Watching the Tuesday election results, and reading the reactions from both the right and the left sent me to music—as major events often do—so I whipped out Soundtrack for a Revolution, and listened to The Roots perform their updated version of a song that still sustains many of us who are movement oriented—Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round.
Am I distressed? Dismayed? Disgusted?
No.
I'm Determined with a capital "D." Determined to put even more effort into grassroots movement-building and to implore you to do the same.
No forward political change has happened in the U.S. without people coming together and taking to the streets of our communities to fight back and push politicians and lawmakers to enact those changes in the law books.
It takes a movement and a message to make it happen.
Follow me below the fold for more.
Moral March in Raleigh, North Carolina on Feb. 8, 2014.
This is what a movement looks like!
As I wrote back in February:
They came to Raleigh, North Carolina, by the thousands. They were black and white, Latino, Native American, and Asian. Young and old, straight and LGBT, walking and in wheelchairs, they marched to the State House in the largest and most diverse demonstration ever held in the south.
But 80,000 people showing up was not enough to break through the walls of corporate-controlled media and garner national headlines. Sure, we covered it here, as did other blogs, and local North Carolina media, but until we can swell the numbers to those that cannot be ignored, and until we can refute the lie that the civil rights movement died and was buried with Dr. King, our progress will be slowed.
Yes, the R's (stands for Racists and Republicans in my book) have flexed their muscles again.
I'm not surprised. Let's stop referring to the Koch brother funding as "dark money." In my book they are white elite money—vowed and committed to keeping this country pristine for a white power structure—threatened by all us darkies and friends.
Yup—we put a black man in the White House for the first time, and for a second term, and of that we can be proud. A fusion coalition did it. But it's been non-stop racism since he got elected and it isn't going anywhere on a state-by-state level anytime soon. It's going to get worse, until we take steps to make it better.
You can spend all your time slicing and dicing cowardly Democrats, the president, the people who didn't vote (and why) in yet another mid-term postmortem.
Or you can wake up and smell the black coffee that the tea party hates with a passion. Get on board the train to freedom and none of us are gonna sit in a back seat. We will press forward together, arm in arm—and organize.
Right up to the election the headlines were dominated by Ebola. The Ebola scare and media hysteria swarming around it is just another word for dangerous black people from the "dark continent." Before that it was Ferguson and ISIL and Benghazi. Seeing black folks fight back in Ferguson brought more bigots to the polls—in FEAR. ISIL and Muslim terrorists who will "infiltrate our borders shifting from Mohammed to Miguel"— yet another conservative, xenophobic, nativistic, white fear tactic.
We the black people of the U.S. of A are only 13 percent of the population. We have endured and survived slavery, Jim Crow, and the Incarceration Nation, and we will continue to "keep on keepin' on." We will survive more Mike Browns and Trayvon Martins. But one thing we cannot do. We can't "fix" white racism or the fear package it's wrapped in. That—my white brothers and sisters—is your job.
I just attended the funeral of my last surviving uncle. He was 98. He fought in World War II for his country, and came home to be shoved to the back of the line. Did he drown his sorrows in bitterness? No. He strove to extend the hand of human kindness to all those he came into contact with. This country did not crush him and it ain't gonna crush me and mine. Nor am I throwing my hands up in the air and make plans to exit stage left to someplace else. My ancestors—black, white and Native American—are buried here. My job is to stand on their shoulders and struggle on.
My husband, who is Puerto Rican, has been watching the sleeping powerhouse that is the much talked about "Latino demographic," wondering what it will take to unite disparate Spanish-speaking communities to flex their muscles and enter into the fray full-speed ahead.
His hope and mine is that one day soon Latinos in much larger numbers will join in, once they get the picture that they are not gonna be embraced into the white bigot bosom unless they stay in their place—mow the lawns, clip the hedges, stay the assistant to the assistant lavaplatos, and pick veggies and fruit—silently. That day hasn't come yet. Latinos need to smell the cafe con leche. No matter how many Ted Cruzes or Marco Rubios, or Susana Martínezes the Rs shove at them, Latinos will still be used to evoke fear of the brown hordes swarming "our" white borders.
Black folks don't think racists stop being racist because "Clarence Thomas" or "Tim Scott." Heh. We know the okey doke of tokens. As I said above, we (black folks) are currently only 13 percent of the population. We ain't gonna win this alone.
Now the pride of white womanhood—batshit crazy Joni Ernst—can join the ranks of the Palins and Bachmanns and Brewers (supported by a media cast of Fox blondes) as yet another female face put in place to consolidate corporate patriarchy. Feminism and the Republican war on women didn't trump fear.
When how "women voted" gets deconstructed, too often the subtitle should be "white women," since black women vote, and as a bloc, it is for Democrats.
Black women had the highest voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election, representing almost 70 percent of the Black electorate and surpassing our 2008 record-breaking numbers.
I've heard people wonder why in the hell would people vote against their self-interests? Why would white women vote for misogynists? Why would working class whites cut off their noses to spite their faces and support Republicans who are smashing their futures into poverty dust?
One-word answer? Fear. One of the oldest and most successful divide and conquer tactics. Fear fanned by racism. Racism is one of the founding stones of this nation.
Poor, working class, and middle class whites have done so in the past and it will continue to happen as long as they are unable to see massive numbers of other white folks who look just like them, arm in arm with those of us of darker hues fighting back together in solidarity. And those white folks who aren't fear-driven have to spend face time talking—in bars, barber shops, community centers, at PTA meetings, weddings and funerals, and in the workplace—talking with other whites. Just blogging ain't gonna cut the mustard. Friending and de-friending on Facebook can only go but so far. How else are we going to counteract a media-driven tissue of Republican lies? Don't expect politicians to do this messaging for you, or TV ads and mailers. Trending tweets will never take the place of face-to-face, one-on-one personal contact.
Yes, I know that many primarily young whites were inspired to hit the streets and protest around Occupy. Occupy, by and large, did not have a voting component, nor did it have a multi-hued media face. Nor did it have a sustainable structure.
I stand firm in my commitment to elect more and better Democrats, but without a mass mobilized movement to push them, we will be treading the shark-filled waters of political expediency yet again in 2016 and in future national midterm elections.
Neither the president, nor the Congress, nor the Supreme Court are gonna fix this nation.
You want to do it? Get out from behind your keyboard from time to time and put in the footwork. As I often say, "the revolution will be slogged, not blogged."
I'm doing a teach-in two weeks from now on my campus about movement-building and Moral Mondays. I did a completely unscientific random survey of both students and faculty at my New York liberal state university, asking, "What do you think of the Moral Mondays movement?" Got mostly blank looks as answers. My follow-up question was "Have you heard of the civil rights movement?" Almost unanimous "yes" answers. I then asked, "When did it end?" Almost all of the answers were "Sometime in the late '60s." One student looked at me and replied, "It hasn't ended." I gave her a hug. We older folks with longer track records in organization and mobilization have not done a particularly stellar job of communicating that, and I realize that the forces of inertia, deception, and distraction have been arrayed against us, but the time for excuses is over and the time to take action is now.
Mass movements are built, brick by brick. They need both visible actions and sustainable structure. What grounds Moral Mondays is the structure of the NAACP, an organization that has been in existence since 1909, built on the foundations of earlier anti-slavery, suffrage, and abolition efforts. It has been racially integrated since its inception. I admit to having spent many of my youthful years in groups that were far more radical that the NAACP, but never did I lose that connection (I joined in junior high school), or disparage its sustained efforts.
Some of you may be old enough to remember teach-ins on campuses across America during the anti-war movement. We also had them during the early days of the civil rights movement, which resulted in voter registration and sit-ins.
Well, it's time for more of them.
I'm also preparing a "step-by-step how and why to vote" handout with links for my students. Why? Because my students, (all but two were registered to vote) didn't vote. I take that back—four of them did vote, but the rest talked to me about why they didn't. A few said, "Voting doesn't matter, it won't do anything." But the vast majority of them said sheepishly, "I don't even understand who to vote for, what different politicians stand for and how to find it out." Almost all of them are 18 or 19 years old. Not one of them had ever had any of this explained to them in high school.
I realize that youth voting numbers will rise in the upcoming national election, but the time is now to start preparing ground for the midterm slump that will follow, with work starting immediately. By "we," I mean those of us who do take voting seriously, and who take the time to participate in local and state elections.
Now is the time for more and more white folks of good will to step up to the plate. I don't care if your primary issue is climate change, the environment, privacy, corporate greed, LBGT equality, immigration, reproductive rights, labor rights, universal health care, or marijuana legalization.
If we do not make a massive showing of all of our issues melded into one mass of unblackoutable protest, we will continue to be shoved to the margins—separated, picked off one by one, and remaining unequal.
My suggestion for a first mass step is to show up next spring in North Carolina. The date is far enough in advance for you to save up those hard-earned coins and get there. There will be buses heading to Raleigh from many parts of the nation. Get on board for the Moral March on Raleigh | HKonJ People's Assembly. Saturday, February 14, 2015:
If you believe that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, if you understand that what happens in North Carolina has implications for the future of the nation, if you believe that we can build a moral movement together to save the soul of our state and country, then join us as we tell Governor McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly, "Forward Together, Not One Step Back!"We are calling on all people of conscience and concern to join us as we stand against the extreme and regressive agenda being pushed in North Carolina. This agenda is a reflection of what is happening across the United States.
Why North Carolina? Why not yet another march on Washington? For me, it's simple. We have a state-by-state problem, with white money, Koch-funded legislatures. Why not gather together in the state that birthed one of the first fusion movements, and is becoming a base for change spreading into neighboring red states?
Join me in trekking to Raleigh in the spring of next year.
Meanwhile, let's talk about more steps you can take on your own home turf. Join me in comments for ideas and discussion.
In closing, I want to share with you the voices and faces of young people from the Boston Children's Chorus (BCC)—black, white, Asian, Latino, and Native American—who are singing to make a difference.
I will be in my grave in another decade or two, but as long as I know I kept on putting one foot forward it will be okay with me. Another generation will carry the baton over the "finished with racism and the other isms" line.
Sing along with me.
I ain't gonna let no racists turn me round ... turn me round. I ain't gonna let nobody turn me round ... marching on to freedom's land.