OAJ Hot Take: Community Organizing Is More Than Platitudes
Going to "the community" with knowledge or phrases in-hand is not enough. We must embed ourselves within the marginalized groups we seek to work with.
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The piece below is part of our weekly blog post series written by the Open-Air Journal team where we explore issues at Heller, current events, or whatever is presently on our minds.
At The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, many students Aspire to improve the lives of marginalized individuals, drawn by Heller's commitment to social justice. This is a wonderful thing – Heller is vocal about advocating for social justice and most students decided to study here for that reason. Despite students’ best intentions, the casualness with which students refer to “the community” in coursework and presentations reveals a lack of understanding of the practicality of working with these groups.
Policy students who wish to work with marginalized groups should integrate themselves into the community they wish to survey or learn from and center their interests. My favorite example of this comes from a professor at my undergraduate institution. While earning his doctorate, he needed to complete a series of oral history interviews with Black Panthers who had committed crimes for which the statute of limitations had not passed. As a white man, the former Black Panther members did not trust him. To initiate a meaningful academic dialogue, the professor attended the local community’s Black Baptist church for years before individuals trusted him enough to share their experiences. While not every situation allows for such extensive involvement, embodying this spirit is crucial for effective organizing and academic outcomes.
Similarly, those seeking to work with marginalized groups must remember that no combination of phraseology, theory, or background knowledge is a proper substitute for genuine engagement and hard work. Be nice. Be genuine. Demonstrating allyship goes beyond knowing or saying things; it involves tangible action. For example, an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community should provide the manual labor for constructing a Pride Parade float, instead of merely joining community members on the float during the parade.
Lastly, a dose of realism is essential—getting people to agree to a date and time is challenging and getting them to show up is even harder. When I was labor organizing at the University of Mississippi, organizing the Black maintenance workers on campus proved to be particularly challenging. Unsurprisingly, Black campus workers, many of whom were descendants of those who built the university as enslaved persons, distrusted white organizers and union workers. To build trust, the union organized a series of free lunches to create a common space for one-on-one conversations with interested Black workers. Black workers did not initially attend those lunches – but that did not necessarily mean that organizers failed. Trust takes time to build, and those working as organizers or academics in these spaces must be persistent.
Working with marginalized communities is challenging, and our academic and research backgrounds position us to make a meaningful impact. However, intentionality in our actions is paramount. Genuine engagement, backed by persistence and respect, is the key to successful community organizing. Embedding yourself in the communities you work with is the most important thing you can do.
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