Summary

Across America, the places we live are deeply shaped by racial and economic injustice. Generations of working class communities, particularly Black and Indigenous communities, have a long history of organizing against these injustices—and winning—to change political and economic systems designed to extract wealth and resources from their communities.

As wealth and power have become more concentrated in the hands of a few, injustices across these communities have intensified. Yet there are real openings for large-scale collective action. People in these communities and Americans across groups—race, age, income, political party—increasingly recognize how power is concentrated in US society. This understanding is accompanied by a widespread desire for fundamental changes to our political and economic systems to give people power over their own lives.

Over the past two years, the FrameWorks Institute has collaborated closely with power-building leaders to identify a framing strategy, grounded in organizing experience, that organizers can use to step into these openings. The strategy that emerged from this collaboration exposes the systems driving injustice, builds understanding of how racism and capitalism work together to enable exploitation, and can mobilize collective action at scale.

This brief is accompanied by a toolbox for organizers that offers ready-to-use, hands-on tools for applying the strategy in daily organizing practice. While this framing strategy was primarily designed to support local organizing efforts, it is also effective with the general public and can be used in broader-based advocacy.

Read the full report

Two Pager: Framing Strategies for Systemically Connecting Race, Class, and Place

Visit the organizing toolbox

Supplement: Our Research Methods