Dominique Hazzard shared a link to the group: DC Mutual Aid Network.
A note for the network:
On Thursday and Friday, an individual made several posts calling for accountability for the funds raised for mutual aid in Wards 7 and 8. We hear this ask, and affirm that being accountable to each other as neighbors is critically important. Financial accountability will be on the agenda for the All City call this Sunday.
However, the posts and the individual who posted them have been removed from the group. This decision was made after the individual posted the personal address of a group member multiple times, and turned down multiple attempts at mediation. The individual’s actions went against all security best practices, and put the other person in danger of doxxing and other harm. The admins would like to apologize to this community-- we should have moved more swiftly to intervene and by not doing so, contributed to the harm that took place. Like everyone else working across the city, the admin team is a decentralized and constantly evolving group that is still establishing its processes. We hope you can hold us in grace.
We want to take this moment to uplift the purpose and spirit of the group: mutual aid. This group is about solidarity, NOT charity. Protecting each other, not policing each other. Replacing oppressive systems and practices, not replicating them. And, as Dean Spade recently said, “banding together to meet immediate survival needs, with a shared understanding that the systems in place aren’t coming to meet us… fast enough, if at all, and that we can do it together right now.”
We invite you to read Mariame Kaba and Dean Spade’s recent discussion of mutual aid and the COVID-19 epidemic, to learn more about these values: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/20/coronavirus_community_response_mutual_aid
In Solidarity,
The Admin Team
