The new activist’s guide for intentional action
Now is the time for everyone to bring what they have to the table
So, each passing day has us all like:
I’m writing to those who are in the same boat as me and are wanting to significantly step up your contributions to social change but feel limited by your current work whether that be in the nonprofit or for profit sector, academia, public service, or healthcare. I feel moved to engage in ways that are different from how I have (or have not) engaged previously with systems that impact me every day. The limitations of nonprofits are frustrating, and I often feel ill equipped to take increased action in my day to day. When I see the work being done by those who have devoted themselves to activism and organizing, I feel as though I have less to contribute. The truth is, we all belong in the conversation.
I have worked in the field of education in various capacities: classroom support, residential therapeutic counseling, social emotional learning, restorative justice programming, family support, and college access. These experiences have caused me to examine how my involvement fits into larger social movements playing out on the local and national stage with regards to youth, racial equality, poverty, housing and the like. In order to join existing efforts, I need to intentionally carve out more time and energy. I also want to push my professional boundaries and expectations to pursue opportunities for collaboration across disciplines. I see the events, the articles, and the community groups on social media, which can make me feel closer to the work. Still though, the world of activism seems far away and hard to access. So what do we all need to do, learn and practice in order to have a greater impact?
We must contribute to the work that is already being done, speak and listen with intention and begin to challenge the systems around us-because everyone needs to be doing the heavy lifting from now on.
Ground yourself in the history of the freedom movement
After an incredible number of people participated in the women’s march on January 21st, many for the first time, it is critical that we arm ourselves with a sound knowledge of the true history of the fight for freedom in the US and abroad.
A major critique of the women’s march was an absence of adequate intersectional representation-or even a solid understanding among marchers of why intersectionality is so important for movement building.
Mainstream media and textbook accounts of Black history have largely warped and erased key people and groups. Yet we benefit today from the rich, complex and intersectional history that was woven by thousands of Black, brown, queer and female narratives. Our current fight is a continuation of one single fight for freedom that is strung together by continents, movements, victories and individual sacrifices. It’s high time to connect with that history through the knowledge and resurrection of past organizing strategies. The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program discusses social issues we are still addressing today: police brutality, safe and affordable housing, and the disproportionate mass incarceration of Black and brown people. For our actions to be firmly rooted in a unified movement for freedom, equity and inclusion, we must look to the people of color who organized and resisted to make revolutionary ideas of the 60’s become realities today. November 8th, 2016 was not the beginning.
Here is a list of books to feed your soul and mind, courtesy of the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington:
-Stokely Speaks by Stokely Carmichael
-The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X
-The Assassination of Fred Hampton: by Jeffrey Haas
-Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
-Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
-Power To The People: The World Of The Black Panthers
-The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
-Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis
-Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
-Native Son by Richard Wright
-Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
-The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson
-The Collection Of Poems by Audre Lorde
-A Taste Of Power: A Black Woman’s Story by Elaine Brown
-Angela Davis-an Autobiograpy by Angela Davis
Click on for some more meaningful reads here.
Understand that every struggle is now your struggle
We must familiarize ourselves with and embrace the interconnectedness of radical social movements across time and geography in order to understand that no single issue stands alone. A struggle cannot belong to one person or group without belonging to us all. Further, many marginalized individuals are disadvantaged by more than one status, thus compounding their struggle.
You’ve never been incarcerated or had contact with the criminal justice system? Still our issue.
Never had a loved one detained or deported? Still our issue. Aren’t worrying about where you will sleep tonight? Still our issue.
Not dealing with Islamophobic or xenophobic fueled harassment on your way to work? Still our issue. Not struggling to feed your family or pay rent? Still our issue. Haven’t been affected by the occupation of Palestine? STILL OUR ISSUE. Angela Davis’ Freedom is a Constant Struggle beautifully articulates how the occupation of Palestine, Ferguson, South African apartheid, mass incarceration, among other social struggles are all inextricably linked and that acknowledgment of shared struggle is the only way to mobilize us all effectively.
I have been guilty of deciding not to step out of my comfort zone and act because the issue just didn’t hit home enough. I justified standing down by reinforcing the belief that those impacted most should be the only ones taking action. The ones impacted most by an issue should be the ones whose stories are lifted up, and their work needs to be visible above others. We are more powerful though if we stand together as a united front in everything. Solidarity is for all of us to take up the banner together. To quote The Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon at the National Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign Watch Night Service on New Year’s Eve:
“Now woke involves work. It’s not just your eyes being open, but it’s your willingness to engage in the struggle. Woke looks like, even if there’s food on my table, I’m gonna stay in the fight for those who are hungry, until there’s food on their table. Woke looks like, if there’s gonna be any registry, I’m gonna be on it. Woke looks like, if you can come over here on a boat somebody else can too.”
