How Movements Protect the Powerful and Discipline the Vulnerable | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

"The exploitation, the silence, and the instinct to protect the powerful in movement work is an old damn story. We are willing to fight oppression externally while unknowingly accommodating it internally."

"We build narratives of progress that depend on silence, on minimization, on the disciplining of those who tell inconvenient truths. This is not a contradiction that lives solely at the margins."

"Power doesn't just corrupt, it insulates. Our gut reaction to this kind of behavior is to repeat the idiom 'power corrupts,' which implies that we should expect that people with power will behave badly."

César Chávez's reported abuse of women highlights a troubling pattern of exploitation and silence within movements. The systemic issues surrounding power dynamics often lead to the sacrifice of marginalized individuals, such as women and people with disabilities. Movements that aim for justice and liberation can inadvertently protect the powerful while silencing those who speak out. This structural problem is pervasive and requires a deeper analysis beyond individual behavior to prevent future abuses and ensure accountability within movements.

Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.