Getting Organized

In Portland, OR., there is a controversy brewing around the renaming a portion of a highway and some street in the city after Cesar Chavez. While, public monuments are good and certainly a part of who we are as a civilization, maybe even the human race, they are almost always an attempt to capture the sentiment of a time that has pasted. 

In Lansing, MI., in 1993, we too had a community wide controversy over the renaming of a street as a way to honor Cesar. By decree of the City Council Grand Avenue, a street running through the downtown of Lansing was renamed Cesar Chavez Avenue after a very aggressive one man petitioning drive by life long Lansing resident Paulo Gordillo. To make a long story short, a local attorney, Fred Stackable and a local shock jock wannabe named Tim Barron teamed up for a petition drive to put the renaming of the street up to a vote among the citizens of Lansing. As a result the bid to keep the name Cesar Chavez Avenue was overwhelmingly defeated and the street was returned to its former name. We bear the distinction of being one of two cities in the country to have this happen. The other is Fresno, CA,. 

It was my first real look at politics, organizing and why sometimes it is important to vote.

Over the years I've seen first hand that if we really want to honor Cesar or any of the others who sacrificed so much (in the case of some their very lives) we would take the time to learn the skills needed to carry on their very important work. Never before has the ability to run community campaigns through grassroots engagement or organizing, whatever you want to call it been so important and badly needed. 

I understand how important something like this street can be but I truly believe it is about us getting it right, not them. As we work to build broad based coalitions across the country that will move RAZA toward a greater realization of what social justice can mean what greater tribute to Cesar could there be than for us to get organized?

Of course, the reality of that effort is much easier said than done. The first steps toward building mass mobilization efforts in our communities across the country must begin with attainable and realistic but challenging goals on the local level. 

Grassroots broad coalition mobilization in the Xicano/Mexicano community is the only political process that is capable of bringing the community together to work on common issues facing our RAZA. This type of work is accomplished through (1) organized direct contact and (2) collective activities designed to advance a common vision and challenge prevailing beliefs.

An important step in strategic planning is to (3) set goals for building mass mobilization capacity because define goals produce results. These (4) goals should be agreed upon by the members of your group or organization.

The recent immigration march in Dallas at least in reading about it on the web is a good example of how something like this might look. This article does a good job in showing a large cross section of the Dallas community that turned out for this immigration rally.

Their does not always have to be 500,000 people present for an event to be a success. Grassroots mobilization or Low Intensity Organizing works within communities to build resistance over a period of time. This allows groups of people to become educated about the political process not just issues. It is powerful because it (5) demonstrates the strength of your position by mobilizing community support, (6) is a proven method to defeat the rich and powerful, (7) builds real community power, (8) is effective on small budgets and (9) is a foundation of authentic democracy. 

Learning how to organize is important. Understanding and believing in what we can do with organization is even more important.