After the protest we...?
"The action often lies in the reaction." Nearly a decade ago, I began my journey as a community organizer. While I initially was drawn into the field by the works of organizers like Saul Alinsky (the heinous mastermind behind Barack Obama, according to Republicans), I quickly learned that Alinsky and his movement were male-dominated and frequently bypassed talented women and people of color for leadership positions. While the organization I worked at was founded by contemporaries of Alinsky, our lead organizer at the time definitely realized that the Alinsky model and world view did not meet the 21st century. Working alongside a talented woman of color, I quickly saw that we had both an opportunity and an obligation to make sure we were identifying and coaching rising leaders who were represented in the communities we served. That meant making sure we had Latinos from Lawrence, Cambodians from Lowell, and Portuguese from Haverhill, among others. Step one in community organizi...
