aem721

Xandi McMahon (they/them) /
Domestic Workers United /
New York City, NY /

As summer begins its descent into fall and the start of classes comes into view, New York City remains in flux. The pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests have together reshaped the context of our day-to-day lives, and as we reach our sixth month of COVID-19 and our third of everyday protests, I am finally beginning to feel able to reflect on all that’s happening.

This time feels critical. The word applies in nearly all its definitions: precarious, explanatory, crucial–urgently demanding that we be present. In DWU meetings, we have discussed the possibility of attending BLM protests as a group, but we ultimately have not been able to.

Christine, DWU’s secretary and cultural outreach coordinator, spoke about the need for varying forms of justice work for DWU, as it is an organization that promotes solidarity, empowerment, and consciousness raising but has members who, for the most part, cannot get out on the street to protest. This could be due to their lack of time, exhaustion after long days at work, old age, or physical inability, which to some degree speaks to a broader reality of intersectional systems of oppression: it is nearly impossible to work against an oppressive system when it requires all one’s strength and energy to survive within it.

This week, Christine and I are carving out time to talk about the history of DWU and its current role during COVID-19, and how Christine envisions the future of domestic worker organizing. I am very much looking forward to this time with her so that I can hear her perspective. I plan to write a piece based on our conversation for DWU’s new website.

Xandi McMahon (they/them) /
Domestic Workers United /
New York City, USA /

Over the last month, DWU has continued its “Know Your Rights” campaign remotely. This predominantly entails weekly Tele/Zoom town hall meetings, where DWU members get together, listen to a presentation on a particular topic relevant to us, and engage in a discussion and question/answer forum afterward. Overall, these meetings have been very productive, catalyzing important conversations and expanding DWU’s resources.

For our most recent meeting on Saturday, we invited Ravi Ragbir, the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, to speak about his personal and organizational experience with the immigration system in the United States. Ravi delivered indispensable advice to DWU members about how to respond when ICE comes looking for you, all of which connected to the overall message that having community is imperative. He explained how to be an ally under these circumstances and how to create and find safe (sanctuary) spaces in the city.

This is just one example of the many meetings we’ve had during the summer. We’ve also notably had mental health specialists, economic advisors, and representatives from the city. Organizers come as well to speak about negotiating contracts with employers.

Many of the events and organizing DWU planned to do prior to the pandemic has since shifted, but we have all managed to find new ways to come together and connect with one another. We currently have two programs up and running that are helping with food security and financial stability for DWU members. The first is a weekly fresh food box from Maple Street Community Garden, provided for free to domestic workers through funding from DWU grants. The garden is run by members of the Flatbush/Crown Heights community.

The second program is called “Love Offerings.” Its goal is to provide emergency stipends to DWU members to help with bills, groceries, rent, and COVID-19-related loss of income. We’ve had some technical challenges with GoFundMe that have delayed the payouts, but this will hopefully be resolved this week!

Along with these programs, there are ongoing efforts to revamp DWU’s website as well.

Xandi McMahon
Domestic Workers United (DWU)
USA (New York)

2020 has been full of disruptions of many faces: a pandemic, the violence of continuing police brutality against Black Americans, and the reinvigoration of Black Lives Matter protests in every corner of this country. These disruptions are both collective and deeply personal, and they present a chance to imagine something new—and then to demand it.

I am gratefully able to continue the project I’d originally planned with Domestic Workers United (DWU) here in New York City. In the past month, we have had weekly “Know Your Rights” meetings, have begun to distribute stipends to domestic workers in need of financial assistance during Covid-19, and have established a new program to provide fresh food boxes from the local Maple Street Garden to members of DWU. DWU, like the rest of us, has needed to shift its expectations, reworking its plans for this year to respond to the moment.

And perhaps this is part of the beauty of disruptions: they beg us to be present.

In addition to assisting DWU, I have been working with the Emergency Release Fund, a bail fund in NYC whose primary objective is to get all transgender people out of jail. Their work, too, has expanded in response to Covid-19. They are now trying to get all queer people and medically vulnerable people released.

I think this moment makes for a welcome shift in our human rights work, which, in its institutional manifestations, can be slow and bureaucratic. I have expanded my own project to respond to the disruptions, embracing the fact that domestic workers’ rights (and more broadly in the scope of human rights “topics,” womxn’s rights and workers’ rights) are in no way isolated from Black Lives Matter or from public health crises.

Further, I understand protesting to be an integral part of my work for this fellowship. Time and again, I have had the conviction that the concept of solidarity is not static. It is malleable and necessarily responsive to context.

Disruptions make room. They can be challenging and are almost always uncomfortable, but they have incredible potential. They allow us to open our imagination in ways not otherwise possible.

And for me right now, “solidarity” means taking an active part in disruption.