Healthy Grassroots Make Strong Turf is what I chalk on sidewalks and paint on my banners.
Strong turf resists infestations of weeds and pests. It does that by constant, nurturing communication above and below ground. sunlight, microbes, soil, water, photosynthesis, chlorophyll and on and on. Gratitude to every element.
First, let me say, I love Susan’s description and the need to reform a party that is not working for us. Let me just add something else about grassroots organizations. I’m looking at my yard outside, brown and dry. But I know it soon will become green and alive again. Just like us. We may be battered and withered from the trauma of this past election, but we are surely gaining strength again. Soon we will be a force to be reckoned with.
Yes! You've articulated what I've come to see grassroots organizing to be at its core. I've canvassed for candidates for the past 3 election cycles but what really drives me is the opportunity to talk to people where they live their lives. Meeting them inside their community - frequently the one we share, as I increasingly seek to focus my efforts on local campaigns. I find great joy in making connections and helping to build networks that in turn empower the institutions that make our communities strong and resilient.
Grassroots, for me, is joining a team to repair the world. Linking arms with people who work hard to make our community, our state, and our nation a better place for all. Living heart to heart to help those who cannot help themselves. Grassroots means "Keep Marching, for progress is possible, not guaranteed."
Thank you! I love this column. Practical advice from fellow organizers is just what I need on a regular basis to help me with my outreach work. Keep it coming!
I read lots and lots of great material now on various substacks, including this one. I’ve decided to spend less time making comments on what I’ve read, largely because I can’t improve on what other readers have already written! Rather, I’m using that time to write short letters to the editor. (I also call my senators and congress member with these messages.) That’s a way I think we can reach people who are not in our “echo chamber” and may even be somewhat persuadable.
I’ve also started sending my letter to LOTS of papers, not just my local on in Dallas–I am hoping to reach more people is less urban areas, and I know one other Texas paper that has already published a letter.
Finally, I’m sharing my letters–let’s crowdsource. We don’t all need to start from scratch.
So, one little action from me–hope it’s helpful to someone.
Thank you for opening this valuable topic up for the new year!
I'm struck by the time frame of some of the discussion. While it's true that there is a big, exciting, important wave of new grassroots activism since the 2016 election, it's equally true that America has a long history of grassroots activism. I got my start in the 1960's civil rights and anti-war activism. A case could be made that the American revolution is itself an excellent example of grassroots activism (similarly the English, French, Russian, Mexican, etc.). Certainly, abolitionism and womens' suffrage and the Progressive movement and temperance. And the wellspring of so much modern activism is the labor movement.
A fear I often have of any activism is its tendency to need to re-invent the wheel. In my youth, that was caricatured - I don't recall ever hearing this said by an actual activist - as "don't trust anyone over 30." And state repression, such as McCarthyism or Nazism/Fascism, actively seeks to cut activists off from the current of history in which we flow -- quite effectively, all too often. Not being in touch with prior activist traditions and activists limits our skills and vision. Had Harris Wofford, Bayard Rustin and James Lawson, among others, brought Gandhi's teachings about non-violent social revolution to MLK and the civil rights movement. Frederick Douglass preached abolitionism in England and Ireland, and brought back their democratic currents. Before WWI, a national activists in a global peace movement supported and learned from each other. The list goes on.
For those of us closer to the end of our activist careers than the beginning, if I may put it mildly, passing on our movement learnings and traditions and experiences is one of our most important tasks, I believe. This conversation is an important part of that.
Hi Jeff, important points. Generational distrust works against us. I feel it a lot vis a vis the 70's women's movement, the organizations we built and lost (bookstores, newspapers, music festivals). Maybe this is the topic we want Third Act to write about as the older and younger generations get together on climate change.
At the same time, a lot of the fundraising we all do is for groups that are led by much younger people. Maybe we'd want to ask some of them to comment on this from their point of view. My wife and I were zealous hounds in the 70's for people from older movements to talk about their experiences (or read their memoirs). Her college thesis was about the Womens Trade Union League of the early 20th Century; her organizing work, chronicled in her memoir, https://ellencassedy.com/#9to5, includes references to what she'd studied, and also a seminal story of Florence Luscomb, who came to a lot of their early events and talked about how her mother had taken her to see Susan B. Anthony when she was a child.
Healthy Grassroots Make Strong Turf is what I chalk on sidewalks and paint on my banners.
Strong turf resists infestations of weeds and pests. It does that by constant, nurturing communication above and below ground. sunlight, microbes, soil, water, photosynthesis, chlorophyll and on and on. Gratitude to every element.
Love this
First, let me say, I love Susan’s description and the need to reform a party that is not working for us. Let me just add something else about grassroots organizations. I’m looking at my yard outside, brown and dry. But I know it soon will become green and alive again. Just like us. We may be battered and withered from the trauma of this past election, but we are surely gaining strength again. Soon we will be a force to be reckoned with.
