by Morgan Curtis, Ancestors & Money Coach

In this time of unimaginable heartbreak, with ongoing genocide in Palestine and elsewhere, I’m often struggling to find words that feel right or actions that feel meaningful. Then I remember I don’t have to figure it out alone: how are the movements and communities I belong to choosing to respond? What is my part to play as one among many?

I’ve been extra grateful recently to be a member of Solidaire Network, a community of donor organizers mobilizing resources for racial, gender and climate justice. In October, I had the privilege to be at the network’s national gathering at Santa Ana Pueblo, in so-called New Mexico. In response to the escalating violence in Israel/Palestine, the network invited Linda Sarsour of MPower Change and Eran Efrati from Jewish Voice for Peace Action to join us.

I’ll never forget the power of their conversation, witnessing the truth-telling, grief, faith, and solidarity between Linda, a Palestinian American organizer and political strategist, and Eran, a former Israeli combat soldier, now anti-occupation activist. I felt on a new and deeper level the truth of how all of our liberation is tied together, and how that requires of us courageous, transformative relationship-building across difference. There is no military solution to complex and traumatic histories.

Ways to move money (and redistribute decision-making power to those who know where it’s needed)

• Solidaire Network’s Unity and Power Fund is moving resources quickly to Palestinian- and Arab-led and progressive Jewish-led organizing for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and just and sustainable peace in Israel/Palestine

• Grassroots International’s Emergency Fund for a Movement-Centered Response in Palestine is rapidly distributing $$ to grassroots organizations in Gaza and the West Bank with which they have long-term relationships

Ways to divest from and defund the war

Palestinian civil society organizations have long been calling for divestment from the corporations furthering and profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Now is a critical moment to respond to this call for solidarity, and to ensure we are not profiting from the suffering we are seeing.

• Do you have money in the stock market? Check out the following resources and examine your portfolio, or ask your financial advisor for support

  • A list of Companies Profiting from Israel’s 2023 Attack on Gaza

  • Who Profits is dedicated to exposing the role of the private sector in the Israeli occupation economy, and maintains a searchable database of companies

  • The American Friends Service Committee maintains a list of companies involved in state violence and human rights violations as a part of occupation

• Are you still banking with a large corporate bank? Many have investments in the military-industrial complex in the U.S. and/or Israeli companies furthering the occupation. Now is a great time to move to a local bank or credit union that puts your deposits to work supporting your local community instead. Mighty Deposits is a helpful resource for this.

Applications Open: Ancestors & Money 2024

We — Justine Epstein and I — are excited to announce the fourth Ancestors & Money Cohort will run from June to November 2024. We are grateful to be able to again offer this transformative space for our fellow wealth inheritors who are called to take reparative action for colonization and slavery. This journey integrates:

• Anti-racist genealogy

• Wealth redistribution & divestment planning

• Ancestral connection & grief practices

• Black & Indigenous guest teachers inviting us into the material and spiritual work of reparations and land return

• Coaching support to move through internal and external blocks towards tangible, healing action 

The cohort is also its own redistribution mechanism, with 50% of net income redistributed to Black- and Indigenous-led organizing, healing and land projects. Applications are open from now through January 15th, 2024.

I came into this cohort with a vague but immobilizing sense of guilt around my inherited wealth. Within the first few weeks of the cohort, I got to feel that I wasn't alone in searching for answers about my family money's history. I got to seek out and actually sit with the numbers and the names in my ancestral tree and our bank accounts. And best of all, I got to share these findings and feelings with my cohort-mates, and hear them share theirs. In nine months, I grew so much in my connection with my ancestors, in my connection with other folks doing this work, and in my ability to actually take action towards repairing ancestral harms.

— Tyler, Cohort Three

Take Down My Ancestor’s Name

During my last month at Harvard Divinity School a faculty member asked me: “have you heard about the undergrads organizing to dename Winthrop House?” Shivers went down my spine hearing about this effort to shine light on part of my ancestral story: the Winthrop family of early Boston, and their involvement in genocidal wars and enslavement. I knew I had to support this effort.

I quickly got in touch with some of the students from the Generational African American Student Association and Native Americans at Harvard College — who had submitted this Request to Dename John Winthrop House — and asked how I could support. The result was this petition, in which 48 fellow Winthrop descendants joined me in voicing support for the campaign, and this op-ed in The Harvard Crimson…

Reparations as a Spiritual Path: Sermon at Unity of Sacramento

In September I had the privilege to be invited to preach at Unity of Sacramento by their Senior Minister, my Harvard Divinity School classmate, Rev. Kevin Ross. We then engaged in a powerful on-stage conversation about reparations, shame, family, ancestral responsibilities and what it is to answer a calling. I’m so grateful for the congregation’s warm welcome, meaningful questions and sharing of their own stories. Thank you for having me!

What I’ve been reading