There are many things I would like to rebut in Gov. Palin's acceptance speech, but the one keeping me out of my garden right now is her position on Community Organizers. When she and Giuliani belittled that profession, I was so shocked I had to take stock of my world-view on that point. See, I thought everyone admired community organizers. When Jesus was mentioned in the Unitarian Universalist church I grew up in, he was unfailingly mentioned in the company of Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Susan B. Anthony. What do those four have in common? They were all Community Organizers! So I learned as a little girl, sitting in church with my legs dangling off my seat that there is literally no higher calling than to be a community organizer who works to bring justice and peace to the world.
Obviously, not every organizer is going to change the world like Martin Luther King did, but the local organizers I met in California worked hard in a job with high stress and burn-out. They empowered people to be part of the political process, and to express their needs to the decisions makers in their community. Organizers must have an intimate knowledge of the politics of their community if they are to be effective, and must be responsible to the people they serve. You can't get a group of hockey moms and dads out on a Tuesday night to plan an action if they don't believe they are making a difference and that their self-interest will be served. (If you want to see a real-life bunch of organizers I admire deeply, check out PIA).
So here's to the Community Organizers of our great nation. You are my heroes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
I was a community organizer (though not a terribly good one)while I was picking my way through seminary. The take of people like Guiliani and Palin is not much of a surprise to me. They are powerful people who think they know how the world works. It is natural that they should find folks with different ideas about power and the world a bit intimidating. It is also sadly natural that they would want to make them seem indeffective. Why would they want the world to change?
Anyway, I love Community Organizers and organizing. My favorite group (Metropolitan Interfaith Congregations Acting for Hope) doesn't have a web page yet. Perhaps some day...
Thanks for the post!
Adam Tierney-Eliot
Post a Comment