✊🏽 THE POOR WHITE PARTY: THE MANIFESTO (Draft 4)

Black-led. Speaking with white hunger. Built for the reckoning.

I. The First Lie

They told you skin would save you.
That being white meant being safe.
That the world was yours by birth.

But look around.
The jobs left.
The paychecks shrank.
The pills flooded in.
The towns dried up.

And what did they give you to hold onto?
“At least you’re not Black.”

That lie might’ve made you feel taller.
But it never fed your kids.

II. We Know That Lie, Too

We’re Black. We’ve been living with it all our lives.
We’ve seen it used to keep us apart while the same hand robbed us both blind.
We know the trick.
We’ve had to.

And we can tell you straight:
Whiteness won’t save you.
Truth might.
And right now, that truth is in our hands.

III. This Ain’t Rescue. It’s Reckoning.

We’re not here to save you.
We’re here to speak plain.

You’re not poor because of Black folks, immigrants, queer kids, or teachers.
You’re poor because the same people who told you you were better
decided you were disposable.

They broke your back.
Then made you proud to point your finger at somebody else.

IV. What This Party Is — And Isn’t

This is the Poor White Party.

Not a pity parade.
Not another red-hat rally.
Not a whites-only bonfire of grievance.

This is a Black-led project
for poor white folks who are ready to wake up.

It’s a hard landing.
But soft landings never saved anybody.

V. You Don’t Get to Lead. Not Yet.

If you could’ve walked out of this on your own,
you would’ve done it already.

So here’s how it goes:
You’ll listen more than you talk.
You’ll sit in discomfort instead of running.
You’ll follow the lead of the very people you were taught to fear.

The price of entry is humility.
The inheritance is accountability.
The only shortcut is surrender.

VI. Not Here to Center You — Here to Re-center Reality

If you want a savior, go back to the liars.
If you want a strongman, keep walking toward fascism.

But if you want something real,
something decent,
something human and free—
we’re here.

Not talking in riddles.
Talking about roots.

And the root is this:
You’ve been lied to.
And it’s time to grow past the lie.

VII. What You Could Be — But Aren’t Yet

We believe poor white folks could become:

Fighters for shared dignity.
Builders of a better story.
People who can hold power without needing to crush somebody else.

But belief ain’t blind.
You’ve got work to do.
And we’re not carrying you.

VIII. This Is Black Liberation Work

Our fight has never been just about us.
It’s always been about breaking every chain that keeps people bound.

This movement was born in chains.
Raised in coded songs and whispered maps.
It taught its children to see signs and resist systems.

So don’t call this charity.
Call it survival.

Don’t call it reverse racism.
Call it reverse engineering—
breaking white supremacy’s chokehold on your soul.

IX. The Terms Are Ours

You want in? Then show up.
Listen. Stay.

Let discomfort do its work.
Let being led undo you.

That undoing is liberation.
Not a party for your comfort—
a funeral for the lie you were raised on.

We’re here to bury the lie.
And if you can stand at that graveside without running,
then maybe you’re ready to build something real.

X. Start Here

First step: admit you’re still poor.
Second: admit you were never rich
in the ways that count.

Not in truth.
Not in dignity.
Not in community.
Not in love.

But that can change—
if you’re ready,
if you’re honest,
if you’re done protecting the lie.

Welcome to the Poor White Party.
We’ve been waiting.

But don’t get too comfortable.
This ain’t your house.
It’s a house of mirrors.

If you can face what you see—
and not look away—
then maybe we’ll hand you a hammer
to help build what comes next.

XI. What Dignity Looks Like

We’re not promising riches.
We’re not promising crowns.

We’re talking about something better:

Work that doesn’t grind you into dust.
Schools where every kid is fed, not shamed.
Neighbors you don’t have to fear.
A voice that gets heard without a fist behind it.
A home you can pass on with pride, not just debt.

That’s dignity.
That’s wealth no foreclosure can take.
That’s freedom no politician can sell back to you.

And you don’t get it by standing over somebody else.
You get it by standing with them.