White organizations have traditionally been guilty of treating Black volunteers like the help, based on a purely racist assumption that Black people couldn’t possibly have anything important regarding policy, strategy, or tactics to contribute—no, it was always, Do you know how to run a photocopier? And then, because ageism can cut both ways, during Occupy Wall Street there were veterans of the civil-rights and antiwar movements of the ’60s who went to see the young people who were inventing all kinds of innovative organizational techniques just to let them know that they were doing it all wrong, when what the young people really needed was support, and maybe some actually helpful information about mistakes made in the past and lessons learned—which would also require some humility. Majority-White organizations can be most blessed to learn a a wee bit of humility.
There are also organizations that resemble religious sects, complete with their very own dogma, which may be more interested in attracting adherents and accusing other people of heresy than they are in doing the actual work of making the world a better place. We’re allowed to steer clear of them.
As an old veteran organizer, I am here to say that in the wonderful world of organizing, we will find work-with people and work-for people—and if we show ourselves unwilling to work for the people who can only be worked for, they will work against us. If we show ourselves willing to work with, we can soon find other work-with people, and then we can go to where our particular talents can be best put to use. Ruha Benjamin’s book Viral Justice covers a wealth of organizations and initiatives that are already happening, and that can inspire even more.
Elected officials, on the other hand, are supposed to work for us. We don’t work for them. If they’re not working for us, we can let them know, repeatedly, that they can always go into some other line of work. We can nag them relentlessly, and if they persist in doing wrong things, we get to find and vote for people who will do the right thing.
Finally, and by way of inspiration and encouragement, I want to tell about two of the most impressive formally recognized spiritual leaders I have ever met. Half a lifetime ago, I went on sabbatical from a cushy job with a great union contract and made a pilgrimage around the world. I especially wanted to meet Mother Krishnabai, who was the head of the Anandashram not far from Mangalore in India, and Suleyman Dede, a Mevlevi sheikh who lived in Konya, Turkey, and was the head of the Sufi order founded by followers of Jelaluddin Rumi. I had heard a lot about both of them, and was prepared to be extremely impressed, in the sense of awed and perhaps even intimidated.
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