The Take Back America Conference and Me, Part 2: Conscience and Connectedness
I have to admit that I did not go to this conference hoping to change large numbers of people's minds about the urgency for meaningful election reform. It's not that I wouldn't like to. It's just that I've been doing this long enough now to find that a thoroughly unrealistic notion, akin to winning the lottery or being struck by lightning. (I was struck by lightning, come to think of it, so maybe a breakthrough is not as farfetched as I thought.)
I did have an agenda. I intended to network and meet new people, build coalitions and bridges. I went last year and it never occurred to me not to go again this year. Once I conquered my fear of crowds of thousands of strangers, there was no turning back. It's as if there's a new me crowding out the old, familiar, fearful me and I find it extremely empowering. Every morning I wake up and wonder what new surprises in life await me. There's something new to learn everywhere you look. When I'm outside my comfort zone, I'm particularly aware of that fact. It keeps me on my toes, interested and engaged, like a golden retriever puppy, bright-eyed, tail wagging, alert and ready for action.
In this installment of "What I did at the Take Back America Conference", I want to focus on the session called "We've got issues: Young people in action". As far as I could tell, all of the panelists were in their early to mid-twenties. I thought of myself when I was a college student, oh so long ago. At the time, I was committed to doing well in school, juggling homework with a busy social life and my current job (variously a hasher in my dorm cafeteria, waiting tables at a local restaurant, dorm resident advisor and selling toupees and men's clothing at a nearby mall). Even though it was the late '60s and early '70s, I was simply not political. I now have two college grads of my own; they were much more active as students than I ever was. But even they couldn't hold a candle to these representatives of the up and coming generation. It was very inspiring, as I'm sure it was meant to be. They were so young and yet so savvy! The first five speakers talked about their specific focus for activism: global warming, new voters, youth outreach, LBGT issues, community-building. Among them were an Asian, a gay, a Hispanic, numerous women. Most, if not all of them, attend or graduated from college. They spoke about their work, with fire and passion.
I want to talk a little about the last two speakers on that panel. Elandria Williams represents the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. Established in the '30s, it was first a training ground for union organizers, then the civil rights movement and now focuses on environmental issues and economic recovery in the rural South. She pointed out that the people at the conference did not look like her or reflect her experience or history. She spoke movingly about what life is like where she is and it's a radically different picture from my reality, I must tell you. I felt a seismic shift as it became clear to me that when I think of people this age, I think suburban, middle-class, college, mostly white. She was gently but firmly reminding me that's only part of the picture. I felt like I had woken myself up by falling out of bed. I was totally unaware of my narrow perspective. It was definitely an eye-opener.
The last speaker, Juan Pachaeco, is a Hispanic from Barrios Unidos. He sat at the table wearing a blue bandana topped with a blue cap. Being such a creature of suburbia, I was oblivious to these gang colors. He proceeded to discard his headgear and pull various things out of his backpack, including a red bandana, legal papers, a graduation gown. He was toying with the stereotyping we often engage in. As his story unfolded, it turns out that, yes, he had been in a gang, had three felony convictions, had been in jail five times, had pulled himself together and finished high school and is now in college, in pre-med. The last thing he took out of his backpack was a stethoscope. He talked about his goal is to become a doctor and to help youths avoid the gang/jail/unemployment dead-end cycle that the inner city often delivers.
After the session, I told him about a book which I read two summers ago (and reviewed for OpEdNews): http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_060720__22local_hero_22_corner_3a.htm It's called "The Pact" and it's the true story of three inner-city Newark boys who banded together to stay out of trouble and get through high school, college and medical school. They have created the Three Doctors Foundation. http://www.threedoctorsfoundation.org "Our vision is to serve as a positive model for inner city youth and families across the nation. We will utilize our experience, status and programs as platforms to encourage community development, volunteerism and leadership."
Juan can look to these three for inspiration since they traveled the same path a few steps ahead of him. I liked making a connection with him as well as hooking him up with something tangible and potentially useful.
While for the most part I was extremely frustrated with the basic obliviousness of the mainstream Dems to the urgency for real election reform, I felt that I did connect with numerous people at the conference. That sense of connection was a welcome antidote to the isolation and desperation I often feel in my many solitary hours spent on the computer or staring up at my bedroom ceiling in the still of the night. This connectedness affected my actions in another sphere in a small but significant way. While this has nothing directly to do with the conference, it has everything to do with who we are and why we do what we do. Bear with me.
I live in a Chicago suburb. I grew up in a different Chicago suburb. I do not spend a lot of time in the city nor have I spent much of my lifetime in any city, for that matter. When I do, I am disturbed by the number of homeless people wandering the streets. It is very distressing to me. It makes me angry, and helpless and often results in my tuning out in order to keep myself together.
