I happened to catch the very end of Larry “My Neck Is Killin’ Me” King last night and finally heard someone on the teevee defend community organizing. On Wednesday night, Sarah Palin belittled Obama’s history of community service with a sneer on her face and the Republicans have continued to use this talking point as part of their strategerie.
The brilliant Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of “The Nation,” pointed out to King and his other guests—and I paraphrase here—that community organizing takes place largely in urban areas, from the ground up, as grassroots movements intended to help those of greatest need. It takes place in areas where people are poor and brown and is vitally important in addressing the struggles of the millions who have been left behind by those on the right. Dismissing community organizing as the Republicans are doing, vanden Heuvel said, is little more than “coded language” that we can be sure we’ll hear more of.
Now, I don’t know if anyone else noticed but the RNC was hardly representative of the diversity of America. That hall was jam-packed with white peeps. Here is the demographic breakdown according to a NYTimes/CBS poll:
RNC Demographics, of 2,380
Black Delegates: 1.5% (36 people)
Hispanic Delegates: 5%
Male Delegates: 68%
Female Delegates: 32%
(Incidentally, the RNC—unlike the DNC—refuses to release their own demographic information, which is the same kind of transparency Bush Co. has offered up these past 8 years. See how things will change?)
The Daily Kos points out, these demographics more closely resemble those of Alaska “only with fewer black people and more eskimos.” The California Delegation was 90% white and that certainly isn’t representative of California. So when Palin et.al. look down their noses at silly ‘ole community organizing, we would do well to be aware of who they are really disparaging. Indeed, it’s more distortions and distractions and double-speak as McCain talks of “country first” and “service” while at the same time denigrating the work of commmunity activists all over the country.
Fortunately Obama is no John Kerry and he had this to say about the criticism:
“I would argue that doing work in the community to try and create jobs, to bring people together, to rejuvenate communities that have fallen on hard times, to set up job-training programs in areas that have been hard hit when the steel plants closed, that that’s relevant only in understanding where I’m coming from, who I believe in, who I’m fighting for and why I’m in this race.
“And the question I have for them [McCain/Palin] is: Why would that kind of work be ridiculous? Who are they fighting for? Who are they advocating for?”
As a friend of a friend quoted from a blog she found:
“Mrs. Palin needs to be reminded that Jesus Christ was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.”
12 responses so far ↓
1 annie // Sep 5, 2008 at 6:15 am
Ha! GREAT quote there at the end.
2 Amyesq // Sep 5, 2008 at 6:29 am
I love that. I found a similar quote likening Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, etc. to community organizers. The folks that the government forgets.
3 prof. j // Sep 5, 2008 at 6:33 am
Nicely done.
4 bordtodth // Sep 5, 2008 at 8:28 am
There were 36 African American delegates at the Republican convention!
By the way, Sarah Palin applied for her first passport [something like] 4 years ago, therefore is almost an expert in foreign policy.
5 Jenn @ Juggling Life // Sep 5, 2008 at 8:52 am
Oooh, I love that quote.
My man Obama made me proud yesterday with his response.
6 Amaya // Sep 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
goosebumps
7 Yiftach // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Ditto on the Jesus/Pontius Pilate quote.
I keep seesawing on this… this hour I’m coming down on the “maybe this year, what with the interwebs and all that, maybe, just maybe enough people will have their eyes opened and the fire lit under their butts to take them to the voting booths and vote the
rightcorrect way. Maybe.”Jon Stewart and The Daily Show peeps this week, broadcasting from St. Paul, have been at their absolute best. Best way to watch, IMHO: http://www.hulu.com/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart
8 Raushan // Sep 5, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I have been living in the US (Minneapolis) for 5 years and I am originally from Kazakhstan. In addition to my office job, I waitress at a small restaurant in St. Paul - across the river. I was working a lunch shift today. One of the tables was having a discussion about the candidates. They were all white - 5 women and 1 man. And here is what one woman said, “I don’t trust that Obama. I think he has ties with the terrorists. And that name…” I did not think it was real that people actually say those things but I heard it myself! I feel so sorry for that woman…
9 Cheri @ Blog This Mom! // Sep 5, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I have loved reading you all these years. You’re like a fine wine, just getting better and better.
10 suburbancorrespondent // Sep 5, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hear, hear!
11 Clarissa // Sep 6, 2008 at 1:47 pm
LOVE that quote. And LOVE your writing. I’m posting your wonderful post including that great quote on my Facebook profile. Looking forward to seeing you and talking politico stuff next week at Austin’s b-day bash!
12 Katie // Sep 7, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Amen, sister.
Leave a Comment