Don't Dis Community Organizers

Amid all the hoopla and pressure, Sarah Palin took to the stage of the RNC convention, wowing the GOP delegates and winning over most of the media commentators. Her speech commanded that we stop viewing her as a curiosity, that we take her seriously as a politician and a leader.

And if we are to take the substance of her words seriously, then we need to point out that Palin -- echoing an attack on Barack Obama delivered a half-hour prior by Rudy Giuliani -- made one of the most absurd statements of the year.

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

Now I'm all for upholding the dignity of small-town mayors and acknowledging the responsibilities they shoulder. And certainly we need to more of a town hall forum dynamic within government on a national scale if ordinary people are to have any access to counter the influence of corporate lobbyists.

But it's just wrong to dis community organizers. And why belittle community organizers when you are trying to portray yourself as an insurgent candidate seeking to overthrow the Washington elite?

So let's start with one obvious way in which community organizers make a difference. They register new voters. In 1992, a record 150,000 new voters were added to the rolls in Chicago owing in large measure to a grassroots effort led by Project Vote. A January 1993 analysis by Chicago magazine on the local director of Project Vote concluded, "A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape -- and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama."

In this sense, even the crassest politico understands the value of community organizers. They are indispensible to boosting voter turnout (which is why so many GOP strategists have devised counter-mechanisms to deter voting). It's hard to believe that Palin could have successfully challenged the incumbent governor of Alaska without some community organizers working on behalf of her campaign.

Still, there is a much deeper responsibility that the community organizer shoulders. I learned my most important lessons about community organizing over the past 7 years living in Detroit. From a few victories and many setbacks, from elders and youths, from veteran activists and wide-eyed students, I gained a deeper sense of what it means to survive, to struggle, and to envision a better world within what is arguably the nation's most devastated big city.

(You can get a sense of what Barack Obama learned from his community organizing work in Dreams From My Father. Judge the value of his experience for yourself and assess the degree to which his potential presidency would reflect the mentality of a grassroots activist.)

And if we are to take Sarah Palin's rhetoric seriously, then it is clear that she recognizes that the American system of representative democracy is broken. Corporate interests have taken control of Washington leaving us with too many politicians in both parties devoid of courage, accountability, or authenticity. And no single charismatic leader -- be they a P.O.W. survivor, a hockey mom, or a brother from the South Side -- can change that system by themselves.

What is required is a grassroots movement that will make Washington more accountable to participatory democracy. Community organizations inside the United States and even more so around the world are a principle vehicle to engage people in the practice of democratic action. (Author Paul Hawken has chronicled the global impact of such organizations.)

And community organizers -- paid and unpaid -- are a critical part of building such a movement. The best work among the grassroots the people, getting to know the people who make up communities and gaining intimate knowledge of their problems in ways that cannot be gleaned from the photo-op appearances by typical politicians. The best empower people to express their needs and concerns, not just as individuals but as a more powerful collective of diverse but coordinated souls. This means that community organizers must also be skilled at communication, negotiation, and compromise -- traits required of any good leader.

I can't say what possessed Palin to dis community organizers. I hope she understands that most Americans are not on a first-name basis with their mayor. I hope she understands that most Americans cannot and should not expect to get a check from their state government because corporations are making billions by extracting nonrenewable resources. I hope she understands that there are millions of Americans living in places like the South Side of Chicago, inner-city Detroit, and small towns across America whose lives and communities have been devastated by deindustrialization, environmental degradation, the war on drugs, the collapse of public school systems, and so on.

So now is our chance to see what Sarah Palin is really made of. Let's see her go to cities like Detroit and talk to people about their problems, not just the soccer/hockey mom in the suburbs but also the youth whose neighborhood school was just shut down, the mother living on a street haunted by drug dealers and gang violence, and the ex-con trying to straight but unable to secure a job. Once Palin belittles community organizers, what will she have to offer? Will she provide any new ideas or just the same old GOP talking points about how the free market gives everyone a chance to lift themselves up by their bootstraps? Or, will she, just like the politicians she claims to resent, continue to ignore the needs and concerns of the most marginalized sectors of our population?

Comments

[S1m0n]

As the man said, Jesus was the community organiser, while Pontius Pilate was a governor. Who's your role model?

[MagisterLudi]

My role model is Lenin. Now there was a community organizer which makes your political choice appear like a 1st grade hall monitor with a diaper problem.

[Criticalthinktank07]

Thank you for this post! She made a grave mistake in saying those words. She may have rallied the conservative base, but little does she know that she also rallied Community Organizers. What she doesn't realize is, CO's are the heartbeat of many communities and deserve to be respected. Service to this country does not only mean signing up for the military. Although military service is honorable, taking care of our communitiies and it's residents, particularly those in need, is equally as honorable.

[SusanK1951]

I wonder if we'll ever know what she'll do. She doesn't answer questions!

[sceneandherd]

Aren't Republicans proponents of small government (i.e., lower taxes), and supportive (philosophically, not monetarily) of private/fa­ith-based/­community organizations picking up the slack when it comes to the social safety net? If that's the case, then community organizers are just as (or more!) important as government officials!

