Fundamentals of Solidarity
Race Based Caucus Organizing in Houston
Elizabeth Jordie Davies (University of California, Irvine)
Coalitions amongst people of color are essential for building political power—particularly as resources and influence fall along lines of race and ethnicity. In “Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race Based Caucus Organizing in Houston,” I consider how Black organizers-built solidarity with each other and with the staff of Houston in Action (HiA). Though they are not a new or revolutionary innovation, creating race-based caucuses with attention to power within an organization, the distribution of resources across organizations, and difference across micro-level intersections can provide a material path to building the bonds of solidarity across organizations with varying levels of privilege.
Why is it important to build cross-racial solidarity? According to the urban politics literature, power is systemic at the local level and calcifies in the hands of those with the most money and electoral power (Stone 1980; Bachrach and Baratz 1970; Schattschneider 1960). In light of the complexity of the American racial hierarchy and the unequal distribution of power and resources, organizations may struggle to build cross-racial solidarity in practice. Thus, coalition building must work as a “function of political opportunity... shaped by the strength of the coalition partners and the alignment of their interests” (Kim 2020). And this will only happen when financially or racially privileged organizations discover their own political interests in joining the fights of marginalized groups.
This work means taking a political assessment of one’s organization and asking “What are our values? What are the struggles we have in common with other groups?” Solidarity also means being willing to confront, head-on, internal disagreements and discord and being committed to surviving those fights intact. This means political solidarity is not just a feeling or an ideology—it is a “radical posture,” as Freire (2007, 49) writes, forged through struggle. This study considers what it takes to work through the discomfort of coalition building and achieve solidarity in practice.
Drawing from studies of racial solidarity, community organizing, and intersectionality, I propose a “theory of race-based caucus organizing” that details how organizations can incorporate racial groups to grow solidarity for multiracial power-building at the local level (Figure 1). I draw these lessons from a year of interviews and observations with Houston in Action (HiA), a multiracial, capacity-building, and funding organization committed to growing the political power of people of color.
Houston in Action is a nonpartisan organization that seeks to mobilize resources and support for people of color to vote. HiA builds capacity and supports organizers in their endeavors. In 2021, HiA instituted people of color caucuses—individual groups for Black, Latinx, and AAPI Houston area organizers—in order to provide foundation dollars to encourage grassroots organizing and voter mobilization in Houston. From 2022-2023, I observed HiA virtual meetings multiple times a week, and I conducted interviews with HiA staff and Black Core Group (BCG) members. I also reviewed organization documents, messages, and spent time with the group during election day in November 2022. The organizers in the BCG, who hailed from multiple advocacy sectors, needed to build trust with the (at the time, mostly Latinx) HiA staff and each other, in order to disburse foundation dollars amongst themselves and build solidaristic bonds for collaborations.
Figure 1. Components for building solidarity for a race-based caucus
The theory of race-based caucus organizing has three components for organizers. These include:
1. Organizers must establish a power shifting politic and praxis
Solidarity building is a commitment to interrogating and challenging the status quo—particularly, the distribution of power. Race-based caucuses should not be established to simply pay lip service to vague notions of “diversity” or “representation.” Rather, coalitions, intermediaries, and convening organizations must be guided by a common politic (or theory of change) that first works internally to challenge the distribution of power within their organizations. Providing designated space for marginalized partners to own and organize may take a reevaluation of organizational structure and values (Zack et al. 2023; Brazzell 2021; Foerster 2004).
2. Organizers must commit to exchanging resources
People of color or under-resourced organizations have little reason to join in solidarity with white or better-resourced organizations that do not provide them material benefits. While diversity is a value for nonprofits and makes organizations look good publicly, people of color and those with intersecting identities can get pushed to the margins, or their voices can be seen as disruptive, especially if they are challenging the organizational status quo. However, organizations that are interested in race-based caucus organizing will need to commit their time and money to changing how things are done in their organization, as well as how resources are distributed within their organization and in the overall nonprofit funding landscape. Coalition builders can work to facilitate connections to funders for less-resourced organizations and provide capacity-building support.
3. Organizers must facilitate intersectional solidarity
White supremacy bears down on racial groups and minimizes the complexities of identities within them while structuring an unequal distribution of power among lines of difference. Building intersectional solidarity among one racial group, like Black people for example, is a process of building understanding, naming common threats, and leveling naturally occurring “power asymmetries” within a group (Crowder 2023; Ciccia and Roggeband 2021; Tormos 2017; Crenshaw 1991). It is important to remember that Blackness, for example, already constitutes a diverse coalition of experiences and ideologies, and conveners should approach race-based caucuses as such (Carastathis 2013). Successful race-based caucus organizing must address the complexity of within-group differences head on.
These lessons are fundamental to building cross-racial solidarity, an ever-important task for people of color to grow their political power in urban environments where influence is often concentrated in the hands of a few. With these lessons in mind, multi-racial coalitions are able to build stronger bonds and a foundation for political collaborations.
Dr. Elizabeth Jordie Davies is an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. She is also an affiliate faculty member of the UCI Culture and Theory Ph.D. Program. Davies' research and writing interests include Black politics and political thought, US social movements, solidarity, and Black feminism. Her research agenda focuses on the influence of social movements on political attitudes, culture, and civic engagement.