YDS confirms and expands our commitment to racial justice in America. Far from being a "secondary", or "tangential" struggle, the fight against racism and racist institutions is essential to any progressive hopes in this country. On questions of race, the socialist movement has a deeply flawed history. Both "class simplistic" ideology and intentional and unintentional racism within the movement have led to a history of relegating anti-racist activism and policy to the sidelines. We must learn from the hard lessons of the labor movement and the student movement, placing anti-racist activism and analysis at the center of our agenda, analysis and vision. White privilege and racial inequality divides America to its core. It is impossible to imagine a majoritarian movement for equality, freedom and justice that does not attack this inequality outright.

Racism is a special challenge for socialists -- so long as divisions exist between working people, the vision of universal public goods, worker's power and a democratic economy will remain out of reach. It is difficult to see a common interest in opposing and transcending capitalism when advantage and disadvantage is "awarded" based on race. However, it is not enough simply to denounce racism as a division of the working class. It must be actively, systematically destroyed as part of the process for building a progressive majority in America.

Achieving racial justice in a country founded on white supremacy, slavery and exploitation is not an easy task. Not only does direct opposition by those in power hinder the struggle, so do important and difficult questions about how we view society. There exists a wide range of opinion strategy and analysis within communities of color, as well as the activists who work from and inside them. The ideas, debates and tensions between and within integrationalist, nationalist, Marxist, Pan-African, Chicano, Pan-Arab and the myriad other movements and theories which have developed from the struggle for racial justice are important to discuss, study and contemplate. As a multi-tendency organization it would be impossible and inappropriate for YDS to adopt a strict "line" on the question of race. However, as an organization, we are committed to the following general principles:

• Support for a multicultural, multiracial, egalitarian society.
• The vision of an economy and polity in which race and ethnicity plays no part in determining wealth, power or access to resources.
• The dedication to building a multi-racial, anti-racist movement led by people of color and their organizations.
• The inclusion of anti-racist principles and action in all progressive movements, including the labor, student, environmental and feminist movements.
• Control by communities of color over their own organizations, economies and institutions.
• Humanistic, non-discriminatory immigration laws, with protections for all non-citizens.

As part of this commitment, YDS declares its support for the following steps towards a free and just society:

• The defense and expansion of Affirmative Action.
• The right to free, safe, equal, high-quality education at all levels for all, including undocumented immigrants and prisoners.
• Amnesty for immigrant workers and the discontinuation of all H2A "bracero" programs.
• Reparations for African-American descendants of slaves.
• Native American land-title rights.
• The elimination of secret evidence laws, racial profiling, mandatory sentencing laws, the decriminalization of drugs, a moratorium on prison spending and a constitutional amendment ending the death penalty.

These demands are made alongside our general call for increased social provision, health care, unemployment insurance, living wages and worker's rights.This statement comes with the acknowledgement that YDS membership is overwhelmingly white. It is time for our organization to begin tackling this problem with more than platitudes and self-condemnation. While there are many internal changes in our culture and structure which would make YDS more attractive and compelling to activists of color, the most important change which needs to take place is for us to put anti-racism into practice in our day to day activism and advocacy.

YDS chapters will reach out to organizations of color on and off campus, to ask what programs, campaigns, efforts or events could benefit from our help and support. YDS chapters will engage in struggles for immigrant amnesty, supporting the new energy put behind this cause by the AFL-CIO. YDS chapters will continue their work against the Prison Industrial Complex, using campus activism on this issue to raise questions of racial inequality and the criminal justice system. YDS chapters will hold forums and teach-ins on racism on campus and in their communities.

We believe that the student movement in America can and will be an important force for social change. This role is contingent, however, on the extent to which it allies itself with the movement against racism, xenophobia, intolerance and bigotry. Let us join our voices in the call for justice and liberation.

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