#WontTakeShiftAnymore Call to Action

Hello, everyone.

I am writing to bring attention to a campaign that has been started to demand that Christian Beckwith, the executive director of Shift, and co-founder of The Alpinist, to resign from his position at Shift. A coalition of past participants, attendees, and staff have come forward with the campaign #WeWontTakeShiftAnymore. A Medium page has been created which details everything that is going on and is being updated as things progress because things are moving quickly.

Christian Beckwith and board members of Shift have responded to this demand for accountability by doubling down on their racism, violence, and harm by submitting this -- a flimsy, vague, public letter that gaslights the people who have been traumatized, as well as lies about Shift’s response to previous, less public calls for accountability.

The coalition is asking everyone who stands in solidarity with them to join in demanding proper accountability for Christian Beckwith’s racism, manipulation, tokenism, abuse, and toxicity, which has resulted in harm, violence and trauma to those who Shift claims to support and uplift. Shift does the exact opposite of what it claims to be about. Shift is a breeding ground for racism and misogyny, among other atrocities to be sure, and we all need to use our platforms and positions of power to hold Christian Beckwith accountable. As an able-bodied, neurotypical, upper middle class, cis white woman I know this is least I can do.

I know many of you hold large and powerful platforms and this is a great opportunity to use our collective resources to stand on the right side of history in solidarity with the people who continuously experience violence and abuse at the hands of white men with too much power. This is white supremacy in action. This is exactly what happens in our larger world. This is how Brett Kavanaugh, Brock Turner, and Trump get off the hook, face zero consequences, stay in power, and walk free to continue their legacy of abuse. We cannot let Christian Beckwith walk away with zero consequences.

We cannot turn a blind eye. We cannot say there are “two sides to every story.” There are no two sides to racism. Ever. We cannot be silent while our siblings in this industry experience re-trauamatization. We cannot hide behind our white fragility and center our discomfort, while our BIPOC siblings put not only their careers on the line, but their bodies and lives on the line. In honor of co-liberation we all need to demand justice alongside those who have been targeted and most impacted by Christian Beckwith’s violent actions.

In order to stop this heinous, deadly cycle we need to take public action. I’m specifically talking to fellow white womxn in powerful positions. I am asking that we all use every social media outlet we have access to in order to raise awareness about this campaign and demand Christian Beckwith leaves Shift. The following is a list of people who I know have the capacity, power, and platform to join in this public call for his resignation:

Katie Ives

Paula Wright

Gale Straub

Caroline Gleich

Aisha Weinhold

Katie Sedrowski

Jess Daddio

Kayla Jo Haas

Mary Turner

Julie Ellison

Jainee Dial

Lindsey Elliott

Emily Mannisto

Brooke Jackson

Hattie Parmenter

Katie Boue

Georgie Abel

Erin Sullivan

Sarah Uhl

Emma Murray

Bernadette Murphy

Jaime Moye

Bridget Crocker

Megan Davin

Tiffiny Costello

Charlotte Austin

Alex Borgen

Jen Rose Smith

Heidi Howkins Lockwood

——

Just because you’re not on this list doesn’t mean you are not being held accountable to use your platform too. I encourage every single one of us white womxn to use our platforms to uplift this campaign and do whatever we can to support those who have been victims/survivors of Christian Beckwith’s violence.

The coalition has created social media materials because there is a social media blast planned to start this Monday and go through Wednesday. If you’d like these materials I can email them to you. Please leave a comment if you’d like them.

Thank you for your solidarity.

#WontTakeShiftAnymore

Erin Monahan,

Co-Conspirator, Terra Incognita Media