I’ve seen this pattern over and over. A cross-class alliance is formed to deal with a problem. A group with resources offers to sponsor it. They staff it, they control the funding, they control the information… Next thing you know, we have our own class divide internally. We build power just to give it away, without knowing it’s been given away until it’s gone.
— Sam Grant
I helped start a community development corporation that created affordable housing. The board was all professionals, and all of us in the houses were neighborhood people. There was so much tension over decision-making, and who had the control. We argued over what color paint to use. The middle-class folks didn’t get the sense of power and why the working-class folks were so frustrated. We had no language for it, because everyone was white, so weren’t we all the same?
— Barbara Willer