Support female, POC, queer and indigenous led grassroots movements
If you subscribe to marginalized identities, validate the heck out of yourself through self care, collaboration and community. Share your work and your perspective with others because our narratives need to be at the center. For white cis men and other allies, promote and support the grassroots work of people of color, women, LGBTQ groups, indigenous and immigrant communities. Listen to their stories, and make room for their voices to be heard in the workplace and in your social circles. Really though, listen. When you encounter instances of silencing, policing and other microaggressions among friends, family, authority figures, and colleagues, call it out. Understand that the experiences of mixed and minority identities drive radical, transformative change.
Get plugged in to the work here.
Challenge your 9–5
How do you spend your workday or your free time? How does your profession connect to broader issues that are (or aren’t) on your radar? What have you experienced that reflects the failings of broader systems? Take intersectional thinking and translate it into interdisciplinary action. I find that I can’t address the deeply rooted challenges of public education without also considering the role of housing, transportation, public health, the criminal justice system, race and class. Just as humans are complex, so is our society, and just as social problems are complex, so must be the solutions. One single doctor isn’t going to fix our healthcare system alone, and no single educator can rebuild the public education system. A teacher might have valuable insights to help a community rethink how to address hunger and food access. A doctor could lend their perspective to discussions on immigration and poverty in their town.
Systemic change will take creative thinking, multiple skill sets, and a broad range of voices and experiences.
When you see the overlap between your work and another issue, sound the alarm! Highlight it with a bunch of bright colors! Call attention to potential organizational partnerships and alliances. When you see an opening at work to implement change, push for it. When you see a rigid spot where policies are actively problematic, push even harder. Resistance and alternative approaches will help us to overturn harmful practices and build up constructive new systems. Form new connections for your networks to process and explore further. Cognizance of disciplinary intersections is a catalyst for collective action and robust solutions.
Start thinking about how your job or passion connects to other fields. Then, meet up with people you know working in another discipline and ask questions, lots of questions. Go to a lecture or a meeting that you wouldn’t attend otherwise. Start to understand the broader landscape you’re living and working in. I began my graduate program in urban planning focusing on mental health, homelessness and education. I thought that I couldn’t reconcile them all because there wasn’t a road map spelling out how to. Even worse, I wanted to find a job that allowed me to do it all and get paid for it. Then I stumbled upon a creative project that merged urban planning with mental health. The connections exist, but no one is going to uncover them for us. We must think beyond the confines of our job descriptions and start having conversations outside of our regularly scheduled programming. We must also be willing to make sacrifices to pursue the task of addressing complex struggles. These informal, non-funded spaces are where collaboration, idea sharing and multifaceted problem solving can really happen.
Consume woke media
Independent and minority driven media is incredibly important right now in putting narratives at the forefront that have been silenced up until this point. “One of the simplest paths to deep change is for the less powerful to speak as much as they listen and for the more powerful to listen as much as they speak,” Gloria Steinem writes in My Life on the Road.
News: Our mainstream news sources are bought and paid for-and NOT by the people. ThinkProgress pursues independent, objective investigative journalism, and News and Guts is Dan Rather’s “digital news feed” that compiles news from reputable sources.
Podcasts: Some of my favorites are Sooo Many White Guys, Another Round, and 2 Dope Queens. Here are a couple of lists that showcase podcasts to check out this year made by and for people of color and women.
Digital content: Support, enjoy and contribute to platforms that cultivate the writing and art of women and POC such as Asian American Writer’s Workshop, The Tempest, Culture Strike, and Media Diversified.
Be informed and civically engaged
Many of the decisions affecting us everyday happen at the local level. Get acquainted with your city councilors and local representatives, find out what legislation is in the works right now, and attend city hall meetings to connect with your community and voice your opinions. Of course, our democracy proves time and time again to be imperfect, but we can be loud and impossible to ignore by those who are supposed to represent us. We can also take steps to become the representatives we want and need so desperately right now.
SwingLeft provides information on how to support progressive candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.
The Resistance Manual, produced by #StayWoke provides state and national information on policies and key individuals across various issues as well as way to resist and take action.
I recognize that our jobs can be mentally and physically exhausting, but rethink how and where your life can tolerate disruption. It isn’t easy to take on new projects, but now is the time to shake off complacency. Have a conversation with a friend over drinks about an idea that you have, reach out to someone you know working in an industry you’d like to learn more about, jot things down while you’re zoning out at work, start somewhere, anywhere. The change we want will take each and every one of us challenging and dismantling the status quo using our skills, our stories, and our struggles.
