Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Action is a Louisville, Kentucky-based far-left agitation group that is the advocacy and lobbying arm of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), ^[1] which is a project of the Social Good Fund, a left-of-center nonprofit and donor-advised fund provider. ^[2] SURJ Action runs campaigns targeting white Americans  to undermine their alleged support of “white supremacy” across society. ^[3]

In a 2018 blog post, SURJ Action said, “most of the white left—and certainly the vast majority of the Democratic Party’s leadership at all levels—refuses to take on race.” ^[4] It also accused white voters as casting votes for “self-described Nazis, white supremacists, and those with strong ties to white nationalists,” ^[5] calling U.S. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) a white supremacist, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) “unapologetically racist,” and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) “confederate-supporting, black voter-suppressing, and immigrant-threatening.” ^[6]

SURJ Action hosted a “Pledge of Resistance” against then-President Donald Trump where it asked signers ^[7] to knock on the doors of Trump supporters and “those conflicted about racial justice” and pledged to engage their faith-based communities and join SURJ Action’s fundraising team to build resources “to stop Trump,” among other things. ^[8]

History and Leadership

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Action was founded as a sister organization of the far-left agitation group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) ^[9] in 2016 by attorneys from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, which is affiliated with the left-leaning Skadden Foundation. ^[10]

Erin Heaney and Heather Cronk are co-directors of SURJ Action. ^[11] Heaney’s name appears on 2021 campaign contribution documents for a Brooklyn-based group called SURJ Action LA 2020 in support of a Los Angeles County ballot measure to reform prisons and community reinvestments. ^[12]

Activities and Funding

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Action aims to “undermine white support” for perceived  “white supremacy” and help build a “racially just society” through campaigns centered around white Americans by engaging in criminal justice reform and racial reconciliation advocacy. ^[13] SURJ Action is active at the state, local, and national level, operating issue-based organizing, voter education, and voter participation campaigns in support of critical race theory-inspired policies such as “racial and economic justice.”^[14]

In 2018, SURJ Action said it is important that white leaders on the left and in left-progressive spaces “go beyond just talking about racism, white privilege and white supremacy” to focus explicitly on centering race in the day-to-day work of political organizing in majority white communities. ^[15]

In a 2018 blog post, SURJ Action said, “most of the white left—and certainly the vast majority of the Democratic Party’s leadership at all levels—refuses to take on race.” ^[16] It also accused white voters as casting votes for “self-described Nazis, white supremacists, and those with strong ties to white nationalists,”^[17]  calling U.S. Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) a white supremacist, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) “unapologetically racist,” and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) “confederate-supporting, black voter-suppressing, and immigrant-threatening.” ^[18]

In 2018, SURJ Action spent $119,989 for local groups to take action nationally in support of the critical race theory-inspired concept of “racial justice” through mentoring programs. SURJ Action also spent $30,887 to support a ballot initiative in Ohio and education on supposed racism in the criminal justice and healthcare systems and $10,947 on canvassing programs to discuss left-of-center social issues. SURJ Action also supported the left-of-center Charlottesville Area Community Foundation Fund. ^[19]

In 2017, SURJ Action protestors called Erie County, New York, Sheriff Timothy Howard (R) a murderer. ^[20] That same year, SURJ Action supported the mayoral campaign of Chokwe Lumumba (D) in Jackson, Mississippi, ^[21] and shared social media posts from the left-wing Working Families Party in support of Lumumba’s successful candidacy. ^[22]

In 2017, SURJ Action spent $60,448 on community action and community organizing programs, $35,878 on support to local groups and activists, and $100,995 on a combined effort to support the Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund and educate voters about Erie County, New York, Sheriff Tim Howard. ^[23]

SURJ Action previously hosted a “Pledge of Resistance” against then-President Donald Trump. ^[24] Individuals who signed the pledge committed to talking to “one white person in the next month” about elections and the “hatred” Republican Party candidates were spreading, committed to join one “deep canvass” event to knock on the doors of Trump supporters and “those conflicted about racial justice,” and pledged to engage their faith-based communities and join SURJ Action’s fundraising team to build resources “to stop Trump,” among other things. ^[25]

Funding

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Action received $65,967 of grants and contributions in 2018. ^[26] This number was a sharp decline from receiving $244,601 of grants and contributions in 2017 and receiving $198,426 of grants and contributions in 2016, respectively. ^{[27] [28]}

In 2016, SURJ Action received a $10,000 from the left-of-center Sierra Club. ^[29]