Dean Spade

When my daughter was home on spring break, we got to talking about LGBTQ activism and specifically "what's next" after marriage equality. She mentioned this book, which she read for a class a couple of years ago, and credited it with expanding her thinking about the intersectional nature of LGBTQ politics. And now it has also expanded mine. In Normal Life, Dean Spade offers a strong critique of the popular LGBTQ agenda, focused on non-discrimination and largely championed by people who show more already come from a position of privilege (white, educated, wealthy). Spade describes the intersectional issues that affect life chances, especially for those who are non-white, poor, and/or caught up in the criminal justice system. Spade advocates for social justice work that attacks these underlying issues: how do you reduce incarceration? Ensure healthcare? Housing and food? There was particular focus on the trans community, whose concerns are only just coming to the forefront of privileged minds like mine.

This book is not for everyone -- it's really dry reading -- but I learned a heck of a lot in less than 200 pages. show less

Best for:
Anyone who is interested in building community and addressing challenges while working outside the traditional methods.

In a nutshell:
Author Spade discusses the concept of mutual aid and how it differs from the concepts of non-profit and charity work, and offers tips for successful solidarity work.

Worth quoting:
(There is a lot, but the below paragraph I think helped me to shift what changing the world means to me.)

“Solidarity is what builds and connects large-scale movements. In show more the context of professionalized nonprofit organizations, groups are urged to be single-issue oriented, framing their message around ‘deserving’ people within the population they serve, and using tactics palatable to elites. Prison-oriented groups are supposed to fight only for ‘the innocent’ or ‘the nonviolent,’ for example, and to do their work by lobbying politicians about how some people — not all people — don’t belong in prison. This is the opposite of solidarity, because it means the most vulnerable people are left behind: those who were up-charged by cops and prosecutors, those who do not have the means to prove their innocence, those who do not match cultural tropes of innocence and deservingness. This narrow focus actually strengthens the system’s legitimacy by advocating that the targeting of those more stigmatized people is okay.”

Why I chose it:
I’ve had a very capitalistic view of community engagement and improvement in the past, and was looking for a book to help me better understand a different model for community support.

What it left me feeling:
Motivated

Review:
I live in the UK, and during the lock down phases of the pandemic (which were many in the UK) I joined a mutual aid WhatsApp group. It was pretty straightforward, and I don’t want to overstate my involvement as others actually organized the work - I just responded when I could. This usually meant printing and delivering grocery vouchers to individuals. The money came from (I believe) the local council in the beginning; eventually there were calls for funds from the community, and then the whole operation was shut down. There was something so lovely about it from the standpoint of there wasn’t, as far as I knew, any real gate keeping. Someone would say what they needed, and people would provide if they could.

Prior to this experience, my involvement in supporting and building community was usually limited to donating to charities and assuming that non-profits knew what was best to address social challenges overlooked by the government. Heck, I was even on a junior board for a health non-profit. I often applied for jobs at non-profits, and went to school for public and non-profit management and policy. But much of what I learned in grad school is challenged by this book.

The book talks a lot about collaboration vs majority rule, and challenges the hierarchical nature and set-up of so many non-profits and charities. I found those parts super interesting, as someone who has only worked in hierarchical spaces. The book doesn’t shy away from warning about the potential pitfalls of mutual aid work either - there’s a whole chapter in there on what to look out for.

My only real gripe with the book is that there isn’t much evidence provided to support Spade’s claims - there’s a great resource list in the back, but when the author makes claims that one would consider declarative, he doesn’t provide anything to back that up. Granted, most of the statements feel true, but it’s easier to dismiss statements when they are presented as fact without evidence. An example of this is this statement: ‘When groups are volunteer-based, people are more likely to admit their limitations and scrap bad ideas, because they are motivated by purpose, not elite approval.’ Like, I mean, probably? But that’s a statement that I’d like some support for if we’re going to then base other actions off of it.

That seems like a huge caveat, but in reality I don’t think it takes too much away from the message of the book and the very real tips Spade offers. So many books about world-changing are very theoretical; this one feels super practical to me, and I very much appreciate that.

This is a small book (only about 150 pages, and the size of a trade paperback). It took be a long time to read only because I just didn’t read a lot this month. Once I finally sat down and decided to finish it, it was a quick read.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend and Keep show less

MUTUAL AID: BUILDING SOLIDARITY DURING THIS CRISIS (AND THE NEXT) BY DEAN SPADE.

I first heard about Dean Spade after Tess started working at Seattle University. The school hosted a Racial Equity Summit, and when they got home, Tess told me about this amazing law professor who led a workshop. They couldn't stop talking about the energy in the room and how excited they were to learn more about who this person was and read his work.

Fast forward to today, and we've followed him online for show more years, listened to some of his talks (many of which are free online, I encourage you to check them out), and I've finally come around to finishing his book on mutual aid.

This book makes organizing feel a lot less daunting. Spade talks about mutual aid and community engagement as living, breathing things, and encourages the reader to remember that our best work comes when we all work together, when every voice is represented. Even if you're not currently involved in a mutual aid effort, that sentiment is so important, and I'll definitely be using it as a guide for all of the places I am active and engaged - work, relationships, etc.

I am grateful that this book reminded me our togetherness, our unity, is what gives us power. I'll revisit it again and again, because we're going to need it's information if we plan on building a new world, one that is built for everyone.

Thank you Dean Spade for the amazing work you do! Can't wait to read Love in a F*cked-Up World next! show less

I've been doing mutual aid work since the early 1990s, but I never had a name for it. I called it "street work." Mostly outreach and help to our unhoused population in the cities I've lived in. This book was helpful in that I can now put a name to what I've intuitively been doing. I love the idea that we are "solidarity not charity."

The first part of the book was a great primer in what mutual aid actually is (and isn't). The second part was extremely helpful in allowing to me identify what show more has gone wrong in some of these groups I've been part of.

I'm currently involved in a local group here in Vancouver, WA addressing the many food insecure people in our city. The group I joined has been around for a while and even though it's pretty non-structured, all the personalities work well together and are welcoming.

I found this group after leaving another one addressing the same issue in a slightly different way. After joining that group, I realized the leaders were projecting their own life struggles onto the group and trying to make members responsible for meeting their needs, or at a minimum being targets of that projected stress.

Reading Part II was an eye opener and helped me to put a name to the various dynamics that were happening. That experience caused me to look for a book, and I found this one.

Now, I feel very well equipped to not only address problems in the future, but to be a part of the solution. Everyone benefits that way. show less