Under Trump, Chicago organizers gear up to build coalitions

Days after Donald Trump’s unexpected presidential victory, local grassroots advocates for racial and social justice began to look past his win to the next step: how to advance a progressive agenda under a president who is hostile to their issues.

The Chicago Reporter interviewed Charlene Carruthers, national director of the Black Youth Project 100; Candace Coleman, an organizer with the disabilities rights group Access Living; Erik Glenn, executive director of the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus; Hoda Katebi, communications coordinator for the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); Steve Moon, organizing director of the Chicago office of Asian Americans Advancing Justice; Jane Ramsey, a member of Chicago Women Take Action; and Analia Rodriguez, executive director of the Latino Union of Chicago.

They told the Reporter that coalition-building will be key, and some of the organizers say that requires an understanding of how the economic and social system also oppresses “marginalized white communities.”

http://chicagoreporter.com/under-trump-chicago-organizers-gear-up-to-build-coalitions/