Featured on Colorlines, here is an excerpt:

"Race wasn’t the sole motivating factor behind the ACORN attacks, but the situation has some important racial dynamics. The vast majority of ACORN’s membership was black and Latino, and their work was centered in black and Latino neighborhoods. So although the organization engaged rarely in an explicit racial analysis, conservatives were able to play easily on racial stereotypes that paint people of color as oversexed frauds and cheaters. The one-bad-apple excuse, so effective in relieving police departments of responsibility for violent, racist cops, never seems to apply to institutions with large numbers of people of color...Now we have to move forward, whether we're filling the organizing space or building other resources for poor people of color. It will be tempting to think that if we all keep our practices clean we can avoid ACORN’s fate. But if we do our work well, we should expect similar attacks and know that long track records won’t protect us. We will have to be as creative, broad-based and rigorous about our defense as we are about our other campaigns. If there isn't already a plan in place, this is the time to make one."

Read the full piece online here.