The Green Party of Colorado has recently approved a new local, the Longmont Green Party. Though their activism of late has been grounded in the recent anti-fracking movement resurgence, they have decided to launch their local with a bold statement of anti-oppression. There were some members of the state council that chose to harshly critique Longmont’s stance, but their recognition as a local was resoundingly approved, regardless.
Given that Longmont has long been a flashpoint in Colorado’s history of racial troubles, the Longmont Green Party’s position brings it directly into alliance with people who face various types of oppression. Longmont’s history of anti-Latino police violence must not be forgotten, and groups like El Comité de Longmont have worked hard for decades to protect communities from racial harassment. Now, the Longmont Green Party joins that struggle.
The Longmont Green Party offered the following, in response to the harsh critique they received, and that response is offered here for Greens to consider. The full text of their bylaws is available below.
2.2 The Longmont Green Party’s expression of the 7th and 8th Key Values, as well as of the Third Pillar of the Green Party (Social Justice) causes it to declare that we are an anti-oppression party, actively dedicated to the work of challenging white supremacy, cissexism and heteropatriarchy. As such, expressions of sexism, racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and other oppressive behaviors are not in keeping with the values of this party.
2.2.1. Further, the Longmont Green Party explicitly rejects the false ideas that are used to derail social justice movements, such as reverse racism and misandry. While prejudice may exist against white people, against men, against cisgender people, against heterosexual people (or any other privileged group), this prejudice is not oppression because there are no institutional power structures designed to disenfranchise these privileged groups.
These expansions of the key values has led a few council members to disagree with these statements. We’d like to expand the thought and motive behind these declarations to hopefully bring some clarity.
How standing against oppression is neither “divisive” nor “negative”
The creation of these bylaws was a group effort. While we did adopt much of the language from the Denver Green Party, we discussed our anti-oppression stance at length when adopting our bylaws and we all agreed that supporting attempts to derail any progress towards social justice (such as the false oppression language used to advocate misandry, reverse racism, etc) would be counter intuitive to the Ten Key Values.The Green Party recognizes our nation’s real history, not its idealized history
White supremacy and racism are at the very root of this country’s history, laws, and government. From our nation’s birth to the present day, white supremacy has eroded and continues to erode at our strength in common unity. The Green Party must lead in the understanding of this history, and current reality. The invention of race distinctions and the so called white race were created to divide us so that an elite class could maintain control, and economic domination. Professor Jacqueline Battalora, Ph.D has given a presentation called “Birth of a White Nation” (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riVAuC0dnP4) which explains the creation of the legal “class” of white people.)People of different races than white legally were not allowed to become citizens because of US law from the birth of this nation, Naturalization Act of 1790 (link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790), all the way up until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1952).
Furthermore, some of our members, being from the south, were taught an alternative narrative of the civil war. The so-called War of Northern Aggression. “Heritage not hate” was (is) a normalized, although not valid, idea. Please read the the actual letters of secession from the Union, and remember the falseness of this normalized idea:
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/declarationofcauses.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/
There are those who would stir up animus against minorities by co-opting anti-oppression language, not simply using the same old tools and labeling that is seen throughout our nation’s history. As we discussed above, the ideals of the Confederacy are not wholly denounced in the South, but are commonly romanticized with slogans such as “Heritage, not Hate” and claiming that flying the Confederate flag is a homage to their history. The re-branding of bigotry using new labels such as “white pride”, “stop white genocide”, “heritage, not hate”, etc. are an attempt to revive the ideas of white supremacy and to recruit people into movements such as Richard Spencer’s “Alternative Right”.
“Stop white genocide” (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zMzeKBEvaQ) is a sample false narrative of oppression. “White genocide”, is not a reality, and not a valid declaration of oppression. It is simply the old rhetoric of “purity of the races”. This is an example of exactly what the Longmont Green Party refuses to be a platform for, and also openly rejects. The normalization of hate speech disguised as the free speech of the oppressed, is very much rampant today, and we know how to identify it and will not tolerate it.
