Race-Class: The Progressive Narrative We Need

The progressive movement stands divided. Some insist we mobilize the white working class, others say the new American electorate — and both camps seem to regard these choices as mutually exclusive. For the last year, Demos, Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO Communications), and Ian Haney López (author of Dog Whistle Politics) partnered in an ambitious multi-phase project to craft an effective new narrative on race, class, and democracy. The central question we’ve explored is how to engage simultaneously around race and class in ways that strengthen social solidarity, reduce division and scapegoating, and create a viable foundation for progressive policy victories. We’ve crafted, empirically validated, and field-tested a range of narratives, and compared these to existing frames. Join us to hear our key takeaways, how state partners are integrating the research findings in their campaigns and organizing efforts, and help inform our plan to refine what we learned and build progressive governing power in 2020.

This training is for everyone. We all encounter the use of dog whistle racism whether we are an elected official, organizer, property manager or everyday human. By knowing how to effectively counter the use of this divide and conquer strategy, we can all begin to change the conversation and move towards an inclusive democracy and economy where we can all thrive, no matter what we look like or where we come from.

Presented by Causten Rodriguez-Wollerman, Director of Partnerships at Demos. He is passionate about strategy and people. With over 13 years of social change work, he has worked at the local, state and national level leading campaigns and managing leadership training programs. He is a skilled trainer, facilitator, and political campaign strategist. His first “political” job was working on a LGBT specific voter registration campaign in 2004 which lead into doing racial justice organizing in Denver. He hasn’t looked back since and is dedicated to supporting just campaigns and just leaders.