Who we are.

EAR is a group of white, Minnesota-based writers committed to using our collective privilege and capital—both financial and social—to resource and support writers of color and indigenous writers in our community; to that end, we call on ourselves and other white writers to take risks and not let fear of imperfection interfere with action.​

Please Note: What follows is a living document whose current form was worked on by the members of EAR with significant contributions, guidance and feedback from accountability partners: Sun Yung Shin, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Erin Sharkey, Marcie Rendon, and Roy Guzmán.

Why we are.

The state of Minnesota exists on land violently stolen from Ojibwe and Dakota people and which continues to be occupied by settler-colonialists. The European colonizers who settled here accumulated and maintained their wealth through systematic oppression of non-Europeans—including genocide of Native Americans and an economy built upon enslaved labor of African Americans. That wealth remains disproportionately held by the descendents of Europeans (white-bodied people) and withheld from people of color: Minnesota’s racial disparities are among the largest nationwide.

Within the US, the overwhelming majority of current civic, economic, cultural, and social institutions work actively to maintain white supremacy: people of color are systematically denied access to basic human rights like housing, education, and healthcare. In the realm of literature, these barriers are compounded by white-controlled and largely white-composed institutions--including but not limited to publishing houses and literary magazines, academic institutions, funding sources, etc. 

This climate creates abundant obstacles for Black, Indigenous, and POC (BIPOC) writers to thrive: as individuals, students, authors, leaders, and teachers. Acknowledging that white writers experience whiteness within a range of complex histories and identities, we believe that as white-bodied writers who currently and historically benefit from the access whiteness allows, we have an obligation and myriad ongoing opportunities to dismantle those obstacles to the fullest extent that we can.​

What we do.

​Because so many of those obstacles are financial, we see redistributing wealth—especially financial wealth—as our primary work. We also commit to following the leadership and wisdom of BIPOC writers for additional ways we can resource and support them, knowing that every individual has different needs. We also know that making space for BIPOC writers to lead and thrive means that white writers need to relinquish space, leadership, and wealth and to hold ourselves and institutions accountable for the ways in which we uphold white supremacy. To that end, we commit to advocating for inclusion that amounts not to tokenism but to transformation, and compensated BIPOC participation and leadership within institutions and the community at large. 
 
While our focus is within the borders of Minnesota, we hope our impact will ultimately be broader; with that in mind, we commit to keeping rigorous documentation of our meetings and processes and offer them as resources for other communities. We also commit to humility and openness, to seeking and receiving feedback, and an iterative strategy of change as we attempt the big, complex work of redistributing wealth.
 
We invite and encourage all white-bodied Minnesota writers to join us in this work by becoming members of EAR. Members commit to a set of actions that materially support BIPOC writers in our communities. We carry out these commitments on a day-to-day and month-to-month basis, remembering that challenging the status quo requires white writers to step back, to take risks, and to sacrifice comfort.
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We commit:

• to recognize that the work of dismantling white supremacy in the literary world is primarily the work of those who benefit from systemic bias
• to reject, at the same time, both the idea and the role of “savior” and commit ourselves to supporting BIPOC writers in the specific ways they request support
• to donate a meaningful amount on a monthly basis to EAR’s fund supporting BIPOC writers (we recommend $5-50 per month; less if needed to meet one’s basic needs and more if one has access to wealth)
• to be very discerning about our own actual need when applying for grants, residencies and leadership positions in the literary world—knowing that to make space we must relinquish space, and to provide resources for BIPOC writers seeking assistance with applications 
• to consider donating, as able, a meaningful portion of grant and publication money to BIPOC writers / BIPOC-led literary work in the community (either via EAR’s fund or otherwise) 
• to hold literary institutions and events (academic, publishing, nonprofit literary organizations, funders/granting organizations, libraries, bookstores, award committees, etc.) accountable toward relinquishing space filled by white writers and making space for thoughtful, compensated BIPOC inclusion and leadership
• to prioritize work by BIPOC writers in our own reading and on reading lists and syllabi
• to center BIPOC writers in daily consciousness and conversation
• to say no to participating in all-white (three or more) readings, panels, and events and to recommend BIPOC writers for thoughtful inclusion instead
• to say no to attending all-white (three or more) readings/panels
• to show up for and invite others to events/readings/panels that feature BIPOC writers and curators
• to recognize that in some moments our work is to stay quiet and listen with humility, and in others we must not be afraid to publicly and vocally interrupt toxic whiteness
• to continuously further our education around racial justice issues
• to continuously call in other white-bodied writers, and to to engage in ongoing dialogue with other white-bodied writers, curators, booksellers, editors, teachers, librarians, and others about ways to change and transform

Become a member.

Core EAR members attend a monthly potluck/meeting and participate in one of our working groups: Education, Best Practices, Approaching Institutions and Organizations (with a subgroup for Academic Institutions and Programs), and Supporting BIPOC Writers. We also recognize that not everyone has capacity for regular meetings and that many writers are involved in other organizations that do important justice work.

With that in mind, as well as a belief in the power of mass solidarity among local white writers, we invite those who cannot attend meetings or join committees to join us as EAR members in whatever way fits best—though we do require each EAR member to make some monthly monetary donation.

JOIN

Accountability to BIPOC writers.

EAR has a rotating cohort of three to five Accountability Partners, BIPOC writers who we invite to give guidance on our overall work. We will offer each partner $150 per quarter and a variety of ways to engage with our work, including accessing all our documents, attending our meetings, engaging with a point person from the group, meeting with other individuals from the group, and—most importantly—directing money from our monetary fund. Our only vision for the fund is to support BIPOC writers in Minnesota, but we defer to our partners regarding where the money should go.