People living in the city, who see homelessness every day grow a thick protective shell around themselves. It's like a Plexiglas bubble. When you go long enough not seeing something that is right before your eyes, it's inevitable that you begin to lose bits of your soul. I have been experimenting lately. Even though the average person is gruff and dismissive when we pass on the street, I still offer a smile. It's not as easy as it sounds. Many times I am rebuffed and it becomes more difficult to keep at it. But there are occasions where I get a surprised smile in return. This is inordinately gratifying. People don't think about connecting when they're hurrying to work. They're on cruise control, armed with cell phone, coffee, briefcase and that invisible Plexiglas shield. Even so, sometimes you can break through and remind them, for a second, of their humanness.
As I walked back and forth to the hotel this week, I conducted my experiment. My decidedly unscientific study showed that I was more likely to get a response from Black men, Hispanics of either genders, and the homeless. On the final day of the conference, I again took the same route back to my friend Diane's apartment near Dupont Circle. There was a man asking for spare change. People were walking past him, averting their gaze. That is not unusual. I recalled hearing about someone who had been told that homeless people often squander their money on drink or drugs. I'm sure that in some cases this is true, but it becomes a convenient rationale to do nothing. In order to avoid hardening his heart, he invited a homeless individual for a meal, supplying actual food instead of money and circumventing the excuse for not getting involved. I had never tried this approach but I instinctively liked it. I am basically a shy person, however, and although I will often be the first to smile or say hello, collaring total strangers is not my thing. But, I thought to myself, I have an opportunity before me. Am I going to just walk away and wonder or take a chance and see what happens? No matter what, I'm leaving town in a few hours. That realization was somehow very liberating. What did I have to lose?
So, I approached this man, whose name turned out to be Jake, and asked if I could buy him lunch. He agreed. I introduced myself and we shook hands. We went into the store and he picked out a sandwich and a drink. He took a cookie too and I told him that I was treating him to a sandwich and drink, but if he wanted to buy the cookie, he was more than welcome. I just didn't feel comfortable about it. I don't usually go out for lunch myself so I am instinctively frugal in this regard. Afterwards, I started second-guessing myself. Was I a cheap creep? I 'm still not sure. We went outside. I told him to enjoy his lunch and we said goodbye. I actually would have liked to keep him company while he ate so we could talk a bit. Maybe I could have learned something about him. But this felt intrusive and I didn't like the idea that buying him lunch should somehow obligate him to speak to me. I'm still working that one out. I think it's important to have these conversations with ourselves, even if we end up with more questions. It shows that we haven't completely tuned out the suffering of others and that's a good thing.
As I continued on my way, I ran into another man, maybe homeless, maybe not, who was leaning against a fenced yard, enjoying a fantastic purple hydrangea nearby. It really was spectacular. I stopped and we spoke for a few minutes. Perhaps at another time, I would have hurried by. Now, I didn't want to. We made a connection (he admired my Crocs) and walked together a little before our ways parted. For a brief time, again, the usually impenetrable barriers of class and race slipped a bit and gave each of us a glimpse of the other. I will try to maintain this consciousness as I return to work and 'real life' tomorrow. Let's see how long it lasts.
There was a dark time several years ago, shortly after the 2004 election when I felt cast out and isolated. Anyone questioning the election results in those days was promptly marginalized and branded as a lefty loony or sore loser, or worse. There's absolutely nothing that can delegitimize like the accusation of being a conspiracy theorist. Visions of flying saucers and people completely unmoored from reason come to mind. Each of us doubters hunkered down in our personal bunker, cut off from one another. It was pretty awful. The right-wing spin machine masterfully framed any dissent as unpatriotic. In the last number of months, that airtight façade has begun to crack. Teflon Man no longer has a free pass with the press, although they certainly are not bringing to bear a fraction of the skepticism necessary to do their job adequately. But, opposition to the war, to the excesses and inhumanities of this administration is picking up steam and volume. It's easier to connect with others, to see our commonality. It's like the first days of spring after a particularly long and brutal winter. It's a breath of fresh air and it's good for the soul.
Connection is good. It's critical for the health of our psyche, nationally as well as individually. If we don't feel a connection to others, we can't join together to bring about change. Which brings me back to what it is exactly that I'm attempting to do. Virtually every session that I attended addressed the question of how to bring about change. Speaker after speaker pointed out that we must look to ourselves to get what we want– to stop the war, get health care for everyone, reverse global warming. We need to create a huge groundswell of public support to demand change from our leaders. We can't afford to wait for them to finally wake up and take the initiative. Change begins at the grass-roots level; it percolates from the bottom up. Look at American history: the suffragettes, the Civil Rights era, the peace movement, opposition to the war in Iraq. Through our involvement and activism, we make our leaders listen to us, follow our lead. Only then, will change be possible. Democracy demands a well-informed and engaged citizenry. Are we up to the challenge?
