Ori’ dance was an important part of life in ancient Tahiti and was often performed in religious ceremonies, social gatherings, and everyday life. It was used by the Tahitian people to pass down traditions to younger generations so that they can tell the stories of their ancestors. Each individual dance tells a story through hip movements and hand motions.
Essay Archives
Reparations: How we white relatives must try to pay back the unpayable debt
As a child, I was taught in school that slavery ended in 1865, all thanks to the benevolence and heroism of President Abraham Lincoln. After that, there was some unrest in the 1960s, and Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Fortunately, slavery is now a relic of the past. Now, we know so much better, and every February is Black History Month.
Like most white children who were indoctrinated with this false history, I accepted that I was innocent, and that this history had nothing to do with me.
Nonprofit Industrial Complex 101: a primer on how it upholds inequity and flattens resistance
To imagine new worlds, we need words that reflect our current one. Audre Lorde tells us, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” and I think this is why there is such a proliferation of new language on the left — we are describing forces we have purposefully been given no words to describe — new words to talk about gender, race, and identity — new words to talk about a diversity of internal experiences — new words to talk about the oppressive ways society is organized.
Why I decided to give up complicity in order to be an anti-racist volunteer manager
Four months into a previous job as a volunteer manager at one of the oldest nonprofit organizations in the region, I sat down to talk with one white mentor, who privately shared his prejudice toward his Black mentees.
He wasn’t the last to do so.
‘You want a director of what now?!’ When orgs that are hiring are too lazy to know what they want
Recently I saw a director of development position at a local organization whose work I respect. The overview paragraph talked about being the face of the organization, building strategic partnerships, preparation of grants, appeals, campaigns, etcetera. Great, I thought. I can do all of that!
How prospect research can help nonprofits become less racist and more inclusive
Prospect researchers have a responsibility to play a part in helping nonprofits become proactively less racist and more inclusive. Here are a few ways for prospect researchers to think about moving the needle forward on making nonprofits anti-racist.
What I Learned from Losing Two Jobs in the Fight for Racial Equity
In September 2017, I was fired from my role as associate director of Invest in Youth in Seattle because I was outspoken about the organization’s need to diversify their volunteer tutors and board members. My passion for anti-racism work did not align with their investment in the status quo.
10 reasons why fundraisers and nonprofits all need to support defunding the police
Here’s why you personally, as a fundraiser, should support defunding the police and why you should encourage all organizations with which you are affiliated (as staff, board, volunteer, donor) to also support this movement.
The power of a fundraiser: Why you are the key to systems change
I’ve been working as a fundraiser at and with nonprofits for a while now — both in small and large teams — and what I’ve learned again and again is that my role as a fundraiser is never just to make it rain.
When those of us in the sector talk about community-centric fundraising, we tend to intellectualize it, resulting in skeptics saying, “Well, this sounds interesting, but unrealistic. We don’t know how it would look or how it would work.”