[Oe List ...] Last Night

[clingojr at aol.com]

 My deep appreciation to you John for delivering to us the reminder inherent in this article!
Charles



 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: John Montgomery <monkeyltd at comcast.net>
To: OE at wedgeblade.net; Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Sent: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 6:10 am
Subject: [Oe List ...] Last Night



























Dear Friends,



 



A colleague of mine posted a blog the other day pointing out that there
were no minorities to be found in any significant numbers at the current
Republican convention. Actually, one explanation is that all those Blacks,
Latinos, Asians and youth are all there, it is just that perverse liberal media
that keeps the cameras from revealing their presence. I did see two black men
and one black woman. There was one Asian man but I really did not see anybody
obviously Hispanic. I am sure they were there.



 



Not much else needs to be said. I will be glad when our two candidates
actually debate each other. Maybe we can move beyond the cute side shows. 



 



The most telling event of the evening was both Giuliani’s and Palin’s
apparent ignorance about the time honored strategy of change and empowerment
represented by community organizing.  Needless to say, community
organizing is about all those people who were not present at the
Republican convention tonight. So I hope everybody had a great laugh. It’s
one reason; I can’t and won’t vote Republican. It is the
 reason
that tonight I made another donation online for Obama’s campaign.



 



Perhaps, a little background will help here. In the late 80s, following
my graduation from seminary, I was hired as the Executive Director of the
Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society (ICUIS) in Hyde Park. Perhaps I will come back to this work soon and
talk about some of my research, but I thought I would share a paper written by
young Obama on the subject. Maybe if Giuliani had read the paper, he
wouldn’t have looked so elitist tonight.



 



http://www.edwoj.com/Alinsky/AlinskyObamaChapter1990.htm



 



During the four years I was director of ICUIS, we focused on
documenting a new trend in the traditional community organizing strategies of
persons like Saul Alinsky and the work of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).
During that time, I was able to do research on the more than 100 “congregation-based
community organizing efforts” across the country and publish several
studies. In Chicago, one of the key groups
facilitating such organizing was the Gamaliel Foundation that helped organize
The Developing Communities Project and GREAT on Chicago’s Southside. 



 



Obama was right in the middle of these efforts. And it is his instinct
as an organizer that makes me so interested in his candidacy. I have
paraphrased his comments more than once where he says, “What people
don’t get is that it is not about me, but it is about we.
” 



 



That is a community organizer talking!



 



 



 



 



John C. Montgomery



monkeyltd at comcast.net



john.montgomery at acfb.org



678-468-4913 (personal)



 



Visit My Blog - Notes From the Balcony



www.monkeyltd.blogspot.com



 



 



 






 





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