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
Joan, having previously read about the connectedness between Crocs made in the U.S.A. and you, i have to say that reading this: "We made a connection (he admired my Crocs)" ... in your TAKE BACK AMERICA CONFERENCE AND ME, PART II, report, really brought a smile to my face, but i think the smile is more than that line ... it is about the human connection that you offer all of us through everyone of your writings. O:-)
tsn
by
teresa simon-noble (56 articles, 17 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 81 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 8:44:55 AM
There's A Great Deal To Learn, From "Conspiracy Theorists"!
"There's absolutely nothing that can delegitimize like the accusation of being a conspiracy theorist."
The foregoing statement, pretty much explains why the contemporary mainstream American, is among the most misinformed and deceived peoples on earth! It also explains why such people, are woefully unfit for the task, of taking back America, or anything else for that matter! The country has been placed in it's current dire situation, by the lies of a corrupt government, and media, and the childlike gullibility, of the mainstream public. Since most mainstream American views, are the product of deception and lies, mainstream thinkers, are easily hoodwinked, and bamboozled. They therefore, have little or no chance, of taking back America, from the world class liars, and corrupt politicians, who currently rule here.
On the other hand, there is no group more adept, at piercing government, and media, deception, than the so-called "Conspiracy theorists". Those in power get a free pass, simply because so many mainstream thinkers, succumb to what we shall call: the "conspiracy theorist" scam! This scam fools people into ridiculing the often brutal realities, uncovered by so-called "conspiracy theorists", while accepting even the most absurd lies, from government and media! This scam works because mainstream thinkers, are more comfortable being told, what to think, than thinking for themselves. As the author tells us above, nothing is more delegitimizing, than being called a "conspiracy theorist". Few mainstream Americans realize however, that the term "conspiracy theorist", is merely clever disinformation, used to discredit all forms of dissent, and free speech. It attempts to mark one as "crazy", and is applied simply because, an individual refuses to go along with the official version of things. It has nothing whatsoever to do, with the sanity of the individual, nor the truthfulness, of the information, the individual brings to the public. Such people are critical thinkers, questions about their sanity, mere slander! The fact of the matter is, the proven track record for truthfulness and information, among "conspiracy theorists", is actually far better, than the government and media's proven track record, of lies and disinformation! "Conspiracy theorists" are for the most part, concerned citizens. In many cases, they've taken it, upon themselves, to do independent research on topics, the government, and media, have sought to conceal, from the public, via lies and deception. This may involve anything from UFO's, to 9/11, to vote fraud! Though the occasional government disinfo artist, can be found, sowing confusion, and doubt, from among the ranks of the "Conspiracy Theorists", the best of these amateur sleuths however, are doing extremely valuable work, based entirely upon factual evidence. This is a far cry, from the lies and disinformation, of which, government "official stories" are made!
Due to incessant government, and media lying, the mainstream American is grossly misinformed, on all important issues of the day. The most important thing, anyone serious about taking America back, can do, is to free themselves, from the profound ignorance, that currently blinds and mentally cripples, the majority of Americans. Only the truly informed, have any chance of taking back America! The typical mainstream thinker, remains, a large part of the problem. At a time when the evening news, and respected politicians, prey upon the gullibility of the public, the best of the"conspiracy theorists" are beacons of truth, in this era of official corruption, and deceit!
by
Rasoul Acheh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 122 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 11:43:50 AM
I enjoyed both articles and look forward to talking to you about your adventures in DC.
Your story reminded me of the first day that my son was working downtown. He went out to lunch and was returning to his office with a slice of leftover pizza wrapped in a bag. He saw a man asking for money to buy food and he just handed him his leftovers.
LH
by
Joan Brunwasser (133 articles, 3335 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 589 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 5:58:21 PM
how my daughter handled the problem of passing street people
Thanks for keeping me on your mailing list, Joan, in spite of my not having sent back comments recently (I'm just swamped!).
I just wanted to share with you the story of how my daughter handled the problem of passing street people asking for money when she lived in New York and was a student. On her 10-block walk from home to school, she passed many people asking for money for food. As a student, she didn't have a lot of money, but she did have food. So every day she began her walk with a supply of peanut butter sandwiches. The people who wanted food took the sandwiches; the ones who wanted money for drugs did not. End of story.
I liked your story of buying lunch for Jake; I've done it on occasion, too. It works.
RL
by
Joan Brunwasser (133 articles, 3335 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 589 comments)
on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 6:04:06 PM
thank God for the strong and compassionate youths.
funny how we call them leaders but they are waiting for us. we need a new word for them. they don't lead. they don't govern either. they raise money.
the bio. have you considered adding 'accurate' to what kind of election results you want?
the Feinstein bill is a killer according to Theisen and Gideon. We humans have a hard time saving ourselves what with the insanity of our would-be allies.
BRS
by
Joan Brunwasser (133 articles, 3335 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 589 comments)
on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 7:23:01 AM