I would include community network building and community wealth building.
Political action is critical, but a strong community network means a community that is resilient and able to take organized action in a crisis.
And we are going to be seeing more of those in the future. Political, economic and environmental.
Yes! You've articulated what I've come to see grassroots organizing to be at its core. I've canvassed for candidates for the past 3 election cycles but what really drives me is the opportunity to talk to people where they live their lives. Meeting them inside their community - frequently the one we share, as I increasingly seek to focus my efforts on local campaigns. I find great joy in making connections and helping to build networks that in turn empower the institutions that make our communities strong and resilient.
All of these are great, but my favorite is Martha Merson’s. The imagery she uses speaks to me deeply. Thank you!
Grassroots, for me, is joining a team to repair the world. Linking arms with people who work hard to make our community, our state, and our nation a better place for all. Living heart to heart to help those who cannot help themselves. Grassroots means "Keep Marching, for progress is possible, not guaranteed."
That's a great definition, Vicky!
Thank you! I love this column. Practical advice from fellow organizers is just what I need on a regular basis to help me with my outreach work. Keep it coming!
Well said
All of these! Thank you!
I read lots and lots of great material now on various substacks, including this one. I’ve decided to spend less time making comments on what I’ve read, largely because I can’t improve on what other readers have already written! Rather, I’m using that time to write short letters to the editor. (I also call my senators and congress member with these messages.) That’s a way I think we can reach people who are not in our “echo chamber” and may even be somewhat persuadable.
I’ve also started sending my letter to LOTS of papers, not just my local on in Dallas–I am hoping to reach more people is less urban areas, and I know one other Texas paper that has already published a letter.
Finally, I’m sharing my letters–let’s crowdsource. We don’t all need to start from scratch.
So, one little action from me–hope it’s helpful to someone.
As an example, I’m sharing my today’s letter regarding reaction to the two terror attacks: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15QraOcyJYquWFZkI7L6W-mBDGY31qdrnhq13u_Ez_sM/edit?usp=sharing
Texas newspaper contacts: Texas Newspapers Contacts
Oklahoma newspaper contacts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/126ih7z-ImQSkgmNsR8-mrf5Xw1tNd1rSNt0H-UCf_8Y/edit?usp=sharing
Excellent. I love being given a template with addresses. Thank you.
What a good new year's resolution. I like your strategy of sending to lots of papers. Keep writing, Cathy!
Thank you for opening this valuable topic up for the new year!
I'm struck by the time frame of some of the discussion. While it's true that there is a big, exciting, important wave of new grassroots activism since the 2016 election, it's equally true that America has a long history of grassroots activism. I got my start in the 1960's civil rights and anti-war activism. A case could be made that the American revolution is itself an excellent example of grassroots activism (similarly the English, French, Russian, Mexican, etc.). Certainly, abolitionism and womens' suffrage and the Progressive movement and temperance. And the wellspring of so much modern activism is the labor movement.
A fear I often have of any activism is its tendency to need to re-invent the wheel. In my youth, that was caricatured - I don't recall ever hearing this said by an actual activist - as "don't trust anyone over 30." And state repression, such as McCarthyism or Nazism/Fascism, actively seeks to cut activists off from the current of history in which we flow -- quite effectively, all too often. Not being in touch with prior activist traditions and activists limits our skills and vision. Had Harris Wofford, Bayard Rustin and James Lawson, among others, brought Gandhi's teachings about non-violent social revolution to MLK and the civil rights movement. Frederick Douglass preached abolitionism in England and Ireland, and brought back their democratic currents. Before WWI, a national activists in a global peace movement supported and learned from each other. The list goes on.
For those of us closer to the end of our activist careers than the beginning, if I may put it mildly, passing on our movement learnings and traditions and experiences is one of our most important tasks, I believe. This conversation is an important part of that.
Hi Jeff, important points. Generational distrust works against us. I feel it a lot vis a vis the 70's women's movement, the organizations we built and lost (bookstores, newspapers, music festivals). Maybe this is the topic we want Third Act to write about as the older and younger generations get together on climate change.
Sure, why not?
At the same time, a lot of the fundraising we all do is for groups that are led by much younger people. Maybe we'd want to ask some of them to comment on this from their point of view. My wife and I were zealous hounds in the 70's for people from older movements to talk about their experiences (or read their memoirs). Her college thesis was about the Womens Trade Union League of the early 20th Century; her organizing work, chronicled in her memoir, https://ellencassedy.com/#9to5, includes references to what she'd studied, and also a seminal story of Florence Luscomb, who came to a lot of their early events and talked about how her mother had taken her to see Susan B. Anthony when she was a child.
Grassroots work as we all work together and collaborate as much as possible. Register for the FridayPowerLunch.com and join us!