Jeremy’s USFWC Review: A Movement That’s Growing With Black People
Almost a month out, Waterbottle members reflect on the experience from the USFWC conference in Chicago, Illinois from Sept 12-14.
L to R: Jeremy, Xiopy, Eva, David, and Yessie
Last month, I had the chance to visit Chicago for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives Conference. With hundreds of attendees and many different sessions, I learned a lot about the history of worker cooperatives, the expansiveness of them across the country, and just how diverse the movement is. Though I attended many different sessions - from sessions on marketing to real estate development - my favorite was the session for Black cooperators.
For Black people, cooperation is a major part of our history and progress in the United States. Blackness was formed directly by our relationship to labor as African people were violently taken from the continent, erased of their tribal and national identities, and considered “Black” to divide, exploit, and abuse. From that point in the 18th century to now, cooperation has looked many ways and meant different things to Black people. In the later half of the 20th century, Black folk’s relationship to the larger economy had shifted as Nixon utilized Black capitalism and the neoliberal turn reinforces Black excellence. Cities like Baltimore and Detroit felt a reduction in workforce as industries became more global, and international workforces became more exploitable.
In the session we discussed the lack of resources available to Black cooperators as well as the cultural obstacles that may impact the reception of Black cooperative development. Black entrepreneurship is preached in our community as a gateway to racial uplift, but capitalistic values around ownership and sharing ruin any type of community uplift, driving resources into the hands of a small few. During the conference I was able to connect with amazing people doing work in their own communities around organizing workers and labor, overcoming the cultural barriers, and building sustainable movements to expand the coop movement. At the end of the workshop, everyone was invited to a mixer for the launch of the PATHS Chicago: Black Liberation x Solidarity Economy at Little Black Pearl in Kenwood.
In today’s political climate it can be even more concerning as Black culture shifts towards individualism, “excellence”, and hustle culture. For those interested in a deeper understanding of Black politics, I would certainly recommend Lester Spence’s Knocking the Hustle. Seeing so many Black folks at the conference who align with the same vision of what we want our collective future to look like was liberating for me, especially in a city like Chicago witha rich history of movement being founded by a Black man. I’m glad to know there’s great work being done all across the country from Boston to the Bay and Black folk are a part of that movement.
