Legacy by Alliance

is organized around four guiding principles: unity, diversity, education, and action.

This is not a set of actions we will complete once and be done. Rather, it is  an ongoing process of forging connections, learning more, and making change.

I can see myself in all things and all people around me.
— Sanskrit phrase
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Create Unity

Every person can make a difference, but our power as individuals is limited. If we are truly going to create a legacy, we need to work together.

  • We welcome as allies everyone who is committed to peaceful and positive action.
  • We will do our best to bring together the membership of organizations that do not typically work together.
National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical ethnic or religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.
— Carl Sagan, Cosmos
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Build Diversity

Discussing hard issues is easier when we do so from the safety of our comfort zones. After all, our opinions aren't challenged when everyone already agrees. But if we don't reach out and truly listen to voices that are very different from our own, how will we ever learn to see things a new way? How will we design new solutions to old problems?

In order to foster true diversity in our membership, we welcome people of every

  • nationality and citizenship status
  • race and ethnicity
  • gender identity
  • sexual orientation
  • language
  • religion
We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.
— Max DePree, in Leadership is an Art
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Educate Fully

First, we educate ourselves. Of course, this requires being open to new learning and new viewpoints. We must ask questions, seek answers in a variety of sources, go beyond the obvious, and listen to some people we don't like.

Then, we educate others. When we decide to teach others in a purposeful way, the lesson will probably be well-thought out and clear. We must remember that we teach most often by example. We teach when we aren't thinking about it - but someone else is paying attention.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
— Nelson Mandela
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Make Change

Finally, we need to actually take action.

Talking about it is not enough. Marching in a protest is not enough. Nor is wearing a button, putting a bumper sticker on the car, or posting to a Facebook page. Every one of these things can be important - they can help us to raise awareness, spread ideas, and find new allies ... but we also need to make change happen, and we need to create systems that will keep these changes in place.

Rather than recreating the wheel, we will sometimes identify and then join in efforts being organized by groups we support.

Actions may include:

Public statements

  • participate in sustained demonstrations
  • counter-protest or provide protection lines against demonstrating hate groups
  • maintain phone call and letter-writing campaigns
  • publish in various media formats

    Legislative change

    • sponsor new legislation
    • ask a political candidate or office-holder to support certain legislation
    • support a candidate running for political office
    • run for political office

    Workplace

    • encourage leadership at our place of employment to improve company policy 
    • change jobs, or change careers

      Contributions

      • volunteer for or raise funds to support an existing non-profit organization
      • collect and distribute food, clothing, or other supplies, especially in crisis
      • establish and maintain a scholarship fund

       

        Vote with our dollars

        • support certain businesses or corporations, and boycott others
        • make energy-efficient choices whenever possible
        Tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there _is_ such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
        — Martin Luther King, Jr.