The Rise of MAMAS: Solidarity Not Charity

Jessie Norriss joined Mutual Aid of Medford and Somerville (MAMAS) on March 12, 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic began and when the group was barely a week old. MAMAS, like other mutual aid societies that popped up around the country at that time, played an essential role in the collection and distribution of needed goods and services like food, rent, language interpretation, and transportation. But there is more to this story. MAMAS’ slogan, like many other mutual aid societies around the country, is “Solidarity not charity.” As Jessie says in this B-Change interview, “In charities, you're coming from a place of ‘I have something to offer to these poor disenfranchised communities over there but I'm not a part of them.’ We really try to break down that hierarchy.’” Even as MAMAS has helped community members share needed resources during the crisis, they also sought to address systemic inequities that have become much more obvious during the pandemic. For example, with many languages spoken in the communities that MAMAS is working in, MAMAS has made language justice a priority, engaging residents proficient in languages other than English. As Jessie told us, “We came forward first as neighbors supporting neighbors but there is an underlying political education and redistribution campaign that obviously we're not going to shy away from.” We also talk with Jessie about:

• How the volunteers at MAMAS were able to quickly set up a structure that could respond to many needs of the communities that MAMAS worked with.
• The connection between her study of water quality at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy and her organizing and technical support role at MAMAS.
• The story of the neighbor to neighbor snow shoveling brigade that MAMAS grew out of.

Resources mentioned in this episode: Mutual aid Medford and Somerville (MAMAS) MAMAS Replication Document: Mutual Aid: how to build a network in your neighborhood (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ca-sz4DRNvUg8ezcrfd6awH-ahxBDJwnbdzxm4_qDVs/edit) Tufts University Department of Urban and environmental policy and Planning (https://as.tufts.edu/uep/) Wikipedia article and talk about the origins and meaning of mutual aid societies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_(organization_theory) Article: Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid for Mobilization and Survival by Dean Spade (http://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mutual-Aid-Article-Social-Text-Final.pdf)