BRJA’s mission centers racial justice, acknowledging that how society defines someone’s race impacts everything in their life, including the effects of other forms of oppression. BRJA’s philosophy of racial justice and social change acknowledges the interconnectedness of all forms of oppression, while maintaining our focus on the foundational  factor of race. 

While our focus is specifically on issues of race/racism/white privilege/white supremacy we recognize that everyone has multiple intersecting identities that can either exacerbate or mitigate the impact of  systemic racism and other forms of oppression. It is crucial to BRJA’s analysis that our decisions and actions related to other forms of historic oppression come from an analysis that is rooted in world views of peoples of color, not in a white world view.

Individual and collective integrity is essential to our values and anti-racism/anti-oppression (ARAO) analysis and supports our mission and internal interactions. Because “racism and white supremacy mutate in direct proportion to the level of resistance it receives,” (A. Adar Ayira) BRJA regularly evaluates our practices, intellectual property, analysis, and strategies as well as our individual work in order to maintain alignment with our values and sustain trust in our organization’s integrity.

Collectively, BRJA works to ensure accountability to those most impacted by racism/white supremacy and those working for transformational change towards a more racially equitable society. Organizationally, we are specifically accountable to the BRJA Advisory Board whose members reside on the board by virtue of their scholarship and structural analysis, and who have a high level of self-awareness regarding their own experiences and attitudes. Individually, we are accountable to each other and to our community as a whole. 

We value care in the context of structural change with an understanding that the risk and human cost of doing this work is shaped by white supremacy and anti-Blackness; the nature of this work is long-lasting and generational; and people’s needs, skills, and availability vary over time. We seek to understand and support one another as individuals within a racialized society.

Partnership to us means a shared valuing of racial justice and ARAO analysis, and that we walk together, building relationship and trust and honoring our values. BRJA seeks to cultivate partnerships as opposed to transactional relationships. In order to create and maintain strong partnerships, BRJA is committed to transparency regarding its processes, policies, internal operations, and decision-making processes.