Palin in comparison
Sarah Palin's remarks during her speech at the Republican Convention oppressed the importance of community organizers who have worked against governments and systems that have forsaken their call to advocate on a community level. As far back as I can remember, community organizers were the real movers and shakers within America's social issues when politicians refused to listen to the concerns of the people. It took ordinary folks organizing their communities to demand action from government. Where would America be without community organizers?
Without folks like Harriet Tubman, who organized one group at a time starting with her family to escape slavery. She eventually organized millions of slaves to freedom—freedom that eventually reached far into Canada. There were others like Jane Addams, who was an American social worker, sociologist and reformer called 'The mother of social work.' And Saul David Alinsky is generally considered the father of community organizing. A criminologist by training, Alinsky, in the 1930s, organized the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago ( made famous by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle ) . He went on to found the Industrial Areas Foundation while organizing the Woodlawn neighborhood, which trained organizers and assisted in the founding of community organizations around the country. In Rules for Radicals ( his final work, published one year before his death ) , he addressed the 1960s generation of radicals, outlining his views on organizing for mass power. A young Hillary Clinton was shaped because of his movement, writing her undergraduate thesis on his work and ideas.
Another community organizer—the Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr—who was a civil-rights and political activist in the United States who also became a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.
And, last but certainly not least, Sarah Palin mocked the tireless efforts of the Rev. Martin Luther King, who was a Nobel Laureate, Baptist minister and African American civil-rights activist. He is one of the most significant leaders in U.S. history and in the modern history of nonviolence. Dr. King started his work out of his local congregation.
She mocked my work as an HIV/AIDS organizer and a soon-to-be candidate for ordained ministry with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches. My work has always been about justice for all of God's people.
She mocked those who have contributed to the Obama campaign because we dare to dream that a leader can rise out of communities hit by poverty and not out of communities of privilege. While I heard her attacking our lives work and our dreams, I did not hear her plan about how the economy would be saved and how help would on the way for folks who are losing their homes. While she was attacking our dream for a better America, I did not hear anything about a new kind of government coming from the Republican Party. All I heard was the same old business of Washington politics that have dominated for nearly eight years. I think her speech shows how out of touch she truly is.
Sincerely,
T.J. Williams
Chicago
Supporting the GOP
After attending the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul this past week, I am increasingly optimistic that the hard work and efforts that the Log Cabin Repubicans ( LCR ) has invested in making the GOP more inclusive is starting to pay off. Many delegates, politicians, politicos and general people who saw my 'Equality for All' button and Log Cabin Republican lapel pin stopped me to thank me for coming to the convention. Still others said that they truly believe in what we are doing and would do all they could to back our efforts. It was so amazing and empowering to see many high-level national Republican officials be so welcoming, accepting and seemingly apologetic for past wrongs. It made us 150 LCR members, as well as two dozen gay delegates who were able to attend the convention, feel that all our past work has been 'worth it.'
I can attest that 'Change' is not just a byword in a new Republican Party, as, from my perspective, never in history have so many straight Republicans been so welcoming. Candidates McCain and Palin had many chances to make non-inclusive statements in order to again try to bring in the far-right Republicans who Bush reached out to in 2004—in effect, creating wedge issues as part of his message. However, not once were the words 'sanctity of marriage' or any thing like it uttered by ... anyone. They understand that we care, we vote and we support America and the LGBT community through our political party.
I was honored to be asked to give the opening benediction for the LCR's 'big-tent' event. I mentioned in my prayer the immortal words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., given at his famous Washington Mall speech—now popularly titled, 'I Have a Dream.' King said that 'the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.' I mentioned that it does not bend on its own and needs human hands to help it bend. I went on to ask our creator's assistance in reaching up to grab that arc to bend it toward justice and assist in our work. I can't tell you how many of our straight allies came up to me and asked what they could do to help bend that arc.
I would encourage everyone, regardless of your political affiliation, to please ask your straight friends, families and associates to help us bend that moral arc. And, above all, don't lose faith in LCR's efforts toward their noble cause of equality in the Land of Lincoln!
David J. Valkema
Chairman, Log Cabin Republicans-Illinois
Director, National Log Cabin Republicans
