitioners,
as students, as learners inside those lineages. It was a deep conversation and more than anything else, I just remember how we were with each other in the room. room, that it was a moment of looking around the room and being like,
"These are the people that are committed in the beginning and the middle and the end to ending racial capitalism, organizing as a healing modality, and these are the people who are also in prayer,
in study, in meditation, in laying on the earth, in... in asking the earth to hold us in this moment where it feels like the world is ending.
And I was really moved by what it would mean to be able to be in my life more integrated around healing and organizing, around asking and around listening,
and around being together as we face what we face. I'm Cynthia Ashley,
I came to White Noise Collective probably 12 years ago after spending some time with my daughter in New Orleans. she had just graduated from college in a social justice program,
and she really inspired and taught me a lot. And she was involved in something in New Orleans called "White Descent," which was a similar type of group.
And so when I came back after one visit, I thought I'd got to find something here. And so I went to New Orleans, and I went to New Orleans, and I went to New Orleans, I found white noise collectors, and it was one of the best things that I've ever done.
I was on the older end of most of the people in the meetings, the dialogues, and the trainings, and that was a challenge for me, feeling somewhat out of place, but everybody was incredibly accepting,
and calm, and welcoming, and never ever made me feel antiquated, or dated. or whatever. All the while I'm feeling uncomfortable, I'm also learning an entire new act of this language.
What we talked about in the '60s during the Civil Rights Movement and the words we used were so different than what y 'all were using in White Noise Collective, and I was fascinated by the new language and couldn't get enough of,
"Oh, what's that mean?" mean?" And relating it to what it had meant to me, the other thing that was amazing was the generations of feminism and seeing where I was in that and seeing where it had gone through the dialogues and just through being with people.
I think, although I loved the dialogues, absolutely loved them. My probably most favorite memory was going with a small group. I know Nicole was in it and I don't remember who else.
but we went to the spirit store around halloween and we just plastered the costumes with this is cultural appropriation and you know we got kicked out of one store and went to another one and it was a blast it was really fun and i felt how this is really the right thing to be doing people need to know they need to think.
And most people including myself had never given halloween costumes much thought. So I think that may be my pivotal favorite memory of my time,
not to say I didn't enjoy it all. As it transformed me, I think seeing the connections as I've matured from a '60s civil rights activist,
early feminist, into what now is a greater understanding of the importance of grassroots organizing. and not just relying on electoral politics, which has not served us well at all.
And I did that growth, I think, through the White Noise Collective, which also supported my taking actions on the street or becoming involved in other organizations. The one that I was involved with during the time was Kausakusta,
and I did a lot with them during this time. And it was pretty much a woman -run organization. As many of the justice orgs in this area are. So pairing what I was talking about and hearing with what Calzapusta was trying to do was a wonderful experience.
It's really hard for me to talk about growth edge and making mistakes. I never saw it. I'm sorry, I never saw mistakes being made. And I think it's partly because the women who came to the dialogues,
actually, was there a time when there were men? I can't remember. Maybe one or two? I don't know. They were so respectful of one another and of me that I just didn't see conflict between anybody there or between the leadership and them or even when I would go to things with just leadership just because I got to be invited.
I never saw it, so I can't remember. really comment on mistakes that were made because I loved it all. The impact of white noise collective on our movements, I think, cannot be underestimated.
I think just empowering women to be active this from the stance of being a woman in a patriarchal society and not letting that play any roles in intimidation.
either inside or outside. And having this organization have our back as we went around doing that in our various ways during the time we were together, I think.
I mean, I just always knew there was the white noise collective. In another month, I'll be able to go and share what happened and get support for what I did or didn't do. So it just,
it was like a massive therapy blank. blanket in a way, not therapy, support, not therapy, support blanket. One of those weighted blankets around me and all of us who are trying to find our way as women in this activist world.
Oh my goodness, the legacy. I just hope that white noise can create this legacy of information that people can easily...
access over the years forever because I think it's incredibly unusual what White Noise Collective did and how you operated and how we all joined in.
And while we can't replicate that and use the legacy that you're going to leave for us, I think we can jump into it a little bit through what you're going to make available to us.
So, I'm really looking forward to it. having it. And also, it's inspired me to keep trying to find other groups of females who are doing this work in some way.
I don't think I will give up because it has been so pivotal in my growth and I miss it. So I think I'll leave it with some very grateful to the White Nose Collector and the very under understanding,
but also very sad that it will not be in my life in the way it used to be. Hi,
this is Josephine Radbill. I use she /her pronouns. I am on unceded Huqin land, also known as Oakland, California. And I was a regular participant and occasional guest facilitator with the White Noise Collective.
One treasured memory I have from being involved in White Noise. In 2013, I moved from Atlanta to Oakland. Oakland and I remember doing some research about what was happening in the East Bay around activism and political education.
At the time I was deeply involved in urban agriculture and I went to one of the first community food systems focused workshops that white noise held at a farmer's market. We talked about the nonprofit industrial complex and what white people's roles could be in East Bay food systems work.
They asked participants to question what it meant for people not from here to be doing this work here and to consider the ways that nonprofits could be less than inclusive and even be causing harm.
Coming from Atlanta, I was pretty surprised that this type of workshop was held at a farmer's market and I was excited to be in Oakland and to participate in white noise more. What is one way being a part of white noise has transformed you?
The white noise dialogues and workshops really challenged me to think beyond binaries. binaries. I grew up in a very religious household and it was pretty challenging to shift away from the good bad either or thinking that I'd been immersed in my whole life.
It's taken me a long time to feel like I'm living into the complexities of things, but white noise was regularly a space that encouraged this kind of exploration. They helped me shift my thinking, which if I'm honest started out as I want to be anti -racist.
Let me learn everything, never make any mistakes. so I never say or do anything racist," a kind of like virtue signaling, purity politics that frankly was never going to work, to being steady enough and humble enough and willing to continue to engage enough to acknowledge when I said or acted in ways that were racist and learned from them and show up differently next time.
What is one positive impact of white noise on our movements and communities? White noise is a pretty open space. for white women, trans and gender non -conforming people to come together around struggles they were having in their lives,
whether they were in the movement or just humans with their own families and histories that they wanted to better understand in order to make the world a little or ideally a lot more just. I was always blown away at the way the core leadership incorporated politicized somatic practices into everything,
from dialogues to workshops to full... grief rituals. When you participate in something white noise put on, you got to be fully human and that meant including a white person engaged in social justice work.
What is one wish you have for the legacy of the white noise collective? I have so many wishes for them and the legacy, but I hope that other volunteer -led collectives with similar liberatory values can hear this and and feel encouraged to keep going,
to like know there was this organization that lasted for all this time, that had this big impact in the Bay Area, and that to the extent that they have energy now these other collectives keep bringing it,
keep showing up, and keep going. Anything else that hasn't gotten to be named? named. Yeah, I mean, I just, I guess I want to say to the core,
thank you for modeling how to ask big questions without having the answers, for teaching me to continuously invite complexity and nuance into my thinking, and helping me connect to a wider network of people dedicated to liberation.
Thank you so much for listening. To learn more, check out conspireforchange .org. Sound and editing for this episode is by Dave Pickering and music by Blue Dot Sessions.