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WACAN 2009 Annual Appeal (The next regularly scheduled WACANupdate is Wednesday, December 30.) December 9, 2009 Dear Reader, You subscribe to the WACANupdate and that suggests to me you are interested in the white anti-racist community. I am Executive Director of the Center for the Study of White American Culture. The center publishes the WACANupdate. We believe there is a need for a white anti-racist perspective on the news directed to, and available to, people like you. WACANupdate readers cover many types, but typically I expect our readers recognize things such as white culture, white privilege, and white anti-racism represent real and pressing concerns in an increasingly multiracial world. People sometimes ask me why we chose the name of our organization, the Center for the Study of White American Culture. They think it sounds like a white supremacist group. “It’s part of the work,” we explain. We name whiteness and claim it as a specific object for discussion and study. As to sounding white supremacist, it’s only that white society has never seen white people talk about whiteness, except as white supremacists. Not so, we claim. White people can talk about whiteness and be anti-racist. In fact many white people are. And we receive support and encouragement from allies of color who work with us. Together these people comprise who we are calling the white anti-racist community. As a WACANupdate reader, this is, to a degree of your choosing, your community. The Center unmasks whiteness and promotes white anti-racist community within a broader, multiracial context. WACANupdate readers may know the Center operates activities and provides an umbrella organization for our work. In 2009 the Center designed and facilitated a workshop on white privilege and identity for social work practitioners, and initiated a working group on white privilege and anti-racism in independent schools. Crandall, Dostie & Douglass Books, Inc. is the name we use for our print-based publishing operation. This year we added a new item to our catalog, “What Was I Thinking,” by Barbara Beckwith, and on January 15 of the new year we anticipate the arrival of our newest book, Talking About Race: A Workbook About White People Fostering Racial Equality in Their Lives, by Kaolin. Then there is WACAN. The White Anti-racist Community Action Network, founded in 2003, is a slowly growing network of approximately 1,800 people using a website with public and private sections, a listserv, and a fortnightly e’zine (the WACANupdate). The Center funds itself, together with our publishing operation and WACAN activities, entirely from donors, fees for service, and sale of publications. Amidst this funding picture, we count on our Annual Appeal to WACAN members, and we know you’ll step up for us. WACAN’s Annual Appeal covers the out-of-pocket costs of our online operation, not counting labor. So the appeal is very important in keeping our services running. The WACANupdate is an outreach service on the part of WACAN. We offer you a simple but comprehensive look at news and events over a two-week news cycle. And it is open to everyone for free. We have many long time subscribers, some who go back over a decade with us. And we have new subscribers who have only seen one issue of the WACANupdate. I welcome all of you and I would like to offer that at WACAN and the Center you are riding on a leading edge of anti-racist engagement with white culture from within. We can bring more people along with your help. Please give WACAN $35 to support our work. If you have need to give less, consider a gift of $5 to $10. If you can afford more, consider a gift of $100. We accept contributions at any time but our fundraising appeal will last for a limited time. Please respond by January 6, 2010. Sincerely, Jeff Hitchcock P.S. If you would like to see our publications, take a look at www.CDDbooks.com. P.S.S. We also appreciate when you recommend and invite people to subscribe to the WACANupdate. You can help us grow. HOW TO DONATE CREDIT CARD
PAYPAL CHECK OR MONEY ORDER Send a check payable to "Center for Study" PREMIUM OFFER If you donate $75 or more, you may select one of the following: BOOKS •Walk with Us •The Anti-Racist Cookbook •Lifting the White Veil
DISCUSSION GUIDE •The Racial Awareness Quiz Or, if you donate $100 or more, select our newest release: BOOK •Talking About Race ADDITIONAL INFORMATION For more information about the Center for The Study of White American Culture, see www.euroamerican.org Our online credit card donations are processed by Groundspring.org, a reputable partner to many activist organizations. For more information about Groundspring.org, see www.groundspring.org
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