The screamers can learn from the Chicago Housing Authority residents about making our voices heard

[Empowerer]

Here's an interesting depiction of how a group of Chicago housing project residents, led by a young advocate, made their voices heard regarding dangerous asbestos in their homes - without screaming, threats, accusations or shouting anyone down.

The next day we planned our action. Another letter to the CHA executive director was drafted, informing him that we would appear at his office in two days to demand an answer to the asbestos question . . . But when the day of reckoning arrived, I counted only eight heads in the yellow bus parked in front of the school. . .

"Listen up everybody! We’re going to go over the script together to make sure we’ve got it strait. What do we want?"

"A meeting with the director!"

“Where?”

“In Altgeld!”

“What if they say they’ll give us an answer later?”

“We want an answer now.”

“What if they do something we don’t expect?”

“We caucus!”
. . .

“And that was it. Without a word from me, the parents found out that no tests had been done and obtained a promise that testing would start by the end of the day. They negotiated a meeting with the director, collected a handful of business cards, and thanked Ms. Broadnax for her time . . . Out on the street, Linda insisted that I treat everybody, including the bus driver, to caramel popcorn. As the bus pulled away, I tried to conduct an evaluation, pointing out the importance of preparation, how everyone had worked as a team . . . As I chewed on the gooey popcorn, looking out at the lake, calm and turquoise now, I tried to recall a more contented moment.

I changed as a result of that bus trip, in a fundamental way. It was the sort of change that’s important, not because it alters your concrete circumstances in some way (wealth, security, fame) but because it hints at what might be possible and therefore spurs you on, beyond the immediate exhilaration, beyond any subsequent disappointments, to retrieve that thing that you once, ever so briefly, held in your hand. That bus ride kept me going, I think. Maybe it still does.*

And thank God for that bus ride that keeps that dedicated idealistic young activist going. Because now that community organizer is the President of the United States and he needs all of the inspiration, commitment and focus he can possibly muster to lead this nation - including those who don't want to be led by him, who don't even realize what a prince, a prize, a gift this man is to us.

I absolutely love having a President who cut his teeth in the real world, helping real people, people who had no one else to speak for them, a President who was inspired by those people and those experiences to broaden the community he organized.

And I'm certain that one of the reasons his town hall meeting - unlike some of the other meetings we've seen - was calm, rational, respectful was that he brings such command and knowledge and dignity that he immediately tones down the emotions and hysteria in any room he's in.

He's remarkable to watch . . .

* From "Dreams from my Father" by Barack Obama

[firedupdem]

1. K&R

I share your sentiments. I cried reading that book. I grew up in Chicago and know that area quite well. I appreciate a President who has worked in the thick of it and understands most everyday people. It sickens me to come home from work and read about idiots and even a gun being brought near a townhall.

[Number23]

2. Wow, Empowerer!

Because now that community organizer is the President of the United States and he needs all of the inspiration, commitment and focus he can possibly muster to lead this nation - including those who don't want to be led by him, who don't even realize what a prince, a prize, a gift this man is to us.

Tell us how you REALLY feel about the man! :)