By Van Jones
President Obama’s big win last Tuesday was a victory for the middle
class, a rejection of trickle-down economics, and a statement from a new
generation of Americans that they are a force to be reckoned with
But most of all, it was a vindication for the much-maligned
community organizer.
Remember all those folks on the right who mocked the organizers who
work patiently and tirelessly in communities across the country? The way they
tried to tar President Obama for passing up lucrative opportunities to instead
take a job as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago? Recall, if you can
bear it, Sarah Palindeclaring that a small-town mayor is
“sorta like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual
responsibilities”?
It turns out, community organizers got the last laugh.
In the last days of the election, I argued that the pundits were
making far too much of the so-called “enthusiasm gap.” They were missing
the determination of voters, and the work
on the ground that was flying below the radar. When Tuesday
rolled around, the proof was in the vote count: The 2008 coalition, wrongly
regarded as a mere flash in the pan, had held. And it was community organizers
like these who made it happen:
▪
Ben Jealous and the NAACP registered and turned out more than a
million new African-American voters on election day. In Ohio, the black vote
went from 11 percent of the electorate in 2008 to 15 percent in 2012. In swing
state after swing state, the percentage of black voters in the electorate
either increased or held steady, even as the number of voters overall
increased. It was a testament to the power of deep community organizing in the
black community.
▪
Hoodie Vote, Vote Mob, the Dream Defenders and scores
of other organizations by and for young people organized campuses and
neighborhoods across the country. Before the election, I said that
if young people failed to turn out, the president was “toast.” But turn out
they did—in fact, the percentage of the electorate under 30 actually went up
from 18% in 2008 to 19% in 2012!
▪
The Obama campaign invested in the
ground game as no campaign had before. In contrast, Karl
Rovesunk hundreds of millions of rich folks’ money into attack ads
that had basically no effect and emerged as one of the cycle’s biggest losers.
On Wednesday, veteran political journalist John Avlon at CNN said he would
scoff at “field” organizing no longer.
There are some important lessons to be gleaned from this.
President Obama relied on his base—and now his base is relying on him.
We won’t sit back. But we’re counting on him to represent our values and speak
up for the folks who got him re-elected. The president should refuse any budget
deals that preserve massive tax breaks for the rich. He should also save
programs that middle class and poor folks rely on from the budget axe.
We also need to remember that progressives don’t hold a monopoly on
community organizing. The right-wing support centers FreedomWorks and Americans
for Prosperity invested millions in talented young evangelists who built deep
networks and helped elevate the Tea Party into a movement that made Washington
pay more attention to the long-term debt problem than the immediate jobs
crisis.
Finally, we progressives haven’t always embraced the power of community
and collaboration in our own organizations. Too often, we’re boring and bossy.
We demand another signature on a petition, or that folks fall in line behind
what Congress will vote for instead of the big change and big ideas that
inspired us to get involved in the first place. We can’t put down deep roots in
a community to get folks to the polls, and then turn around and try to get
things done in Washington with the same old insider-y game.
Instead, let's fire some lobbyists and hire some organizers. Let's build
communities, not just lists. Let's empower and connect our members, instead of
just activating them. Then let's listen to them. It won't just make our
movement more powerful. It will be a constant reminder that no cuts and fair
taxes is nothing more than a good start. There is also a housing crisis to end,
roads and bridges to repair, and new sustainable industries to unlock. A
generation with too much debt and too few opportunities needs to be put back to
work, and an economy with too much Wall Street and too little Main Street needs
to be rebuilt from the bottom up.
In short, the lesson of the 2012 election was this: Don’t mess with
community organizers. And don’t forget that organizing isn’t just for
elections.
Van
Jones wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media
organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Van is a
long-time activist, former White House adviser, and co-founder of Rebuild the
Dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment