We all love King, but remember it wasn't King's Movement, it's The People's Movement

In Alabama, as I am sure may be happening in other places in the nation, there has been an influx of talk about the Civil Rights Movement. Much talk has been hijacked by the corporate elite trying to re-write history. But much has been told with the truth and justice it deserves. I read this one today from the "Birmingham News," and it spoke to me and inspired me to write a comment back.

I want to say despite looking across from my desk every day and seeing the 1956 mug shot from the first time Brother Martin got arrested in Montgomery at 27 years old hanging on my wall, I never look at that photo and just see him and the intensity in his eyes. I see the intensity and the passion of every day people deciding it was time to take action. I see the children, and their parents, of Birmingham. The "nameless" who traveled from across the country to join in on the march from Selma to Montgomery. I see the often forgotten campaigns in Harlem, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles fighting for economic justice in "The Poor People's Campaign" and campaigns of the like. I see the oft-forgotten leaders and organizations, some small, and some who were powerhouse organizations, such as CORE, The Congress for Racial Equality, and its co-founder James L Farmar. I see the individuals who went into towns like Clayton, Alabama and went into the "wrong" laundry mat with a purpose of defiance towards injustice. I see the people who never marched but did what they could behind the scenes. People who included a Detroit mother who one day packed up, left her children and husband and said I will be back. Leaving to answer the call of the fight despite not knowing a single marcher or participant. She did it to answer the call for justice and freedom. She saw people, and she decided she needed to head Bama Bound, and pronto. She did not return. People rooting way back to the Niagara movement and beyond. It starts with one. A movement is not built on the backs of the famous. It is built on the backs of the everyday citizens who decides to respond to the call for Justice.

""We love Dr. King," Cotton said. "I love Dr. King, but it was not Dr. King's movement. He did not start the civil rights movement."... "It was started by one person here, one person there, one person over here," she said. "If you see something wrong, sometimes you may have to start an action all by yourself," Cotton said. "One person sees something wrong and starts doing something about it. People will join you if you do it with the right spirit."" - Dorthy Cotton of the SCLC.

Let us not forget movements take decades to build in full force. But in starts with individual defiance towards injustice, and resisting the status quo. It starts with a revolution of conscientiousness and awareness. It starts with one, and through your action and energy, building relationships, building brotherhoods and sisterhoods, building a family, a family who will then resist together.

"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you." – Marian Wright Edelman

Birmingham News Article:
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/04/dorothy_cotton_aide_to_the_rev.html

"Good Luck [Building A Moment]"

I guess this one is appropriate for my first blog post. We are just going to get into the meat of it. I will give y'all a writing including my story-of-self later. This is the writing where my friend finally pushed me hard enough that I accepted to start my own blog. A writing that may be fair enough to start with to explain the name I decided to title this blog as, "Social Commentary and Building a Movement."

It is a writing in response to people saying, "Good luck" or "I hope you..." when discussing organizing and movement building. So here we go:



I have multiple times been told things like "good luck," or "I hope..." including specifically being told, "wow so you are doing a whole lot. I hope you can accomplish what you are set out to do! Good luck with all of that."

Don't get me wrong now; I deeply appreciate the support and the solidarity. But there is something that stings in my mind every single time I hear that these days. Hope? Hope has nothing to do with it. It is about will and determination. Building a movement has happened multiple times before. I refuse to believe or accept that it cannot happen again. And I refuse to not be a force to help make it happen. Though as I said, I appreciate the support. I do.

Now to back track let's start earlier back. I have known for years now I wanted to "change the world." I have known for years now that I refused to not make that happen. But I have been on a journey to figure out what that means and what it is going to take for that to happen. Thus I have constantly taken every opportunity possible to continue to grow, learn, and continue that path. If you asked me a few years ago if I wanted to, and if I was going to do whatever I could, I would have said, "Yes." Though if you asked me a few years ago, "How are you going to do that" or "What does that mean," I would not have had an answer. But now I do. For the first time ever the past few months, I feel like I can see it clearly. I feel like I know what that means, that I can see both the big picture, and I have a plan in place that I am sold on for what steps I feel are necessary to get there. I have seen the mountaintop. And in return, I say things now like, "I want to start a movement."

Want? Well some of that comes from (yes as overly confident as I am) me being modest. I have high respect for all the amazing people around me, and all the amazing people who have come before me. So I constantly shrug things off when other people say things about me. Though I was walking out of my apartment on the way to work one day and I was thinking about language. In particular why people have told me they can be drawn to language I use. For example, growing up I used to always say, "I am going to be a General Manager in the NBA" instead of “I want to.” I never thought twice about it until my sister brought it up to me for the first time. Ever since then I have begun to become more and more cognizant of my language. So I was walking out of my apartment thinking about the strength of the words I use. Repeating "I want to start a movement" to myself. Proud of that wording. Then I got pissed off at myself. Want? ... Want? Excuse me? Why am I saying “want?” What’s wrong with me? Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes I still use the word want. But when I do it is with a new mentality then before. Want? No, I can’t accept that. I am. I am. WE ARE going to start a movement. Even if it's the last of me. And hope has nothing to do with it. Luck has nothing to do with it. Excuses will not be tolerated. Finding a way to make it work will. Re-analyzing when things are not going as planned will. Re-evaluating will be tolerated. Will, determination, and blood, sweat, and tears will. I appreciate your hope and luck. But save it. I want solidarity. But hope and luck will not be a part of my vocabulary. WE WILL start a movement. And though I always want to challenge myself to still grow, I am only for the first time in my life comfortable with my knowledge and skills to say so. In much part due to the many mentors, supporters, friends, opportunities, and experiences I have been blessed to have.

Peace, Love, and Solidarity Forever.