Alaska Governor Sarah Palin insulted us last night at the Republican National Convention:
“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities” [laughter]
This line was carefully planned and released a few hours before she gave the speech. Apparently the attack was worth more than any community organizer backlash.
It visibly angered Roland Martin:
It got me pretty jazzed up, too. I have, we all have, worked hard on the campaigns we commit ourselves to. Community organizing, is, if not by definition alone, hard work.
From Giuliani earlier in the night:
“On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer. What? He worked — I said — I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.”
And this morning, McCain advisor Nicole Wallace on MSNBC’s Morning Joe said that community organizers only create trouble and protest at the GAP…
The GOP is clearly out of touch. If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably familiar with the profession of community organizing. The long hours. The low-pay. The stress. The battles combating institutional distrust and community apathy. Community organizers help facilitate the conditions necessary to encourage a community to give voice to their concerns and take specific action to see that those concerns are addressed.
Whether it’s organizing for environmental justice, living wages, expanding affordable housing, improving the quality of public school or 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.
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 candidates should be courting these community values, not belittling them.
But in the end, our job as community organizers is not to be recognized, only to help social problems come into the proper light. It is not to be figurehead front-page news, although some certainly deserve more personal praise than they are publicly given. Palin, the GOP, and individual republicans need to be asked, “What do you think you’re accomplishing when you demean us?” We work with schoolteachers, accountants, local governments, students, just so we help our communities thrive, full of better change for all. How are you against that?
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Yep, McCain has officially thrown in the towel with this pick. Expect her to say a lot more offensive, campaign sinking things in the future.
Remember in 1990 when Bush Sr. insulted broccoli growers by refusing to eat broccoli and banning it from the White House? Maybe not. But I remember the crazy (deserved) maelstrom of attacks against him. Because a president or any person of similar power can’t go insulting an entire profession. It’s just rude. And dumb. And bad for morale.
I sincerely hope that Broccoli-Gate won’t go down in history as getting more media attention and causing more lasting outrage than the systematic mocking of the profession of organizing that happened last night. Community organizers don’t just make us healthier and keep us fed (something they have in common with broccoli growers). They make democracy possible.
Anyone who is against community organizing is against democracy. And any public official that mocks any such profession is a short sighted jerk.
I applaud myself and all of us who ARE community organizers. The pre-requisite for the job is to care for ALL in the world and especially so for our communities. Through continued volunteerism we will surely make sure that people are voter registered and will provide transportation to the polls to make sure the folks who look down on community organizers and activist are laid to rest and put OUT of the white house.
Organizers this will be our biggest “responsibilty” ever. Our communities will be better off by us vigorously making this happen November 2008. Carry on folks, carry on!
Here’s a great quote from Douglas Rushkoff:
“What is it they hate? Guiliani and Palin both made it pretty clear: community organizing. Community organizing is energized from below. From the periphery. It is the direction and facilitation of mass energy towards productive and cooperative ends. It is about replacing conflict with collaboration. It is the opposite of war; it is peace.”
THE WEEKEND! (brought to you by the labor movement).
If they want to make this election about the freedom of people to organize vs. the centralized, powerful interests of the few, then they’re gonna lose. Obama’s received over $8 million in donations since Palin’s speech.
As someone who has organized campaigns and communities, I am glad that someone posted this blog about the GOP’s condescending attacks on community organizers.
HOWEVER, I find it a little frustrating that your blog didn’t include anything about the WAR that the Municipal, County, State and Federal authorities have declared on protesters, activists, anarchists and organizers this week in the streets of Minneapolis.
One Saturday, they staged pre-emptive raids on organizers and now have charged them with PATRIOT ACT enhanced “Conspiracy to Riot.”
On Monday, they attacked people using direct action completely out of proportion with the tactics being used by affinity groups. Breaking a few windows, dragging newspaper bins into the street and locking down, don’t require concussion grenades, rubber bullets or the national guard.
On Monday, they arrested Amy Goodman and two producers from Democracy Now! along with an AP reporter. Tonight, they arrested a reporter from the Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Tuesday night, they canceled the Rage Against the Machine concert and attacked people as they started a march in response.
Last night they attacked the Poor People’s March with tasers, tear gas and brute force.
Tonight, as I type, the are attacking the Peace march.
I won’t even go into the reports of beatings, the use of mace and teargas and tasers used in jail being reported as people leave jail.
It’s not just “masked criminals,” anti-capitalists and anarchists that they attack, jail and hospitalize. It’s anyone showing any dissent in the streets of St. Paul.
And the kicker, and there is a KICKER, is that the authorities in Minneapolis St. Paul signed a deal with the GOP Host Committee that the GOP would pay the 1st $10 million in law suit damages to be filed by protesters. It pretty much has given law enforcement much more range to turn the Twin Cities into Beijing.
I hope that many reading this blog are showing solidarity and support for our brothers and sisters in the Twin Cities tonight. Check out http://twincities.indymedia.org/ on how to do that.
snarky comments aside, here’s some footage as to what the GOP really things about community organizing, progressive activism and dissent to their agenda.
http://www.twincities.com/video?bcpid=1653590799&bclid=1755456983&bctid=1774291302
Thanks Scott. I find deeply disturbing that at least 8 have been charged with “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism”…
http://rinf.com/alt-news/activism/rnc-protesters-charged-with-terrorist-offences/4527/
thank you for posting this!
p.s. i started making a post before i saw that you did! didn’t mean to double up, but decided to finish it so that i could embed videos and such.
here’s some reports of what was going on in the Twin Cities jails while Palin and Guiliani mocked community organizing and Obama.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379250.shtml
solidarity forever, Scott