My transition to Substack and the new audio version of this newsletter
A letter to subscribers.
Dear Friends,
I’m reaching out today to let you know that I am moving the Toward Solidarity newsletter to Substack.
Substack is an easy-to-use platform that offers both a bulk email service and a clean, functional website where all of one's newsletter articles can be easily accessed (something I haven’t been proactive enough about making happen in the past). I actually started the process of building out this Substack in 2022 but put it on hold for a while before recently making the full transition.
I’m also reaching out to announce a new audio version of this newsletter and to share audio versions of a group of my past articles with you (below). After a number of people told me that they have greater capacity to listen to writing like mine rather than read it, I went ahead and bought a recording microphone. Now I’ll be linking an audio version each time a written newsletter goes out (Substack makes this easy to do).
How to Access Toward Solidarity
Email: As Toward Solidarity subscribers, you will continue receiving a monthly article from me (that’s always the goal at least) in your email inbox on race, class, and building powerful coalitions in our social movements. These emails will come in a new Substack layout and will have links to access the web version and audio recording of that particular article.
Emails from the Substack platform, like this one, will arrive from this email address: towardsolidarity@substack.com. If this email or any future one ends up in your spam or promotions folder, drag it over to your primary inbox and that shouldn’t happen again.
As you know, in addition to sending you essays and articles, I also send periodic announcements about online courses and events I'm holding. I'm unsure whether I will use the Substack email system for this purpose or not. It's possible that I will continue using the same Mailchimp service I’ve used for years for messages like these.
The Website: Toward Solidarity essays and articles are now accessible at towardsolidarity.substack.com. Each future piece that is emailed out will also be linked to its web version. When you access articles through this site, you can leave a “like” or a comment at the end on any of them. When you first go to the website you may want to click "sign in" in the top right hand corner and enter the email address you’re subscribed with — then the website will recognize you as a subscriber and you'll be able to easily like and comment on posts with your own name and profile.
The App: Substack also offers a pretty cool app which you can download. It provides an easy way to read content and includes a great listening set-up similar to audible. I’d recommend downloading it!
Questions: If you have a question about using any Substack feature, you can ask it by typing it in here.
Audio Versions of Past Articles
This month (and I know it's pretty late in the month 🙂), instead of a new essay I’m sending you audio versions of a group of past Toward Solidarity articles. Audio versions of these as well as other past articles can also be accessed at towardsolidarity.substack.com. After clicking one of the links below, click the play button at the top of the article and the audio will begin playing. Here they are:
Whether you are an old or new subscriber to this newsletter, or a past course participant of mine, I’m glad to be connected to each of you and am grateful for your commitment to bringing all of our people toward solidarity.
With care,
David
Toward Solidarity is built in response to the reality that we live in a society of divide-and-rule racial capitalism. The 99% has been stratified into a racial hierarchy (as well as many other forms of social hierarchy), directing immense harm toward the most marginalized while weakening our collective capacity to challenge the corporate domination of all working people and the earth itself. If anything can save us, all of us, it is solidarity. Solidarity can be hard. It requires learning, healing and courage. Yet it is also liberatory. It is the very thing that we’ve been so aggressively dissuaded from by the powerful because it is the only thing strong enough to create the life-affirming world we desperately need. It’s my hope that Toward Solidarity can expand your capacity to help bring this world to be.
About me and this newsletter: I am a political educator, writer and speaker seeking to support the growth of transformative alliances in our social movements. I give particular focus to helping white people engage in these movements with emotional strength, political clarity, and fierce purpose. I offer courses independently and am also a contributor and former Associate Director at White Awake. In addition to teaching, I am writing a book called, Roots Deeper than Whiteness: Remembering who we are for the well-being of all, based on this essay by the same name. This Toward Solidarity newsletter is written for people of all backgrounds seeking to help build the powerful coalitions our movements need to be successful. As a subscriber, you will receive monthly articles from me as well as periodic training announcements and updates on my work.
Sharing Toward Solidarity with others: As I transition the newsletter to this new platform, I would deeply appreciate your support in building its audience further by sharing this email, the website, or your favorite article with others in your community.
Is there a paid subscription option?
Thank you for these audio recordings! This is so great :)