Forms of direct action: Building community

To be fair, "building community" might be more indirect action; sometimes the definitions get fuzzy.

There are three primary influences on me in this area, and things I have read continue to have an impact.

One was recently reading about George Manuel. Yes, he did things like holding offices in existing organizations, founding new organizations, petitioning government, and things like that, but early on he realized that there was a need for community. He started by organizing some sports teams and beauty pageants.

Now, you might be thinking that beauty pageants are sexist. That's possible. I remember watching a documentary, Between Resistance and Community in Long Island (2002). The local punk community was trying to exercise DIY principles, and that included organizing kickball games for free entertainment. It seemed like a good experience for everyone, but as they delved a little deeper, sexism was a real issue (a theme that kept popping up in my emo exploration). 

People are imperfect and their efforts tend to reflect that. I don't know how Manuel's beauty pageants went, so that's a possibility. I also know the Miss Navajo pageant involves demonstrating knowledge of Navajo customs and sheep butchering. The pageants Manuel started might not have conformed to what we would expect after watching the Miss America pageant or Toddlers & Tiaras. 

Another influence was recently reading The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs.

There was a lot more philosophy than I expected, but that was part of what made sense. Marx was writing during the Industrial Age, when scarcity was the driver. Grace and her husband Jimmy Boggs were in Detroit at the time of automation. It's not that none of the points were the same, but there were significant changes that required adaptation. As it turns out, a lot of her work ended up involving community gardens and multi-generational youth projects. That might not even seem that revolutionary, but if you are looking at building a better future, and something sustainable, that sort of building and filling of needs is essential.

Of course, Boggs was also influenced by my third influence, Martin Luther King's aspiration to "the Beloved Community".

I can't actually see that he used the phrase a lot. I know it was mentioned at least twice, but then when he was speaking of integration and union and brotherhood, it was all tending toward that. In addition, the phrase is so wonderfully evocative on its own that it resonates, even as it remains not very well defined.

I mean, we know that we are not there, and we have ideas of what it might be like, but there is a large chasm that can make it hard to visualize.

When I think about the activism that I want to do, it is always centered around that.  

I care about connection and healing. If I seem to have an aversion to protests, I guess it's because I don't see those getting us there. That would not be a problem if I was sure how to get us there. 

So I just have thoughts.