[COMM-ORG] morning in the United States
Discussion list for COMM-ORG
colist at comm-org.wisc.edu
Tue Nov 11 20:01:20 CST 2008
[ed: thanks to Sonia and Bonnie for the thoughts building on Melinda's
post. This is the first time on this list that we have had a discussion
about race and organizing where generational difference was so
prominent. It is a very important discussion.]
From: Sonia Rosen <soniar at dolphin.upenn.edu>
Hi,
I wanted to share this reflective essay with you all. I feel like there
has been a lot of positive Obama support articulated on this listserv,
and I am hoping that we can be constructively critical as we move
forward. Feel free to pass it around to whomever you’d like or, if
you’re not a fan of what I’m saying, the delete key is only a click away.
Thanks,
Sonia Rosen
[ed: see the essay at
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/1760362-a-note-to-progressives-and-radicals-some-thoughts-as-we-move-forward.
Allow the link a couple of minutes to load, and note that it may wrap in
your e-mail so will need to be copied by hand into your browser.]
****************************
From: "Bonnie Bazata" <bonnie.bazata at gmail.com>
I just left a position at a women's college. My last program was the
sixth year of the Catalsyt Trip, a week long immersion trip that
explores women leading social change and has a strong anti-racism
curriculum. We start with an intergenerational and interracial/cultural
group, and we mix many elements -- speakers, art, experiential learning
in an inner city community and at the National Underground Railroad
Freedom Center, with lots of community building activities.
We always expect backlash and breakdowns as we confront the issue of
race in this country, and particularly as white participants look at
their white privilege. White people use many strategies, but often we
look for a "back door" on the conversation, something that will get us
personally out of feeling responsible and engaged. While we are very
aware of the multiple and complex connections between forms of systemic
oppression, we ask participants to sit and look at racism as a
cornerstone of our country's social and economic development, and the
hidden narrative of our democracy.
This year, however, had some new twists. I heard things like: we can't
just talk about race, we have to see the connections globally; we took
the class on white privilege and we get it; we just want to move to
action; it is about more than black and white; I grew up with
multiracial friends so I get it, and my personal favorite, we are
uninspired.
Many of the students were in a leadership program we developed that has
"value and engage with diversity" and "dialogue on power and privilege"
as core elements. Yet some of these same students could simply not sit
in the conversation on race, particularly in a mixed race environment.
They tried to frame it as the older folks were just stuck but the young,
hip students were living in a post-racial world (they even said this was
like second and third wave feminists). But for me, it was just another
back door. It really scared me because it felt like now there are more
tools, a more sophisticated language to get out of the conversation.
I have to say that our day at the Freedom Center, narrated by a
extraordinarily moving and scholarly minister, helped shift the
conversation. Being confronted with the legacy of 450 years of
dehumanization, cultural genocide, and sexual and economic exploitation
as well as the tremendous sacrifices of people working to end it --
seemed to make a difference.
It left all of the organizers and trainers feeling very disturbed. I
would like to live one day in a post-racial society, and the Obama
election lifts me tremendously and helped us begin a new chapter that
will move us in that direction, but we have, in the opinion of this
older and more tired organizer, a long way to go.
Bonnie
Bonnie Bazata
Executive Director
St. Joseph County Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative
PO Box 1078
South Bend, IN 46624
574-339-1232
sjcbridges at gmail.com
www.sjcbridges.org
Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
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> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
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>
> [ed: Melinda provides a correction for her post.]
>
> From: "M Chateau" <mchateau at onebox.com>
>
>
> Actually I'm a bit embarrassed about the source for my story. I heard these
> stories one morning at breakfast, while reading the paper and only
> half-listening to my roommate, who I thought was talking about her family
> down in Nashville (who were also engaged in the campaign). Turns out she was
> reading to me from the Washington Post.
>
> I'd already posted my comment to the list when I realized my mistake, so
> here's the correct cite for the article: "For Obama Volunteer, A Solitary
> Sense of History
> Md. Mother Sometimes Feels Like Outsider In the Youthful, 'Post-Racial'
> Campaign,"
> Krissah Williams Thompson, Washington Post Thursday, October 30, 2008; Page
> A01
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102904
> 554.html
> (it won't be available for free much longer, so I suggest you get it in the
> next day or less.)
