Manuel Criollo

I don't normally write to newspaper columnists but, over the past few weeks, Bob Herbert at the New York Times [1] has been writing some really sharp OpEd columns that have caught my attention. What hooked me was a column where he put his finger on a question that's been bothering many of us: where is the anger, the outrage, the action? where is the hope for changing the world [2]? 

Why aren't people confronting their employers, resisting mass firings, marching, creating new organizations to fight?

A lot of us thought that people would not just stand by doing nothing while their lives were devastated by corporate madness and government betrayal. But as months go by, it's getting hard not to wonder, as Herbert does [3], whether something's wrong:

I was thinking about the sense of helplessness so many ordinary Americans have been feeling as the nation is confronted with one enormous, seemingly intractable problem after another. The helplessness is beginning to border on paralysis.

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Americans have tended to watch with a remarkable (I think frightening) degree of passivity as crises of all sorts have gripped the country and sent millions of lives into tailspins. Where people once might have deluged their elected representatives with complaints, joined unions, resisted mass firings, confronted their employers with serious demands, marched for social justice and created brand new civic organizations to fight for the things they believed in, the tendency now is to assume that there is little or nothing ordinary individuals can do about the conditions that plague them.

This is so wrong. It is the kind of thinking that would have stopped the civil rights movement in its tracks, that would have kept women in the kitchen or the steno pool, that would have prevented labor unions from forcing open the doors.

Herbert's disquiet spoke to me and I felt his call--for a new generation of Andy Schwerners, Rosa Parkses and Betty Friedans to rise up and break the paralysis--deserved an answer and thanks.

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Hee Pok Kim

Dear Mr. Herbert--They are a handful, and irreplaceable.

Thank you for your column "Changing the World [4]." I, too, share the fear in seeing so much passivity of most folk in this country, yet I do see some hope.

I am 36 years old, so I didn't see the civil rights revolution, nor the women's liberation movement or the anti-war movement against the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. I can say with pride that I have a small window of understanding on how I benefited from that generation of Chaney, Goldman and Schwener and the rest of the incredible warriors of that era. I say small because I can't ever fully understand something that I didn't live. I only know that their generation impacted my life and the lives of millions in ways that are intangible and not easily calculated.

Yet, I am one of the lucky ones of my generation; I have been trained by one of the most gifted organizers that came out of that era, Eric Mann. I can now say with pride that I too am a civil rights organizer in a small city called Los Angeles. You might have heard of that small town and our experiment called the Labor/Community Strategy Center. I have worked for over 10 years with our flagship campaign, the Bus Riders Union, which has transformed public transportation for working class Black, Latino, Asian and white bus riders and have become a force to be reckoned with in the region - with have won over $2.7 billion in bus improvements and counting. I now am working with a new campaign called the Community Rights Campaign, which is taking on what we call the "pre-prison conditions of our public schools", something that I know you have been writing for years about. And it's not just us. There's so much more hope-giving work on the ground when you step back and take in all the work of our sister organizations across the country.

Rosalio Mendez

While organizing on L.A. buses, at the local schools, or going to door to door, you do see passivity, but I also see bitterness, hopelessness and escapism (where many working class folks are contriving their one shot deal to leave their surroundings for greener pastures). While some days it can feel overwhelming facing those conditions, I can honestly say that we consisently meet people who do want to engage. We spark up some fascinating discussions about the world, President Obama, healthcare, immigration, high rents, mass incarceration, crappy bus service, war, racism, global warming, you name it. The hard thing of course, is do you want do something about it. That's the hard part. That's why it's so clear when, as an as organizer, you meet that very special person who not only wants to talk about it, but wants do something about it. They are a handful, but irreplaceable.

While I can't say we have thousands of members, it's definitely hundreds, who can reach thousands. But more importantly, to come back to your piece, we have amazing people, individuals who we have recruited over the years and who are today's irreplaceable heroes. There is Barbara Lott-Holland, a Texas transplant to Los Angeles with close to 40 years of living in Los Angeles; she's our Fannie Lou Hamer with over 12 years in the organization. We have the 86-year-old Hee Pok Kim (Grandma Kim). She's the fierce Korean grandmother who threw her chips in with a group that was primarily Black and Latino. She told us she had had been "waiting for us all her life" and has been with us now for over 8 years. We have Woodrow Coleman, a real hero and civil rights legend in Los Angeles for desegregating the city, who has been with us for over 15 years. There is Rosalio Mendiola, a long time hotel worker who witnessed the murder of Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador, 14 years. We have Patrisse Cullours and Carla Gonzalez, who were recruited at the age of 17, and now are amazing young women who have reshaped our organization and have recruited hundreds of young people into the organization with over 8 years under their belts. The list goes on and on, and that's without even mentioning the over 80 organizers we've trained in our National School for Organizing.

Carla leads the BRU in a rally

To be honest, I worry more about the conditions that are making it so much harder to hold a family together. The impacts of full blown mass unemployment on a whole community are devastating, as is the impact it has on the individual and his or her life choices. And I would say the most disappointing thing I have observed in my short 15 years of organizing has been our politicians and elected officials, even those who claim to be our allies. The calculations, the polls, the games, the deals, the posturing, the economic interest behind everything and generally the country's move to the right--all of this has made this group seem a sad bunch. Few of them act with convictions or courage. The proverbial "win, win" always chalks up a "loss" for someone.

I took the time to write to you to say that while I do fear the passivity of the millions, and worse, the passivity of our political elite, I am emboldened and hopeful that our handful can be the spark for social change in these dark times. It has happened before and I've seen it in our little experiment. I feel ready for the task. Thanks once again.

Manuel Criollo