Show up for Racial Justice in the South Bay and beyond.

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Santa Clara County has members from San Jose to Palo Alto (and beyond!).  We are part of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people and other people with privilege for racial justice, and to dismantle white supremacy. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.

It is white people’s responsibility to educate ourselves about systemic, institutional and interpersonal racism and it is white people’s responsibility to excavate our own personal legacy of racism.  That includes habits of entitlement that we might bring in to racially mixed spaces. More centrally, it is white people’s responsibility to organize other white people to dismantle white supremacy, because it is white people who historically and still today benefit from white supremacy. If you identify as a white person and share these principles, join us! If you identify as a person of color, we enthusiastically welcome you. It can be difficult to work with folks new to active anti-racist work, but if you are up for working with folks with privilege, we are so grateful to have you and we want to center your contributions.

We like to orient new members through one-to-one conversations. However, there is no barrier to entry—new members are welcome at ALL of our SURJ meetings. You don’t need to go on some sort of quest or pass a series of trials to join us! Currently some SURJ meetings are virtual and some in person. We are holding most of our once-a-month general meetings in person now, at Urban Sanctuary (80 S 5th Street, San Jose). Check out the action calendar for meeting info. Our general meetings are 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month. For general information, please email hello@surjsantaclaracounty.org

Our current partners are the Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley De-Bug, Sacred Heart’s Personas Activas Sobresalientes Organizando Soluciones committee, and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust. We also work in solidarity to support our unhoused neighbors. You can learn more about our accountability partners here.

Upcoming Meetings and Actions

The ABCD’S of SURJ Santa Clara County

The ABCD’S of SURJ are a set of principles, developed by volunteer leaders, intended to operate as a compass for our decision making:

  • ACCOUNTABILITY: Show up for our partners in the ways that they request, leverage our privilege for their goals and check our privilege on the regular.

  • BASEBUILDING: Always be basebuilding.  Use all campaigns and activities to bring in new members to build our people power and to strengthen sustainable, nourishing,  joyful connections with one another.

  • CONSEQUENTIAL: Prioritize campaigns that will yield concrete and tangible anti-racist impact.

  • DEVELOPING: Always be developing.  Develop new leadership skills in others and ourselves.

  • STRATEGIC: All activities should further the ABCDs. All decisions should use the ABCDs as guiding principles.

Credits

All photos on this site are provided courtesy of SURJ members (unless otherwise noted).