THATS ENOUGH!!! Community Organizing changed the political landscape.
Ever since Governor Palin attacked Senator Obama last week in her acceptance speech I have read and heard multiple comments lashing out at community organizing. I have heard everything from “it doesn’t work” to it’s a lefty cause and that it is overwhelmingly inaffective. I have heard more about groups like ACORN and Saul Alinsky in the main stream media in the past week than what I ever thought possible. Having done my fair share of organizing over the years I am completely familiar with the word and have more than a few books on the subject. What I find so disgusting about all of this however is the amount of people from the outside now jumping on the Palin’s bandwagon and throwing rocks. What really gets me going is that these people are either privileged individuals who have never been low income or disenfranchised so who are they to judge a process that they never participated in. I know that by writing this I am not doing anything for the pattern that suggest community organizing is about lefty’s as I probably am I, however…
I would first like to point out that talking about community organizing and groups like ACORN as synonomous is offensive. While they do a great deal of work on organizing they are by no means the only group out there doing this type of work. Also like any subject or culture for that matter they are a tiny piece of a much larger and complex world. Along those lines, while many in the controlling groups may not like their tactics( i.e. direct action) how dare they attack them for using it. The “tactics” that they employ have won real results for the people that they work for and with. Results that otherwise would not have ever been given to these people or addressed in a serious and fourthright way.
On another note, I read in an article this morning that community organizing is majority funded by government. As a person that works to raise funds for community organizing groups this couldn’t be further from the truth. While it may have been the case earlier on in the history of organizing, currently most groups that do organizing recieve little to no money to do it from the government. These groups are funded by like minded individuals and foundations that see the power in what they do, so decide to put their money where their mouth is.
In response to the attack by Ms. Palin the Obama camp has sent out various emails highlighting the disgust they feel about them. What I find so amazing is that the community organizing model has been the crux of the Obama campaign so far. So it amazing me when people I know who are voting for Obama (so they claim) have jumped on the bandwagon in support of the demonizing agenda. The idea that you can mobilize people from the ground up and empower them to affect (dare I say it) CHANGE in their lives, seems to offend these people. I only find myself wondering what these people feel like they have been a part of over the last 18 or so months. If Obama’s campaign to the White House has not been an example of the power of community organizing then I’m not sure what is. While it is fine for people to disagree (although I am finding more and more that they don’t know what they disagree with) it makes little sense to me that they belittle a process that has so inspired them.
I have been an advid fan of politics for years and will be into the future, and in this presidential race we have seen pockets of folks formerly immobilized politically now involved. I guess I should not be angry about the barrage of attacks on organizing I have seen lately. It seems to me that people like Palin, the Republicans and H&M liberals have fear in their eyes. Fear of the people who have been silenced politically for so long marching into the ballot box and changing the world as we know it. SO mock as you will the power of organizing, but despite the rhetoric it may just work.
September 8, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The funnier thing I find is, aren’t the Republicans practicing a form of organizing? I commented on my disgust of the GOP convention on Tuesday night. http://cuttingkeyboard.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/sarah-palin-mccains-watchdogmaybemaybe-not/. Never had I felt so alienated and insulting from their attack and especially their take on community organizing. I thought it was just down right disgusting, mean, and ill spirited. This chick comes out of no where and starts throwing right hooks when her own policies have been thrown in her face (pregnant daughter is off limits but this speaks directly to her stance on sex education in school and abortion rights). These are the people looking to get back into the White House?
September 8, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I think that what we’d better be careful about, those of us who are organizers and work in nonprofits, is that this is really a set-up. I wonder if the Republicans are gonna go further in their actions to go after non-profits they consider to be “lobbying” and turning the public against “community organizers” is the first step toward that goal. Recall, they went after the NAACP in 2004 for things that Julian Bond had said about Bush, and tried to revoke their 501(c)3 status.
September 9, 2008 at 11:54 pm
[...] Don’t Black Gay Me writes: In this presidential race we have seen pockets of folks formerly immobilized politically now involved. [...]
September 22, 2008 at 2:54 pm
There is a huge distinction between ACORN and “community organizing” as a whole. While ACORN has a lot of promise, its leadership has sold out its members and treats its organizers horribly. It can still be saved, though.
For those interested, a new group aimed at reforming ACORN from the inside launched today. Please support the Truth To Power campaign with kind words, direct action, or a few bucks. More importantly: help reclaim ACORN for the progressive movement.
Check it out at SpeakingTruth2Power.org/acorn to reclaim one of the biggest community organizing groups around.