Undoing Racism Austin is a collaborative effort among people and groups from diverse segments of the Austin who are organizing for racial justice and equity. We are artists, lawyers, organizers, educators, neighborhood activists and more.
Individually we have work on a wide range of issues in Austin over many years and we believe we could increase our power and effectiveness if we took on what one of us calls The Elephant in the Room.
Everyday another story is played out in the news and in our lives that is connected to racism. Racism is imbedded into the fabric of society so deeply that it often becomes invisible, hiding in our unconscious habits of everyday interaction. It operates within our our city government and all of the city, county and state agencies and well as every other institution in our lives. And it impacts our communities differently, based primarily on race. The experience of African Americans and those of European Descent aka white people can play out radically differently everyday, with each interaction benefiting those with the most privilege.
Who Is the Elephant? – Racism in all its conscious and unconscious forms.
When we can begin to talk about it racism and make it conscious and racism visible, we can interrupt and change those patterns and polices of oppression that are creating disproportionality and disparity.
Bio’s
All Undoing Racism Austin project decisions are made by a group of predominantly people-of-color volunteers, including six Latinos, two African-Americans, and three white people. These are our biographies:
Angelica Benton-Molina has had a long history working with the People’s Institute and youth in the quest for justice and equity.
Kellee Coleman is a life-long Austin resident, mother of three school-aged children, a member of Mamas of Color Rising, a member of Incite! Women and Transpeople of Color against Violence, and is a coordinator of Vibrant Woman/Mama Sana prenatal clinic. She works to bring culturally specific prenatal care, birth companions, midwifery services and nutrition services to low-income Black and Latina women in the Austin Area. She is a student at St. Edwards University.
Carmen Llanes Pulido is a community organizer and native of Austin, Texas. She works for Marathon Kids engaging parents and teachers at Austin elementary schools to build healthier campuses. She served on Austin’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which drew maps for Austin’s first geographically representative city council. Carmen also volunteers with PODER in East Austin, Cooperation Texas, Urban Roots, Planned Parenthood and the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity.
Daniel Llanes is a community leader, dancer, teacher, yoga instructor, performer, artist, healer and musician. He has served on the Austin Neighborhoods Council for decades and was instrumental in founding the East AustinCouncil of Neighborhoods. He was a founding member of PODER: People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources.
Lisa Fithian, is an anti-racist organizer and trainer with the Alliance of Community Trainers, ACT. She has been working for nonviolent social change since the mid 1970’s a broad range of issues using nonviolent direct action as one of her primary strategies for change. She help found the Travis Austin Recovery Group, TARG after the 2013 Halloween Floods.
Juniper Lauren Ross is a founder and organizer with Undoing White Supremacy Austin. She teaches community classes in facilitation, consensus, and anti-racism through the lens of whiteness. She trains with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, a Black-led organization based in New Orleans. Her work embodies somatic grounding, listening, non-judgmental curiosity, humility, vulnerability, and compassion for self and others She is active on a wide range of social justice and environmental issues in her community and is the Treasurer for Alliance of Community Trainers, Inc.
Nakia Winfield, LMSW is currently the Mental Health Policy Advocacy Fellow and co-founder of the Race Equity Accountability and Leadership (REAL) committee at NASW/TX. She uses her voice to combat racism and to hold police accountable for their actions.