Gloria Steinem's memoir is instructive in its structure. She zooms in on several of the populations she has worked with to fight for justice, or the communities that she has entered for long enough to get a sense of their own desire for justice. Two of these are
- Women flight attendants demanding fair treatment and reduction of status as sexual symbols
- Conservative women who picket against Planned Parenthood because 1% of its services are related to safe abortions, who then come in for abortions themselves before returning with renewed vitriol (fuelled by guilt?) to the picket line.
She tells her own story and the story of the women's movement in this country around and through these stories of isolated, small-ish scale movements for justice. In these communities people who what they want, and are able to band together at least a little bit to demand it. And it works. And they are inspired by things they read or hear about similar stirrings in other places.
We are indeed so inspired by words we hear from one another. I have been inspired this week by the prophetic and insightful words of my students in role play and discussion. I have been inspired by their poetry. I have been inspired by Steinem's example of living a life not rooted to one place or idea or possession (or possessions in general) but "on the road" in spirit if not in physical reality.
I have been inspired by the combined glory given to both arts and political activism in some things I'm reading recently.
1. Warmth of Other Suns, which has loads of epigraphs citing songs and novels by black and non-black writers and artists about the struggle for freedom and what living as a black American has meant to them. Here are two from the beginning of the book.
I was leaving the South
To fling myself into the unknown....
I was taking a part of the South
To transplant in alien soil,
To see if it could grow differently,
If it could drink of new and cool rains,
Bend in strange winds,
Respond to the warmth of other suns
And, perhaps to bloom.
- Richard Wright
Our mattresses were made
of corn shucks
and soft gray Spanish moss
that hung from the trees....
From the swamps
we got soup turtles
and baby alligators
and from the woods
we got raccoon,
rabbit and possum.
-Mahalia Jackson, Movin' On Up
I appreciate how Wilkerson pays credence to the power of the arts, especially music, in encapsulating and expressing struggles and triumphs - I should just say the human condition.
2. Cornel West's speech at U of Washington in 2014, which I watched on youtube. I have never seen him speak before and my goodness what power. A theme throughout was the important of taking inspiration from musicians and the musical world both in our ability to harmonize, improvise, experiment, and sing the truth of the situation, in order to constantly raise the level of the collective art we are engaged in making.
3. If Beale Street Could Talk, which has allusions to music throughout. The most moving recently was a reference to Daniel, a character who is incarcerated for two years and thoroughly traumatized by his experiences inside. The narrator of the book asks '"Didn't my lord deliver Daniel? Then why not every man?" It's an old question, and still unanswered.'
This prompted me to stop my audiobook and begin singing that amazing spiritual "Didn't my lord deliver Daniel?" I found this beautifully directed and performed version which I share with you now.
___
On a separate note, I have heard the name of Quakerism, the legacy of Quakerism, invoked by a solid handful of high profile folks in the past few weeks in ways that have made me uncomfortable. People speak of write about the valiance of Quakers fighting against slavery. Do we live up to this legacy today? I have to remember that John Woolman was not just searching and courageous in his journal - he was in his public life too. I cannot read about injustice and then continue with life as normal. I must organize. As Cornel West says - he answered the ubiquitous audience question of "how can I as a normal working person help?" by saying "You've got to take out time to organize, through whatever organization you have available to you." Indeed we must.
- Women flight attendants demanding fair treatment and reduction of status as sexual symbols
- Conservative women who picket against Planned Parenthood because 1% of its services are related to safe abortions, who then come in for abortions themselves before returning with renewed vitriol (fuelled by guilt?) to the picket line.
She tells her own story and the story of the women's movement in this country around and through these stories of isolated, small-ish scale movements for justice. In these communities people who what they want, and are able to band together at least a little bit to demand it. And it works. And they are inspired by things they read or hear about similar stirrings in other places.
We are indeed so inspired by words we hear from one another. I have been inspired this week by the prophetic and insightful words of my students in role play and discussion. I have been inspired by their poetry. I have been inspired by Steinem's example of living a life not rooted to one place or idea or possession (or possessions in general) but "on the road" in spirit if not in physical reality.
I have been inspired by the combined glory given to both arts and political activism in some things I'm reading recently.
1. Warmth of Other Suns, which has loads of epigraphs citing songs and novels by black and non-black writers and artists about the struggle for freedom and what living as a black American has meant to them. Here are two from the beginning of the book.
I was leaving the South
To fling myself into the unknown....
I was taking a part of the South
To transplant in alien soil,
To see if it could grow differently,
If it could drink of new and cool rains,
Bend in strange winds,
Respond to the warmth of other suns
And, perhaps to bloom.
- Richard Wright
Our mattresses were made
of corn shucks
and soft gray Spanish moss
that hung from the trees....
From the swamps
we got soup turtles
and baby alligators
and from the woods
we got raccoon,
rabbit and possum.
-Mahalia Jackson, Movin' On Up
I appreciate how Wilkerson pays credence to the power of the arts, especially music, in encapsulating and expressing struggles and triumphs - I should just say the human condition.
2. Cornel West's speech at U of Washington in 2014, which I watched on youtube. I have never seen him speak before and my goodness what power. A theme throughout was the important of taking inspiration from musicians and the musical world both in our ability to harmonize, improvise, experiment, and sing the truth of the situation, in order to constantly raise the level of the collective art we are engaged in making.
3. If Beale Street Could Talk, which has allusions to music throughout. The most moving recently was a reference to Daniel, a character who is incarcerated for two years and thoroughly traumatized by his experiences inside. The narrator of the book asks '"Didn't my lord deliver Daniel? Then why not every man?" It's an old question, and still unanswered.'
This prompted me to stop my audiobook and begin singing that amazing spiritual "Didn't my lord deliver Daniel?" I found this beautifully directed and performed version which I share with you now.
___
On a separate note, I have heard the name of Quakerism, the legacy of Quakerism, invoked by a solid handful of high profile folks in the past few weeks in ways that have made me uncomfortable. People speak of write about the valiance of Quakers fighting against slavery. Do we live up to this legacy today? I have to remember that John Woolman was not just searching and courageous in his journal - he was in his public life too. I cannot read about injustice and then continue with life as normal. I must organize. As Cornel West says - he answered the ubiquitous audience question of "how can I as a normal working person help?" by saying "You've got to take out time to organize, through whatever organization you have available to you." Indeed we must.
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