Conclusion: The Green Future of Longmont
What our by-laws state is that we are an anti-oppression party. We are opposed to the oppression of all people. We also recognize the existence and intentional creation of socially divisive structures by a ruling elite in order to distract us from the work we need to do to make our world more just, equitable and green. We also recognize prejudice exists against privileged groups, but are only making a distinction between prejudice and oppression. Nowhere are we advocating prejudice against any group (that was quite a stretch for a member of the council to allude to). We are a party of equality in a nation that is unequal by design. To all who believe the said section of the bylaws advocate racism or prejudice, please consider this response.We look forward to working with all of you in the important work we have before us.
Thank you,
The Longmont Green Party
Bylaws of the Longmont Green Party
Bylaws of the Longmont Green Party
1. Name
1.1. The name of this local chapter of the Green Party of Colorado is The Longmont Green Party.
2. Purpose and Values
2.1. The purpose of this organization is to work towards a Green society as represented by the Four Pillars (which are peace, ecology, social justice and democracy) and the Ten Key Values of the Green Party of the United States.
The Ten Key Values are as follows:
2.1.1. Grassroots Democracy
2.1.2. Social Justice And Equal Opportunity
2.1.3. Ecological Wisdom
2.1.4. Non-Violence
2.1.5. Decentralization
2.1.6. Community-Based Economics
2.1.7. Feminism And Gender Equity
2.1.8. Respect For Diversity
2.1.9. Personal And Global Responsibility
2.1.10. Future Focus And Sustainability
2.2. The Longmont Green Party’s expression of the 7th and 8th Key Values, as well as of the Third Pillar of the Green Party (Social Justice) causes it to declare that we are an anti-oppression party, actively dedicated to the work of challenging white supremacy, cissexism and heteropatriarchy. As such, expressions of sexism, racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and other oppressive behaviors are not in keeping with the values of this party.
2.2.1. Further, the Longmont Green Party explicitly rejects the false ideas that are used to derail social justice movements, such as reverse racism and misandry. While prejudice may exist against white people, against men, against cisgender people, against heterosexual people (or any other privileged group), this prejudice is not oppression because there are no institutional power structures designed to disenfranchise these privileged groups.
2.3. In recognition of the issues that our existing corporate capitalist system present, the Longmont Green Party is dedicated to challenging the exploitation of labor, unsustainable means of consumption and production while encouraging and promoting businesses that are committed to social good (such as public benefit corporations) and/or that are owned by the employees/communities they serve (such as cooperatives).
2.4. The Longmont Green Party’s expression of the 10 Key Values, as well as of the 4 Pillars of the Green Party, causes it to declare that global environmental destruction, which includes degradation to the climate, ecosystems, flora, fauna, land, water, and human cultures, constitutes an emergency that threatens our very survival. We understand that the practices of the federal, state and oftentimes, local, governments are largely responsible for environmental degradation. We declare to work to resist this destruction through governmental, and other non-violent direct means.
2.5. A purpose of the Longmont Green Party is to run candidates for public office that align with these values.
2.6. Another purpose of the Longmont Green Party is to educate the public on our vision of a Green society.
3. Membership
3.1. Membership in the Longmont Green Party is open to anyone regardless of race, gender expression or identity, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, appearance, or physical ability.
3.2. To be a member of the Longmont Green Party, one must be a registered voter of the Green Party of Colorado for at least 30 successive days and reside in Longmont or a nearby city, community or unincorporated area (hereinafter referred to as “the Longmont area”).
Members of the Longmont Green Party must also agree:
3.2.1. to support the Ten Key Values;
3.2.2. must abide by the bylaws of the Longmont Green Party and the Green Party of Colorado;
3.2.3. agree to support, promote and/or endorse only Green Party candidates nominated by this local, the Green Party of Colorado or the Green Party of the United States; and
3.2.4. should generally agree with the local party platform and the state and national party platforms.
3.2.5. that awareness of the issues under consideration by the chapter is vital to coming to consensus and continuing the business the chapter.
3.3. Voting Members of this chapter are members that have the ability to vote on this local’s officers, its representatives to Green Party of Colorado Council, nominations for Green Party candidates running for an office relevant to the Longmont area, official positions of the Longmont Green Party, and a platform or platform items of the Longmont Green Party.
