In my experience, the vast majority of organizing by the black community in DC is done through the church. While willing to address racial and economic injustice as it relates to BLACK people of color, these churches are frequently culturally conservative and unwilling to challenge homophobia, sexism, corporate capitalism, etc. As a woman with secular progressive politics, I find most church teaching offensive, be it black or white. I do not feel that I should have to align myself with a group that disparages my personhood in order to support racial equality. I also do not feel that being oppressed in one regard makes you an automatic expert in understanding the nature of oppression, let alone organizing against it. To say that people who are white should always follow the lead of people of color seems to ignore the importance of context. How long are white progressives supposed to wait for DC's black community to radicalize itself before we can act?