Dear Comrades,
It has been the honor of my life to organize with many of you within the DSA. I’m reaching out to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who stayed true to their socialist values throughout the whole DSA endorsement process. It is with great appreciation that I thank all who stood by me as I went through the Bronx/Upper Manhattan DSA City Council endorsement process. The whole process was not easy: it was long, stressing and, worst of all, it hurt many people along the way.
This brings me to the point of this letter. While I did not meet the 60% threshold to receive the Bronx/Upper Manhattan (B/UM) DSA’s recommendation for endorsement, I would like for all of you to know the truth about B/UM DSA’s endorsement process. The process was NOT transparent to the members because from the beginning, as many of you might already know, there was a favorite candidate, specifically favored by B/UM’s Electoral Working Group Organizing Committee (OC). However, I, like many of the other candidates that I am certainly not speaking for here, entered the B/UM endorsement process excited. As someone who organized with the Bernie movement, was elected the youngest presidential delegate to represent Bernie in NYS, was elected by Columbia YDSA comrades as a national YDSA delegate, and was elected by comrades in B/UM to represent B/UM in the DSA citywide convention, it was an honor to seek B/UM DSA’s endorsement.
As a DSA organizer, I thought I understood all of the details, the steps, and the rules behind the whole process. Yet, from day one of B/UM’s endorsement process I, along with many other members, were appalled to see that B/UM’s Electoral Working Group (EWG) OC was not represented by any woman. On top of this, it was deeply unfortunate to see that the electoral group’s bylaws had been violated because there had been no election to vote for the new electoral leadership. Not many people knew about this reality because the electoral leadership was not transparent and honest with the membership. I always wonder, had we had a fair election and true representation in the electoral group then maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation.
A couple days ago, I asked myself that question again as I reflected on what I had to go through and face as a young working class woman of color in B/UM’s city council endorsement process. After expressing interest for the endorsement I had my DSA endorsement interview with some of the people in the electoral OC, along with some other B/UM DSA members. The interview was off to a great start until a man, who was a registered Republican, was allowed into my interview. This man verbally harassed me, tried to intimidate me, and directly insulted me. I replied very respectfully to him. However, one man in the electoral OC, Sam Westley, was quiet while witnessing this man harass a young working class woman of color. After the interview, I received an email from one of the men from the electoral OC that said that everything that my harasser said about me “could potentially be a campaign liability.” I wasn’t just dismayed at the sight of this email — I was hurt, as this was someone I had worked beside and trusted. It was incredible that cis-men would call a women of color’s campaign a “liability”, despite witnessing her harassment right in front of them. I do want to make it clear that when I am referring to the men in the electoral OC, I am in no way referring to Bill Reisman who is someone I continue to have a lot respect for and I appreciate his friendship.
After receiving the email that called my campaign a “liability” due to the harassment that I had faced, I chose to reply by defending myself. Nothing happened, until a week and a half ago when I received a call from Sam Westley a few hours before the October 21st electoral meeting. In that call, he told me that I was never supposed to reply to the email that called me a “liability,” and that by expressing my feelings and doing the research concerning this man (research that the EWG OC should have done prior), I had acted inappropriately. Sam directly told me that I should have at best only stated that this was not true, and according to him my response expressing my feelings towards the harassment I faced went too far. I was instead supposed to be complacent and seek ways in which I can gain trust with the men in the electoral OC. Sam Westley was concerned about the way I defended myself, the lack of trust between us, and said he regretted not trying to gain my trust earlier. As a young woman of color talking with a cis-white man, concerning a situation in which I defended myself, I was further made to feel uncomfortable by these statements.
Sam Westley is a B/UM Electoral OC and a member of the DSA Citywide Leadership Committee (CLC) representing B/UM and his call was an abuse of power and nothing less than a threat to keep me silent about my harassment. I had been harassed and now I had been further silenced. Coming from Sam Westley, a cis white man that people think is fair and honest, deeply hurt and mentally affected me.
Following the electoral meeting where we were able to show that we have a movement, I had the opportunity to speak at B/UM’s October branch meeting. It was genuinely wonderful to get to speak to you all and take your questions. However, I later found out that the white people in leadership in B/UM & LoMan alike spoke against our movement on the arguments that I do not take “constructive criticism” and am “defensive”. As a socialist and as a feminist, I am a firm believer that there should be no reason why working class women of color should be silenced when defending themselves from harrasment. There should be no reason why cis-white men, like Sam Westley, should ever silence women of color who face harassment. Because as Audre Lord once said, “Your silence will not protect you.”
Today, I am risking the relationships I have built, and the community that I have dedicated myself to, in order to speak up! I am speaking up not just for the sake of my mental health but for the sake of many of the other women who Sam Westley has defamed and hurt through misogynistic attacks within the DSA. I am not here to speak for the other woman, but I am here to urge all other women to also speak up. It is time that we stand up against the cis-white male bourgeois of this society, like Sam Westley, that seek to silence women of color. It is a shame that we have someone willing to act in a sexist manner, Sam Westley, in B/UM’s electoral leadership and in the CLC.
I have been deeply hurt by what I had to go through, especially because of Sam Westley’s abuse of power. While it profoundly hurts me to share this personal story with all of you, I am doing this so you all are aware of the toxic leadership currently in power of the B/UM Electoral group. I urge all of you to stand by your socialist values, stand by the working class and remember to speak up against injustice, speak up against abuse, and speak up for justice.
It is clear to me, and many comrades, that my endorsement was cheated from me because of hate towards working class women of color and for the sake of protecting the image of white men. Although we did not meet the 60% threshold for B/UM’s recommendation, we were only 7 votes away. The rank and file of B/UM spoke up and I am proud of the support that we have. It took leadership from two branches to attack me, in order to try to destroy our movement. Yet, despite that some of the electoral leadership from LoMan and some of the individuals in leadership in B/UM attacked and tried to defame me, we still managed to come close.
I will not stop and no cis-white men are going to stop me. As socialists, we are fighting against these people that harass women of color, people who abuse their power to silence women, and all corrupt leadership. The B/UM DSA branch will never be successful and will never be able to fight for the multiracial working class if we continue to have sexist cis-white men who are power hogs and abuse their power, like Sam Westley, in leadership. The time to speak up and change this is now.
Our movement will continue and all of you are welcome to join us to truly build a multiracial working class movement together!
There is evidence of everything that I mention in this letter. If you have any questions or would like to talk to me, please feel free to reply or email me at mariaordonezny@gmail.com
Solidarity forever,
Maria Ordoñez
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