Week 3:
Meals, Leadership Networking, and Reading Citizen’s Responsibilities

July 9, 2021

There are different kinds of ways to organize, bad and good, effective and ineffective. It ranges from civic organizing to community organizing and broad-based organizing. But experience has delivered with judicial confidence that broad-based organizing remains significantly more appealing, sustainable, and powerful in leveraging the power and securing the interests of the citizens. The kind of organizing built in a culture of people power exerted through people’s coordination and safeguarded through people’s resistance; in short, Grassroots Democratic Power.

In addition, the backbone of democracy is the citizenry. Alinsky wrote in his Reveille for the Radicals, “If we strip away all the chromium trimmings of high-sounding metaphor and idealism which conceal the motor and gears of a democratic society, one basic element is revealed—the people are the motor, the organizations of the people are the gears. The power of the people is transmitted through the gears of their own organizations, and democracy moves forward”.  Therefore, by extension, the primary foundation of a democratic polity is broad-based, grassroots organizing.

Moreover, Jeffery Stouts points that “citizens are individuals who have a shared responsibility for the arrangements and policies undertaken by a republic.” This responsibility comes through being properly organized in exercising one’s right to vote, holding representatives accountable, and fulfilling citizen duties. In contrast, Ernesto Cortes Jr. argues, “That citizens who behave irresponsibly and ineffectively tend to be either disorganized or organized in a counterproductive way.” Therefore, the cure for democracy is not just more democracy but also a more productive kind of organizing.

This past week has introduced more relational power, networking with other young leaders, and diving deeper into concepts of grassroots organizing. These pictures are from our day-long training for the Summer Meals Program (SMP), which begins next week on July 6th. The SMP is an extraordinary initiative in terms of productive community organizing aimed at serving the community’s needs and grooming young kids to be productive citizens in the near future. I feel very fortunate to be given an opportunity to become a part of a competent team and an enormously loving, caring, and respecting family of leaders. We come from all walks of life, with distinct experiences and different perspectives. The special privilege is experiencing how regardless of our differences, our values and mutual commitment to the betterment of our community cements our citizen ethic. I am especially excited to participate in SMP over the course of the next few weeks- alongside GBIO and other responsibilities, this program is precisely an adventure that will groom me in critical ways to develop my organizing thought.

I love being an intern at the Fourth because of the array of different roles and novel experiences I have. We planned on our weekly cook, out-but it had started pouring down very hard. Therefore, along with the staff, we improvised an indoor setup. As Rev Katie put it, this is our first “televangelist” moment together- It was fun to be on the live show- as I may call it.

Moreover, I am ever grateful for my continued participation in the evening meals program. We continue to serve hundreds of meals every week, rain or clear, hot or cold. The program runs every day. I will additionally be working on the SMP along with this program in the coming weeks.

This picture is from our joyous time together playing UNO. I first started playing UNO at Cornell. My friends and I would sit at our lunch/dinner tables and play UNO all the time. Playing UNO at the Fourth reminded me of the amazing time I had at Cornell.

And, of course, a picture with Reverend Burns. I continue to cherish his amazing mentorship and guidance. Rev Burns plays a foundational and critical role in connecting me with other organizers at GBIO and other institutions in the Boston area. As a young leader, I must equip myself with the academic concepts of broad-based organizing and familiarize myself with the real-life experiences of other leaders. On the left is my friend Gracie- she is an amazing human being with a kind heart. I just got to meet her this past week, and she will be one of the leaders in the SMP during this summer.

Lastly, guess who was on the announcement bulletin today? I am extremely excited about the teaching class on Islam. It will be a 7 week series of lectures in Sunday School, interacting with adults to building an interfaith understanding between Muslims and Christians.

Organizing has many faces, numerous avenues, and many colors. Still, all these faces, avenues, and colors converge on one basic fact- a more equitable, developed, and socially just society. The initiatives that I am undertaking over the course of my Cornell Fellowship, the leadership networking, learning about citizenship responsibilities, and the meals programs are undoubtedly empowering me towards building such a society.