>
> Sorry if this caused anyone any confusion.
>
> Melinda Chateauvert
> African American Studies
> 2169 Lefrak
> University of Maryland
> College Park, MD 20742
> http://www.bsos.umd.edu/aasp/chateauvert
> 301-405-1161
> Please note I am on leave AY 2008-09
>
>
>
>
>
> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>
>> --------
>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
>> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
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>>
>> [ed: thanks to Melinda for the post.]
>>
>> From: Melinda Chateauvert <mchateau at onebox.com>
>>
>> I would also suggest that there be a special effort made to collect stories
>> from older African Americans who became involved in voter registration and
>> GOTV efforts. From the anecdotes I've heard, the "culture clash" between
>> them and younger (white) campaign workers created its own sets of conflicts
>> within the campaign. Whether it was showing up on Sunday and being made fun
>> of for wearing church clothes, to the kinds of junk food in the office, my
>> informants (okay my extended family/in-laws) were offended by lack of
>> respect they were shown. While they continued to volunteer, they did not
>> come away with any belief that some "postracial" American society was in the
>> making.
>>
>> Melinda Chateauvert
>> African American Studies
>> 2169 Lefrak
>> University of Maryland
>> College Park, MD 20742
>> http://www.bsos.umd.edu/aasp/chateauvert
>> 301-405-1161
>> Please note I am on leave AY 2008-09
>>
>> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>>
>>
>>> --------
>>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
>>> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
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>>>
>>> [ed: thanks to those who sent personal notes responding to me, which I
>>> won't post here unless the senders request it. Please consider Betty's
>>> idea in this message, which would be a great project.]
>>>
>>> From:
>>> "Betty G. Robinson" <bgrobinson at verizon.net>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Randy,
>>> Just a thought: Could Comm-Org collect all the stories about Obama
>>> campaign organizing in one place? Even links to same? I am thinking it
>>> would be a valuable resource for folks around the country -- I plan to
>>> do it for folks here but I am sure I don't have access to the universe
>>> of stories. How about folks sending links to things they have read or
>>> felt showed the depth of the organizing?
>>>
>>> Betty
>>>
>>> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> --------
>>>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
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>>>> --------
>>>>
>>>> Good morning COMM-ORG,
>>>>
>>>> It is a rare opportunity to bear witness to the power of community
>>>> organizing. Seldom in this country's history have we seen the craft
>>>> reach the heights of its potential--the Civil Rights Movement, the
>>>> passage of the Community Reinvestment Act and, maybe arguably, one or
>>>> two other times. But last night I witnessed, as an adult when I can
>>>> truly appreciate it, the power of the people united through community
>>>> organizing. I, perhaps like many of you, are still in a bit of a
>>>> shock. Regardless of the extent to which we may or may not agree with
>>>> President-elect Obama politically (from either side of the political
>>>> spectrum), we must appreciate the historic election of someone whose own
>>>> lifetime began under the disenfranchisement of African Americans. Less
>>>> than half a century ago Barack Obama would have had difficulty even
>>>> trying to vote in the southern United States. I am also the parent of a
>>>> 16 year old multi-racial (including African American) daughter. She
>>>> could not bear the ambiguity of the early returns, and could not sleep
>>>> once the result was decided. I remain, this morning, overwhelmed by the
>>>> momentousness of this election.
>>>>
>>>> As we dissect what happened, I hope we appreciate how the lessons of
>>>> community organizing, which include fundraising, and its leadership by a
>>>> 47 year old community organizer who perhaps finally figured out how to
>>>> organize, brought about this historic result. My congratulations and
>>>> thanks go out to ACORN and all the other community organizers who put
>>>> into play, in magnificent form, time-honored community organizing
>>>> practices to register voters and organize against voter suppression. It
>>>> is a new morning in the United States and, for the moment, it belongs to
>>>> community organizing.
>>>>
>>>> Randy Stoecker
>>>> moderator/editor, COMM-ORG
>>>> rstoecker at wisc.edu
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>>>>
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