Wary of the Activist
I am no activist. That’s what I told myself the majority of my life. The world has too many problems and I know little to nothing about how to make it better. Cynicism seemed like the best tool in my toolbox for dealing with the daily injustices that we hear about and see all around us. I used to think, whenever I heard of a march, or a demonstration in front of some important official, that the people behind those types of actions had to be nuts, and I suspected that they also had to be somewhat disingenuous. I mean, come on, who would ask 20, 40, or 100 people to stand outside and make noise when most likely that noise would result in much of nothing? In saying this I am not dismissing the serious impact that civil rights marches and other such critical civil rights movements have had on our society.
I am talking, however, about isolated moments here and there, in different communities, that showcase angry people, who are full of just indignation, and who make angry accusations towards, and demands of, public officials. As in everything in life, there are bad apples and there are good apples. What I’m having a problem with at the moment, is finding a way to educate friends and colleagues, partners and allies, neighbors and strangers, to understand the difference and to not label all (as I once did) based on the wrong-headed actions of few. Tall task, I know. If humans were capable of this, I guess we would have less prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping.
At Puentes, we encourage people to become active. We need more people, especially in our Latino community, to take public leadership roles. As the director of an organization that promotes active civic engagement, I have to admit that I could be labeled as an activist. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with that, but when I consider the bad activism work that most people associate to activists, it worries me. In the past few weeks I have experienced and witnessed firsthand, bad activism in play. What I saw left me feeling sick to my stomach, and left me hoping that these moments would not do too much damage to the hard work that many of us conduct in a different manner.
I am, after all, an active advocate. There is a difference. There is a difference between good advocacy and bad advocacy. Good advocacy involves partners, allies, works with officials, brings informed research and knowledge to the attention of officials who may not know the intricacies of the issue at hand, and provides sustainable, workable solutions to these officials so that they have something to consider when making a decision. Bad advocacy likes to yell, bring angry people to the front steps of officials and other decision-makers, bring bad, singular information, showcases individual cases as if they were sitting in front of a case manager, is misinformed about the legal backgrounds, the research findings, and demands untenable solutions that are not tied to any group’s work or long-term relationship-building within and among community partners, allies, friends, and officials.
Because post Katrina New Orleans has brought so many new faces to our community, and because many of these new faces have taken up the mantle of public demonstrations, I am wary of the activist in our midst that promotes himself (or herself) as a champion of a cause. My experience so far has shown me that my suspicion was correct, bad advocacy, or what I will refer to here as activism is more harmful than good. I just hope that the harm done does not permanently endanger the work of the hundreds of unknown active advocates in our community who are trying to make our region a better place to live for everyone.
Tags: advocacy, latinola, lucas diaz, new orleans hispanics, new orleans latinos, puentes
December 15th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Lucas,
You bring up some excellent points about the difference between what is good and bad activism. I would add to this discussion the following: in a society that demands instant gratification, bad activism provides the illusion of action when in fact more work necessarily comes out of the spontaneous reactions brought about by bad activism.
When I was in college, student activism was rife with ‘bad activism’ simply because of the nature of the population - we were captive audiences with a short shelf life (4-6 years in most cases). In college, in order to get an issue addressed, students feel they have to take radical steps to have their needs met immediately, or else thet feel it was not worthwhile to become active. I observed this type of activism all the time at my university, and for the most part, i was disenchanted.
Now, through working with a couple of different organizations throughout the city and observing how systems and people do business in a community, I feel that I can take part in educated, well-informed, activism, which is very different from the bad activism which you seek to describe. ‘Good’ activism takes a lot of work, dedication, and cooperation. This type of activism does not necessarily produce immediate results, but for those who are dedicated to this community, the long-term benefits are boundless.
I challenge those who seek to make a positive impact in our community to take up the mantle of good, informed, hard-working activism. I applaud those who are interested in making New Orleans a better city by taking up the causes of those less fortunate or disenfranchised. It would be a tremendous disservice to these people to provide them with false hopes and illusions of immediate change when a protracted, careful plan is in order.
December 16th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Thank you, Mauricio, for the reply. As I think further about what I wrote in my last entry, and as I reflect on several conversations I had with trusted thinkers and community leaders, I realize that I did not do the best job possible in laying out my case regarding bad and good advocacy (or activism). For those readers who may have taken offense, I apologize. My intent was not to offend, but to bring to discussion a topic I have been concerned about since I was a teenager. Now that I am becoming more involved, now that I am an activist (in many regards), now that I am responsible for helping others learn how to become active, and now that I am responsible for leading others who are active, I am increasingly concerned about doing the work in such a way that it will have sustaining life.
We are, each one of us, worlds unto ourselves. We feel strongly about the beliefs we hold precious. This is human nature. Yet sometimes we have to come to terms with what others believe. We have to engage. We have to partner. We have to collaborate. We have to, in the end, negotiate, in order to achieve a space in this world in which we can exist together. Harder said than done. An activist is nothing more than a publicly active person attempting to bring some public issue to light in the hope of finding a solution. We all either witness, perhaps experience, or perhaps read about injustices in our communities. Most of us, and for the most part this was me for most of my life, don’t know where to begin, or don’t even feel as if our voice matters, so we do little to nothing. The truth is, every single voice matters, and if we join our voices we could change the way things are in our own backyard. Activists, or active people, help us do this. When we don’t get started, when we don’t know where to start, when we don’t have the courage to start, we lean on those who get things started. Usually, it is an “activist.”
Throughout history, we have needed the activist.
I was trying to make a distinction between bad and good advocacy by attaching several criteria to what makes good advocacy work. In doing so, I wrongly called bad advocacy activism. This is where my word choices could have been better. However, I still believe that to be a good advocate, or a good activist (whichever you prefer), one has to be willing to be as open about the work as we would like our public officials and public institutions to be, and be willing to negotiate for the greater good in such a way that it creates a foundation for long-term sustainable change and solutions that create opportunities for everyone to engage and benefit.