This is an important essay by Bay Area activist Steve Williams. It is a compelling argument for the Left to take a more aggressive stand in articulating an alternative to the dismal situation facing working people and people of color in this country. It is highly recommended and but one of a series of discussions being led by young, and some not so young activists.
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http://www.organizingupgrade.com/2010/05/name-it-and-claim-it/
The story is getting painfully old. Local governments and
corporations starve working class communities— normally also communities
of color— for generations. Then, as if channeling Christopher
Columbus, they announce that they have discovered that the neighborhood
has been neglected for decades and that developers will build
market-rate housing, trendy shopping and some massive sports complex in
an effort to turn the neighborhood around.
That part is old; exploiters always take advantage of misery. But what pushes this story into the realm of the painful is that time and time again the affected community is split. On one side, people in the community righteously denounce the developer’s plans on the basis that luxury condominiums, vanilla lattés and dog parks will do nothing to address the needs of the community; and that working class people of color will inevitably be displaced to make way for richer, whiter urban pioneers. On the other side, some folks in the community support the project— not because they don’t fear the neighborhood being gentrified, but because they don’t see any other way. To deal with sky-rocketing joblessness, environmental contamination, police violence and the lack of infrastructure like quality schools, public transportation and grocery stores, some people decide reluctantly to make a deal with the devil.
The breaking point for me came after a heated hearing at City Hall. A young African American man who had testified that he desperately wanted a job that would allow him to raise his family in the City that he grew up in came up to me and asked, “All of what you’re saying seems on point, so what’s your alternative?”
That question has haunted me for months now. This brother was trying to figure out what was going to be in his and his community’s best interest. If he joined in opposing this project, then what? I was silenced because I didn’t know. Besides the prospect of some important immediate benefits, I couldn’t name a tangible alternative that he could hang his hopes on in the long-term.
First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity.Do you think so?
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