Equity

OMASS Coalition Equity Statement

We envision a world where all residents of and visitors to Seattle are able to move around the city safely and sustainably. We aim for mobility justice and the well-being of people as the highest goals.

The MASS Coalition comprises different organizations that each have a responsibility to build anti-racist, anti-oppression modes into their own and our shared practices. We understand this entails shifting power within our network and building equitable approaches to access, inclusion, resource sharing, and decision making. We recognize this is a long- term process, and we will deepen our skills as we practice and learn together.

Problem Statement

The United States of America was founded on colonization and racism, using these beliefs to justify the theft of Indigenous lands and enslavement of Black people. Our political and civic institutions continue to sustain systems that privilege white communities and support their advancement while disinvesting in, oppressing, and excluding communities of color. Our transportation system in particular caters to the most powerful voices, generally those of white property owners and the corporations that benefit from sprawl and car dependence. As a result, access, mobility, safety, wealth, and health are deeply unequal across race.

We have failed to acknowledge this history and the ongoing patterns of oppression and exclusion. As activists and non-profit advocacy groups, we have continually attempted to advocate in the spaces and modes created by white supremacy. By not confronting and interrupting these modes, our advocacy plays a role in upholding white supremacy and perpetuating inequities (e.g. racism, colonialism, classism, ableism, cisgenderism, heterosexism, sexism, and ageism) in our movement for more sustainable and connected cities.

Today, we aim to be diligent in confronting, interrogating, and dismantling systems of racism and other forms of oppression. We understand there are other forms of oppression, and we believe that the liberation of all oppressed people is rooted in the liberation of people of color, due to the U.S.'s consistent and long-standing practice of racial injustice. We understand anti-racist work to be the paramount duty of white-led organizations moving to dismantle systems of oppression.

From the Untokening Collective:“Our communities look and function the way they do because of INTENTIONAL HARM perpetrated by WHITE SUPREMACIST POLICIES and actions by government and advocacy. Historical disenfranchisement, disinvestment, disproportionate exposure to pollution, and repressive policing in communities of color CONTINUE TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT our collective health, wealth, mobility and security.”

Coalition Values & Commitments

To achieve our goals, we intentionally focus on dismantling institutional racism. We make the following commitments to ourselves, our partner organizations, and supporters:

We value human experience, safety, and public life over speed, efficiency, and property value.
We acknowledge our current position and privilege as predominantly white-led member organizations with political power. We commit to on-going learning and evolving our practices of anti-racist advocacy.
We challenge ourselves to name and deconstruct white supremacist norms that perpetuate systemic inequities, oppression, and marginalization of people of color.
We work toward becoming a diverse, inclusive, and multiracial coalition. Toward that end, we know we must build trust and authentic relationships with community-based organizations by listening, showing up for, and building accountability into our practices.

Coalition Activities & Implementation

We will actively listen to and learn from communities of color that have been harmed by historic and current injustices. We will seek out ways to actively support and amplify community-based priorities. We will use best practices in planning and advocacy work to examine, address and rectify historical and current injustices. We will check in with and be accountable to community-based organizations that we partner with.
We will continue to meet as a racial equity work group to build these skills, deepen our capacity to name and dismantle systemic racism, and advance our anti-racist practice.
Each of our member organizations commits to deepening anti-racist practice within their organization. We will support each other in ensuring implementation of equity practices and holding ourselves accountable to anti-racist practice.
We will use a racial equity screen to filter what work MASS takes on as a coalition, as laid out in the Racial Equity Screen and Decision Process document. We will use this screen and these commitments in this document to guide the coalition’s priorities.
We will push the City and County to uphold their commitments to equity in decision-making, in budgeting and spending, and in implementation of mobility projects.

Email us: MoveAllSeattleSustainably [at] gmail [dot] com