The Untokening is a multiracial collective that centers the lived experiences of marginalized communities to address mobility justice and equity.
What Is Mobility Justice?
The Untokening core organizing committee uses “mobility injustice” to name the intersectional unsafeties and attacks that people from marginalized groups experience in public spaces such as streets, transit systems, and the governance processes that lay claim to regulate those spaces. When we say “marginalized groups” we mean Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities, people with disabilities, immigrants, trans people, queer people, women, and youth. We believe “mobility justice” will be achieved through targeted investment in and innovation by these groups that frees us to move easily, fairly and unafraid. Mobility injustices include policing against Black bodies; persecution and incarceration of undocumented families; gender-based violence and harrassment; racism, ableism, and tokenism in transportation planning, policy, and advocacy. Mobility injustices also occur when people are forced to move, when they can’t stay safe at home. Getting priced out of your neighborhood; having no choice but to go to work during a global pandemic; traveling two hours each way on public transit between where you can afford to live and where you can secure work. These experiences lead to isolation and fear rather than the freedom and independence touted as the future of sustainable mobility.
Who Leads This?
The Untokening is a movement started by and for individuals from marginalized groups who occupy stolen Indigenous land in North America. We intentionally center the lived experiences of BIPOC individuals in our visioning and action around the future of transportation and mobility.
Are you a Black person? Our collective believes you and we are ready to define street safety WITHOUT police and WITH investment in Black-led and Black-owned mobility projects. Love and solidarity with Black Lives Matter!
Are you an Indigenous individual? Our collective believes you. Mobility justice includes acknowledging and rejecting settler colonialism and the forced displacements and migrations that break accountability between people and land.
Are you a non-Black person of color? Our collective believes you and includes many Latinx, AANHPI, and other folks whose roots reach beyond the U.S.
Are you a white person? It is unlikely that you are the most appropriate person to define or use mobility justice language in your city or town. Please do not grab the mic around mobility justice because you want to show solidarity with BLM. There is a beautiful abundance of resources available for peer and self-education in this moment if you are new to racial justice.
What Is Untokening?
For too long, dominant narratives in mobility advocacy have drawn from the experiences of the most privileged. In advocacy spaces, questions of equity are often treated as an afterthought or sidebar. Advocates “from diverse backgrounds” are often invited to the table to speak on behalf of an “underserved” population. While our own personal experiences or those of the people we represent are generally welcomed as anecdotal insight or emotional touchstones, that input is often set aside if it challenges the mainstream agenda.
The Untokening centers the lived experiences of people, particularly leaders from marginalized identities as well as leaders who are actively engaging, organizing and advocating alongside people within marginalized communities, to end mobility injustices and inequities. We develop networks, trainings, and resources that support BIPOC movement leaders who want to bring their lived experiences within marginalized communities into their professional work.