[kenx]

Only a Republican would belittle community volunteerism. Giuliani, Palin and her speechwriter should be ashamed. Especially Giuliani. I guess he has forgotten about all of those volunteers who flooded the streets of NYC after 9-11. And Palin--the supposed Christian--insults a man because he decided to help others, instead of taking a high-paying position after Law School. I don't think anyone of these people has a sense of shame. I know that they don't have the empathy and kindness that should be required of all of our elected officials.
And by the way, Rudy and Sarah might want to talk to the first President Bush. He had this program called "1000 points of light" that they might find interesting.

[anon004]

"I can't say what possessed Palin to dis community organizers­." She didn't; her handlers did. (Not that she shouldn't have objected to saying it, but she has demonstrated, yet again, that she has no moral core, her professed right-wing "Christian" ideology not withstandi­ng.) They want to pretend they're the ones that relate to the poor and working class. They demonstrated last night that they actually would rather mock the poor and working class. I would have thought no one would have a problem with helping the poor, but, then, I would have thought no one would have a problem with a veteran who won a several medals during his tour of duty on a swiftboat in Vietnam. These people are just opportunistic, lying bullies, and there is nothing else to say.

[jbgnyc]

Everyone should be outraged by this comment. To me, it was the knife in the heart of everyone whose ever done poll sitting, community board committees, meals on wheels, and a trillion other things cities and towns would fall apart without.

How DARE Sarah Palin insult so many wonderful, hard working American neighbors and friends.

SHAME on her.

[RepugsOut08]

It was just a cheap shot in an effort to belittle Obama's experience. She didn't write it, and the handler who did was trying to be cute.
She had better enjoy her moment in the spotlight, because the news from Alaska just keeps getting more and more negative every day.
I'm glad Obama said today that she obviously wants to be treated like the guys. That tells me there will be no kid gloves for this hockey mom.

[jayded]

i cringed when she said what she said about community organizer.­...why not show at least some kind of decency and respect for the accomplishments of your opponents?

[sueno]

Mr. Kurashige:

Thank you for speaking my thoughts.
I'm honored to be part of the huge family of community of organizers 'round the globe.
I don't know what Ms. Palin is thinking, but believe/hope it's going to work against her.

[jackieany]

HuffPost's Pick

I know politics is dirty but this comment was downright disgusting and I can't believe that they think it is good to speak so negatively against people who are trying to help others.
I am a public servant. I am a licensed professional with a master's in her field. I chose to work in the county hospital when I finished school and later moved into the Public Health arena helping those less fortunate. Almost twenty years later I have turned down jobs paying 20K more a year then I make now so I could help the people in my community. I live in the 3rd poorest city in the country. When I am trying to make ends meet I remind myself that what really matters is I have helped those less fortunate not how big my checkbook is. When I heard this insult it really bothered me. It made me understand why I am a democrat and a liberal but I have to admit I just feel this was ugly and I think that they may have just marginalized away the election..­.which would make this comment much easier to deal with.

[PBirk]

A few community organizers:
Ralph Abernathy
Clara Barton
Rye Barcott
Daniel Berrigan
Alfred Boeddeker
Eliza Simmons Bryant
Cesar Chavez
Dorothy Day
John Dodds
Marian Wright Edelman
Medgar Evers
Lucy Félix,
Samuel Gompers
Martin Luther King
John L. Lewis
Wade Rathke

[CommonSenseBda]

It is easy for Karl Rove's gang of speechwriters to dis community organizers because they don't matter to Repubs. The only people that have ever mattered to them are the corporations and their lobbyists who put money in their pockets to do their bidding.

Like Barney Smith said on the night of Baracks' speech, Washington han't given a shite about Barney Smith, they have only been at the beck and call, and cared for Smith- Barney, and been there to bail them out.

[RBN]

I watched today as Chris Matthews laughed it up with Rudy Giuliani at the expense of community organizer and every person who selflessly tries to improve the lives of people in distressed communities. I think it's time people like Sarah Palin, Giuliani and Matthews learn what it is that a community organizer does.

[2cntswrth]

A very thoughtful and timely post. I also felt very put off by her cavalier and class-less attitude towards the function of community organizing, and all those people who tirelessly and unselfishly serve in that capacity to assist their communities hit by major problems faced in this nation. A lot of problems, ironically, pretty much caused Republicans in office who have no real connection or compassion for what is needed for our cities and for their inhabitants.

So while this was aimed at denigrating Barack Obama's qualifications, (which, by the way, has already proven to be a failed strategy to win an election); she fails also to even understand how her "puts downs" attack those people struggling at the bottom who rely upon the dedication of someone coming into their community to help empower them just as Obama did some 20 years ago. So, if she thinks referring to herself as a "pit-bull" in lipstick and being able to insult someone demonstrates her readiness to be commander in chief, she has a lot more to learn about our cities and towns across this nation that are made up of many communities more populated than her state.