Defending Community Organizing

In her Republican convention speech, Gov. Sarah Palin said:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

If the candidates are going to start attacking each other personally, why can't they leave hard working community organizers out of it? It's ironic that as both parties are focused on change, community organizers --- the ones who actually patch the holes and our democracy and help Americans demand change --- are now a political football.

I have the privilege of working everyday with community organizers across the country who wake up everyday burdened by the very real responsibilities of the people in the communities around them for whom our economy and our government isn't working, and hasn't worked, for a very long time. This election, the ranks of poor people, communities of color, factory workers, single moms, elderly Americans, janitors is swelling to include the vast majority of Americans who now realize that our economy and our democracy just is designed to benefit an elite few rather than all of us. The change voters are talking about this year builds on the shared problems community organizers have been helping people identify for decades. The change voters want builds on the solutions community organizers have been nurturing and putting into place, building the leadership of everyday Americans all across our country to demand that America work for everyone.

I thought I'd share this statement, released today, by Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Center for Community Change, a 40-year-old national organization that builds the field of community organizing with hundreds of local organizations nationwide (and for which I work):

When Sarah Palin demeaned community organizing, she didn't attack another candidate. She attacked an American tradition --- one that has helped everyday Americans engage with the political process and make a difference in their lives and the lives of their neighbors.

All across the country, in every state and every community, there are community organizers helping people find shared solutions to the shared problems they face. The candidates for President and Vice President should be working to solve our shared problems, too, rather than attack others who trying to do the same.

From winning living wages to expanding affordable housing to improving the quality of public schools to getting health coverage for the poor and elderly, community organizers have made and will continue to make our communities and our country better for all of us.

The values that community organizers and grassroots leaders represent are not Washington values or Wall Street values but American values, that we care for each other and look out for each other and know we're all interconnected and have a valuable role to play in making our country work for all of us. Candidates should be courting these Community Values, not condemning them.

How's about instead of debating the relative merits of community organizing, the candidates take a cue from community organizers and start talking about the real problems Americans are facing and the real solutions we need.

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[SeanGardner]

Once again, Republicans are trying to evicerate something substantive about Obama and they put their feet in their mouths. As soon as I saw Rudi Giuliani take a shot at Senator Obama's community organizing roots, I knew it would backfire.

Plus, there is an irony here that the Obama campaign can easily exploit for a TV ad. What is the irony? Well, last week, female lawmakers spoke at The Democratic Convention on the 88th anniversary of The 19th Amendment - which gave women the right to vote. And who ensured the passage of the 19th Amendment? Community organizers like...Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth Stanton, Francis Watkins Harper, and even Jeannette Rankin. These women endured intimidation, slights, beatings, and even the threat of (and somethings the reality of) incarceration.

The last name I mentioned, Jeannette Rankin, deepens the irony of Gov. Palins comments. Jeannette Rankin was, to be clear, one of the community organizers who fought for Ms. Palin's right to vote, as well as the right to be voted in office. Rankin was a Republican lawmaker, like Sarah Palin. Ms. Rankin was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress. And what's more remarkable is that she was elected in 1916 from the great state of Montana - four years before women had the right to vote. Yes, she couldn't even vote for herself.

So when Palin knocks "community organizers", she disrespects and spits in the face of the legions of women who made her success possible.

[LeftRight]

Isn't one of the major talking points that the GOP brings up when talking about welfare that charity should handle it? Aren't charities made up of community activists?? I guess that Obama was more right than I knew when he spoke about the "ownership society" really meaning "you're on your own"!

[mommadona]

Don't you DARE think you have to 'defend' an honorable occupation.

DON'T fall into that trap.

She just dissed every Catholic layperson and nun and priest with those words.

Stand back, and let her shoot herself in her OWN foot.

All any of us have to do is say....

"GIRL, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

[ATL78]

Great post! I posted this to the other thread but feel the need to repeat...I am the leader of a Girl Scout Troop and the Republicans may want to check our new Journey program out! This year's theme is "Chage Agent" and the entire program is designed to teach our girls to be effective community organizers. We will teach them that real change starts in the COMMUNITY and isn't that a good thing for all? It supports both parties' platforms (helping people and limited government.)

[Jromeo]

I was astounded that the GOP had the gall to put down community organizers as well. What we all need to do is mobilize. Go to BarackObama.com and volunteer in your community.

This election is too important to base our votes on spin rather than facts.
Barack Obama's record is linked below:

US Senate Record:
http://www.statesurge.com/members/923-barack-obama-federal

State Senate:
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/01/14/obamas_strong_record_of_accomp.php

In addition, Barack Obama is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
He was the first to call for and has been proven right on needing a
timeline for Iraq, needing more troops in Afghanistan, needing diplomacy
with Iran and going ofter Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. The Bush
administration has adopted all of these positions over the last year.

In addition no one has more experience with foreign relations than Barack
Obama's VP, Joe Biden. Biden is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations committee.

[ATL78]

Her speech led me to donate and sign up for more volunteering.

[SeanGardner]

This narrative that paints Obama as "just a vacuous community organizer" is stupid. McCain and Palin know where to go and find info on Obama. You're right Jromeo...his record in the U.S. Senate is clear: Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored close to 600 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress. Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored almost 20 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005. Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to over 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.

A few Obama successes: (1) Lugar-Obama legislation that has helped decrease the threat of old nuclear, biological, and chemical weapon in the former Soviet Union; (2) the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 which Obama co-authored and that led to www.USAspending.gov, which keeps Americans better informed on government spending; (3) The Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, which passed in July of 2007 and addressed the pathetic and grotesque treatment received by Veterans under the Bush. This last bill was responsible for the largest increase in veterans benefits in the 77 year history of the VA.

And that doesn't include his 8 years in the Illinois State Senate from 1996-2004.

Yes, he worked as a community organizer from 1985-1988, a position which paid him only $13,000, but which has had a lasting impact on him, as evidenced by the comprehensive "bottom up" campaign he's running.

[winterline]

I suppose even Martin Luther King wouldn't measure up to Sarah's expectations.

[Burzootie]

That was exactly my thought when I watched. I suppose the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, the Freedom Rides, the lunch counter sit in demonstrations, the whole effing civil rights movement, women's movement, etc. are not actual accomplishments? Conservatives don't know who the real heroes are in their own communities. That's why the southern states, who's tradition of community organizing in favor of civil rights, backed by ordinary citizens, is outshadowed by the rebel flag, proto-segregationism of the Republican party in the south.

[LeftRight]

Of course he wouldn't have!! What did he ever do that was USEFUL???? I mean, except for that whole community organization that pretty much single handedly got the civil rights act passed......

[mbh78213]

He never field-dressed a moose. That's what counts these days.

[claylandg]

Not really he was a republican!!!