These practices are designed so that organizations can build a culture in which belonging is a consistent throughline. Ultimately, our future success in being able to grow our power and sustain a resilient movement depends on the intentionality with which we build the culture of our organizations.

If we are not intentional about our culture, it will be formed from the conditioned tendencies and habits that we have learned through capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and the resulting traumas that come from such violence. It is not enough to rely on culture built from tradition–as our conditions change, we must be able to truly examine ourselves, see our weaknesses, and implement practices that make our movements worthwhile and irresistible. 

Practicing belonging is but one element of a strong organizational culture. When Lavender Phoenix took a hard look at ourselves in 2018 and peeled back the facade of niceness, we found ourselves face to face with our own fears. We had to recognize that for people to truly belong, we needed clear expectations for what that belonging meant. We had a duty to get more specific about our strategy, build skills to say the hard thing and disagree, and let go of the idea that we could be everything for everyone. 

Over five years later, as new people join the organization and many of us who were involved in 2018 cycle out, I’m reminded that the work of creating culture must happen iteratively. The dormant forces that refuse our inherent belonging are strong. Memory can be short. We’re learning how to tell the story of our work to people who haven’t experienced it themselves. I watch from my role as alumni of the organization with excitement and curiosity. I know we can do it, because we’ve done it before. And I know that we, as a movement, can do it, because we must.