3.4. To be an eligible Voting Member of the Longmont Green Party, one must be a member according to section 3.2 and be either in attendance of three meetings in the last six months or engage regularly in official chapter communications in that time.
3.5. In order to strengthen our party, we encourage members to pay annual dues. We suggest $25 in annual dues, but this can be modified or waived on a case by case basis.
4. Officers and Delegates
4.1. Officers shall include (a) Chairperson(s), Secretary and Treasurer. These officers will be chosen in odd number years at a designated meeting in February or, failing that, the soonest meeting where quorum could be established.
4.2. In the event of a vacancy of an officer position, a chairperson may fulfill the duties of the vacant position or delegate another officer to do so until a new officer is elected.
4.3. Our delegates (up to four) to the State Council will be elected by a quorum at a local meeting. These delegates shall be voting members.
4.4. It is the goal of the Longmont Green Party to achieve gender diversity in the election of officers and delegates.
4.5. Members voting for officers must meet the requirements stated in sections 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4.
4.6. If a Longmont Green Party officer’s position is vacated in between official meetings, the other officers may make a temporary appointment to be affirmed by a vote of the voting members of the Longmont Green Party.
5. Officer duties
5.1. The Chairperson(s) will set the initial agenda for meetings seeking input from members prior to the meeting, take action on expedient matters, and act as representative(s) to the press on local issues or delegate such duties. The Chairperson(s) may form committees to handle specific tasks (such as a website committee.) and will be considered the spokesperson(s) for the Longmont Green Party.
5.2. The Treasurer shall have charge of the books of the Longmont Green Party and account monthly for all moneys collected and disbursed, as well as file required financial reports at local, State and Federal level. Disbursement of funds should be approved at a regular meeting or, if time sensitive, by the officers’ unanimous consent.
5.3. The Secretary is to maintain a list of the members, voting members, officers, and delegates to the Green Party of Colorado Council. In addition, the Secretary is responsible for taking and archiving meeting minutes. The Secretary will maintain a copy of the bylaws with any current amendments, forwarding the same to the Green Party of Colorado and any governmental unit requiring a copy, and maintain a list of those organizations requiring a copy. The Secretary will attempt to get minutes and/or bylaws to any member in good standing who requests them.
6. Structure
6.1. Meetings shall be called by the Chairperson(s) by notification of members to an extent as reasonably possible, at least one week if possible before the proposed meeting.
6.2. To establish sufficient quorum, 75% of the voting members must be present.
6.3. Decisions will be by consensus if possible or if not then by a simple majority, except as noted elsewhere.
6.4. The agenda of each meeting shall be determined at least one week prior to the meeting. Agenda items shall be e-mailed to the Secretary or Chairperson(s) in advance so they can be incorporated into the agenda.
6.5. Proposals to the Colorado Green Party Council shall be voted on at regular meetings.
7. Candidates
7.1. Candidates nominated by the Longmont Green Party must meet the following criteria:
7.1.1. A candidate should endorse the Ten Key Values as interpreted by this party and shall use these values as a basis for their political decision-making.
7.1.2. A candidate must comply with any eligibility requirements of the Green Party of Colorado.
7.2. Any regular meeting may constitute itself as a vetting agent for the Longmont Green Party, or the voting members may approve a vetting committee created by the the Chairperson(s) consisting of Longmont Green Party voting members.
7.3. Voting members will be responsible for nominating Green Party of Colorado candidates to run for local political office in partisan elections. An officer of the Longmont Green Party shall forward those nominations for ratification to the state nominating convention.
7.4. Voting members will be responsible for endorsing candidates who are running in elections for local nonpartisan office.
7.5. The Longmont Green Party will coordinate with the Greater Boulder Greens and Platte Valley Greens in even-numbered years to make county-level nominations such as County Commissioners, District Attorney for the 20th Judicial District, etc.
8. Amendments
8.1. These bylaws may be amended by a two thirds vote of the voting members present at a local meeting where notice of the agenda for the meeting as a bylaw meeting has been announced for at least 14 days.
