Building Powerful Community Organizations

You can easily reach me on my cell phone

BPCO — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:50:58 -0500

If you want to talk, try my cell phone: 617 645 0226, or visit the website for the organization I now work for, MICAH, in Framingham, MA, USA, go to: www.MICAHMA.ORG to email me from there. Thanks, Michael Jacoby Brown.

Getting a Vote is Like a Movie Conversation

BPCO — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:03:10 -0400

In the early 1980’s I was working for a community organizing when Ronald Reagan came into office and did a good job of de-funding much community organizing. Up until that time, most community organizers (and community organizations) had steered totally clear of being involved in electoral politics – mostly because we thought it was too corrupt. But Reagan's election was a wake up call, and we started sniffing around the edges of electoral politics.

One day Paul Tully, (of blessed memory now), who had worked for the late Senator Kennedy and other Democrats, came to give us a training session. He was the Irish politico out of central casting, brash, extroverted, with a big belly. “I don’t know or understand what you guys do,” he said bluntly. Then he went on to explain his business: getting people elected.

Up until that time I thought electoral politics were about what I had read in the papers: about polling, numbers, advertisements, speeches, and personalities, including celebrities like the Kennedys. But Tully said something that gave me a whole new perspective. He said, “You want people to talk about your candidate the way they talk about movies. You want them to recommend your candidate like they recommend a movie.”

“How do you decide what movie you are going to see?” he asked us. Almost all of us said we see movies on recommendations of friends.

“It is the same with candidates ...

Doing Nothing Not the Right Thing

BPCO — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:14:31 -0500

Recently, Joe Rizoli, a notorious anti-immigrant racist cable TV host in Framingham, MA, where I am an organizer, falsely accused a priest and one of our local leaders, of “assault and battery.” It was a publicity grab by Rizoli. When I asked a local Framing ham Selectman (Town official) to pass a resolution praising Father Pranzo (the priest), he told me he thought it best to just ignore the Rizoli’s. I disagree. And so we held a rally and prayer vigil outside the District Court the day of the priest’s hearing. About 40 people came, including two State Representatives, several pastors, priests and rabbis.

All the clergy wanted to come, even though it was the one day off a week several of them had. They came in the cold and snow to speak out for all immigrants, whom Father Pranzo has been defending. Many immigrants are members of his Catholic church. It was a blessing for Father Joe to see so many people supporting him, and it gave the clergy and elected officials an opportunity to say in public where they stood. Standing up in public for what is right made people feel good and built morale in our organization.

If we had done nothing, ignored the Rizoli’s, as the Selectman had suggested, we would have missed an opportunity to mobilize our power and an opportunity for people to do the right thing. Organizing gives people an opportunity to say in public what they believe in private, and when they see ...

Tom Daschle, Health Care and Organizing

BPCO — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:09:15 -0500

Tom Dashle’s withdrawal from the head of HHS highlights the need to rely on powerful organizations rather than particular individuals to achieve our goals. Certainly, individuals matter, but the over-reliance on one person to achieve our goals only points out how much more we need strong, on-going organizations to fight for universal health care. When organizations rather than individuals are the foundation of our success, then the withdrawal of one person does not doom the whole project.

We saw in the Civil Rights Movements, how over-reliance on one charismatic leader caused problems when he was killed. Yes, specific individuals can inspire us. Yes, we can have only one President at a time. But if we are always building powerful organizations and developing new leaders, then the loss of one does mean the loss of everything.

Like unemployment insurance and Social Security, a right to health care on a universal level will be a major step forward and a big step toward alleviating the anxiety so many of us feel who are threatened with losing our health insurance. Let us keep our eyes on the prize.

Organizing, Action and Prayer

BPCO — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:20:56 -0500

Organizers often focus in action on getting a large number of people in the room to confront someone in authority, the assumption that only a show of great numbers will convince someone in authority (say an elected official) that the group has the power to lead the authority to do what the group wants.

In this week’s Torah portion, we have the story of Judah approaching his brother Joseph, a great authority in Egypt. In looking at this story (of someone without power approaching someone with great power), some rabbis explain that HOW he approaches him matters. So I reflect that HOW we approach someone in power matters. If we do it in a way that is “prayerful,” honest, and connected with our truth, we might be in a better position to gain what we and our community want.

We are praying to some omnipotent God who may or may not grant our wish, like some magic fairy. We are recognizing our own power and our own truth and speaking it out loud. Only in speaking it out loud can we learn and then know what the truth is. Telling our story out loud is part of that process. When we say in public what is in our hearts, then might connect with a power way beyond our numbers. This may be what Abraham Joshua Heschel meant when he said, during a civil rights march that he was “praying with his feet.” In the action, in the march, we find ...