Vol VI No. 689 Part 2

Laulani Teale

Okay, so here is a little exercise in “security culture”. I think it is important. This is a situation that just happened to me, and I think it helps to look at this, and maybe learn some basic and important lessons as a community.

So, just today, as I am cooking for our weekly houseless food program and meeting, and dealing with REALLY F—-ING SERIOUS activist security issues in REAL LIFE, I am told that there is a super secret and important meeting on activist security methodology 3 HOUSES DOWN THE STREET from me. It was starting in half an hour. So I said sure, I will drop my cooking for awhile and go.

Then I was told that I was not invited, and would be kept out at the door. I expressed that this was not right. The young woman who had made the decision and her partner came and apologized. But they did not change the decision. I did not accept the apology.

I do not know them. They are my mother’s neighbors in Kahalu’u. They seemed very nice. The only thing I have to base any assessment of them as young activists on is this. Perhaps time will give us some other opportunity to get to know each other. But since I am coming from this, and only this experience, I might not be real enthusiastic about forming any relationship with them. I sure as heck do not trust them, and it is doubtful that I ever will, unless they change that, which won’t be easy. They coulda had a full on kūʻē auntie right down the street — but they blew it!!

I say this not to dis on them, but because I think others need to learn that this is what happens, based on choices that are made.

Protocol is extremely important in organizing, and errors in this, either omissions or commissions, have consequences. I think they made their decision BECAUSE they thought they were following security protocol. Understood. But now look! A respected activist is offended and posting about their high-security meeting on Facebook.
Hey! Sometimes hard lessons are just plain necessary. And I think this is one of those times.

Numerous longtime activists were in attendance. People I know and love and work with and have worked with for decades. They were all told what happened. Not one left or changed the situation.

I am not angry at them. There may we’ll have been some reason that they all chose to stay. Maybe it was a good reason. I do not know. I will never know, either, because I am not really open to processing about this with them or anyone. Processing is their kuleana, not mine. It is not my responsibility to hear them, to understand them, or make them feel better about their individual decisions. I was not there to make any determination about right or wrong. Any partial information would be just that. What was done is done. I know who does not have my back in this particular scenario, and this scenario only. There is simply no more to it than that. And I think everyone should learn from that. My kuleana is external to the situation, because it was made so. So I think the best use of that kuleana is to write this post, for everyone’s educational benefit!

I am discussing this here without names because it is really not important who did what to whom in this situation. I am not condemning anyone. I love my comrades. What is important is that we all examine the real issues involved in security in a HOLISTIC manner.

In this case, EXCLUSION AS A SECURITY ISSUE needs to be looked at. I think it is super important, and I often bring up the matter, which people often blow off or seem to find really hard to grasp. So I think this is a good “teaching moment” to do a little exercise on the subject, right here on Facebook.

😊

We cannot blow off basic PROTOCOL as a HUGE security factor in organizing as a whole. If this had been most other established activists, I daresay people might have gotten their asses kicked all over social media and everyone would be hearing their names mentioned loud and clear, as they were blasted to social smithereens. Lucky it was me!

My comrades know my trust is damaged but not broken. We have a long history together, and this is just a small ouch in a very big picture. I have faith that they did what they felt pono, for whatever reason. It doesn’t really need to be processed or resolved, just healed with time.
My young neighbors, however, know my trust is not there, because it was damaged before there was ever any opportunity to build any. It is honestly unlikely that I would choose to actively participate in anything they are involved in, because I feel disrespected. I sure would not choose to involve them in anything I was organizing. Any similar situation would be the same (or worse), with different players.
So if there is going to be healing there, it will probably have to happen over a much longer time, unless they somehow find some way to gain my trust. And that frankly will not be easy. I am not all that interested in putting any energy into it, as I am not the doer, or having it take my energy, either. Their credibility is not starting from a good place with me. I want everyone to learn from that.

It should be a very serious lesson for everyone. I hope everyone reading this learns from it too, especially young organizers. It is a good enough lesson that I think it is worth posting about it. This stuff happens. Not the first time, won’t be the last. Nice hard lesson, where hopefully little damage was done, but sure could have been if it were not me this had happened to!

So kids, in summary, remember that security is a holistic matter that needs lots of careful attention in planning, and not just in the ways you might have been taught to think about it. Cultural considerations, knowledge of community, respect, human relationships are all very real and important security matters. Who you do not invite might bite you in the ass as much as being careful about who you do invite.
If in doubt, reach out. If you cannot be flexible, then you damn better well be prepared. If you fail to be either, be prepared to either work really hard for a really long time to make it right, or live with the consequences of the community knowledge that you did not.

Okay, that is my real-life lesson for the day!
Aloha everyone!!!