Written by: Susan, Community & Professional Training Manager
The other day I saw a t-shirt with these words:
“Don’t agonize…organize!”
There are a lot of realities (like the prevalence of gender-based violence) that feel overwhelming and can quickly lead to agonizing…to anxiety and fear…to isolation…rage and hostility…distrust. It is natural to feel powerless in the face of things we can’t control. Frustration, heartbreak, anger, confusion – these feelings stand to reason when we look at so much injustice and oppression all around us. These feelings all make sense, and we need to feel and process them. Then…let’s organize!
Today, during Women’s History Month, I feel hope and gratitude when I think of all the organizing that has come before me. I think of the words of my favorite poet, Ani DiFranco:
“…And people bin raising up their voices Since it just ain’t bin right
With all the righteous rage
And all the bitter spite
That will accompany us out
Of this long night
That will grab us by the hand
When we are ready to take flight
Seat back and tray table
In the upright and locked position
Shocked to tears by each new vision
Of all my ancestors have done
Like, say, the women who gave their lives
So that I could have one”
Today, we need to be those people “raising up our voices”. Just as they did, we can organize ourselves and speak with the loud, communal, powerful voice that I know we have. Rights that were won by those that came before us, and are now under attack, are also ours to protect. How do we protect them? By organizing of course.
So, what is community organizing exactly? I asked some of my friends and this is what I heard:
- My husband said: “Gathering a group of people around the same idea to make change.”
- My friend Cara (who I think might have used ChatGPT) said: “The process of bringing people together to collectively address shared issues or concerns within a community. It involves mobilizing individuals to take collective action, build power and advocate for change at local, regional, or even national levels.”
- My friend Brian said: “It’s doing stuff?”
- My cousin Simon just started naming people: “Saul Alinski, Barack Obama, MLK, Ceasar Chavez, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Stacy Abrams.”
Whatever “Community Organizing” means to you, we invite you to become part of this movement to protect the civil rights of survivors, to protect the rights of our neighbors and friends who are targeted or scapegoated, and to stand alongside each other and find that powerful collective voice that comes when we are in community, rather than in isolation.
