Erin Heaney
Erin Heaney is the Executive Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), where she leads efforts to organize white communities into multiracial movements for justice. Growing up in Buffalo’s working-class neighborhoods, Erin witnessed firsthand how those in power use racism to divide communities and maintain control. Her father’s union organizing and her grandfather's civil rights work in Northern Ireland taught her early lessons about solidarity across lines of difference.
As an organizer fighting industrial pollution in Western New York, Erin saw how racism was used to undermine the power of multiracial coalitions needed to win against corporate interests. This experience shaped her commitment to organizing white communities as a critical part of building the power required for transformative change.
Under Erin’s leadership, SURJ has grown from a network of activists into a serious political force organizing white communities into multiracial solidarity, particularly in the South, Appalachia, and Rust Belt. The organization helps white people understand their stake in fighting racism while building solidarity with movements led by people of color. She serves on the boards of the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) and the Working Families Party, bringing her expertise in race-forward organizing to broader progressive movements.
Erin brings a deep belief that white communities organized around their shared interest in racial justice are essential to defending and expanding multiracial democracy against rising authoritarianism. She lives with her wife in Buffalo, where she continues to draw inspiration from the city’s legacy of working-class organizing and resistance.
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
From Hope to Action: Building Multiracial Solidarity
Join us for From Hope to Action: Building Multiracial Solidarity, this closing plenary will address the critical role of solidarity in today’s world, shaped by both global and local conflicts and rapid demographic changes. As forces of inequality leverage these tensions to stall progress on racial justice, true multiracial solidarity requires more than affirming each community’s priorities—it demands active collaborative leadership to address and bridge tensions before they become tools of division.
This session will explore the practical strategies for resilience, unity, and engagement across differences that are essential for strengthening bonds within and between communities and their leadership. Through impactful stories, real-world examples, and tools from leaders experienced in conflict resolution, attendees will gain actionable insights to help leaders, organizations, and institutions of governance to thrive together through the most challenging of times.
More than just a discussion, this plenary is an invitation to imagine and build a future where solidarity itself becomes our most powerful shared purpose against forces undermining the advancement of racial justice in the United States.
Moderator(s): Eric Ward Speakers: Murad Awawdeh, Deepa Iyer, Erin Heaney, Don Ragona, Yavilah McCoyPresentations from Facing Race 2022
Building a Bigger We: The Multiracial Alliances Needed to Win
The ability to defeat racist policies and candidates at the ballot box in most states requires building broad multiracial electoral coalitions. This is no easy task. What does it take to build a “Bigger We” than we currently have in our organizations and movements? What kind of demands are required? How do we change the way we work to build lasting alliances to build power and challenge the racist threat and challenges to democracy? What can be learned from the Race-Class Narrative (RCN) and other approaches to speaking beyond the choir? Join us for a panel discussion of grassroots organizers doing the hard work on the ground and national leaders reflecting on the challenge we face.