Some things to do, even in these bad times

 Sam Smith

Your identity is great, but it hasn’t anywhere near the votes of a coalition

At least until the Supreme Court got on the case, we had done a pretty good job of improving the status of the various segments of our multicultural society, But the emphasis on identity has taken attention away from one key factor: being in a minority means there aren’t that many of you.

There is strikingly little talk or action these days about building cross-cultural coalitions to add needed political strength to the moral status. I was reminded of this reading The Woman Behind the New Deal; The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins – Social Security, Unemployment Insurance and the Minimum Wage.

This work tells the story of the first woman to achieve cabinet status as Labor Secretary and to retain that status for longer than any man or woman before or since. She had previously been industrial commissioner in New York state under then governor Franklin Roosevelt and as Wikipedia notes: “Having earned the co-operation and the respect of various political factions, Perkins helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform. She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws. She worked vigorously to put an end to child labor and to provide safety for women workers.”

There is no doubt that Perkins had a hard time with some male labor leaders. The American Federation of Labor even opposed her nomination, but the fact is that years before the modern women’s movement, she got major advancements passed, for both women and men.

As I read her tale I was struck by the lack of people like her in power these days, in no small part because we don’t know how to share our identity with others and discover what we have in common in a way that turns righteousness into good numbers.

Get the young on the case

There’s no doubt that the young are less involved in activism than, say, in the 1960s. But other things have changed as well. As Adam Eichen wrote in Yes Magazine in 2018:

Even if one wants to make a difference, student debt destroys career flexibility. Nearly 40 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 have outstanding student loans. The total student debt that Americans owe has more than doubled in just the past decade and is now over $1.5 trillion—a sum greater than total U.S. credit card debt.

On top of all of this, many young people since childhood have experienced the existential weight of whether the Earth will remain inhabitable by the time they retire. The bleak forecast about climate change alone would justify some nihilism.

More so than apathy, nihilism, or disengagement,  hopelessness plagues young people. And overcoming that hopelessness requires showing empathy and making clear that our crises are being shouldered by allies of all ages. Also, we need to finally stop gaslighting young people with tales of previous generations’ tribulations and how they overcame them.

And, notes Eichen, there’s a “strange myth that has developed about the 1960s, that students turned into progressive activists spontaneously,” explains Joan Mandle, executive director of Democracy Matters, a nonpartisan organization that teaches students to organize for democracy reform. “But we all had mentors. We were taught how to organize by those who came before. Many of us even went to organizing school!”

Eichen continues: “Moreover, as Mandle explains, community volunteer work has been favored over political engagement by high schools, colleges, educational and religious institutions. There are many avenues and organizations for young people to ‘help others.’ But involvement in political issues or elections is, if not actively discouraged, not promoted by these same institutions. As a result, in building their resumes and looking for what are seen as ‘legitimate’ volunteer activities, many young people shy away from politics.” Instead of shaming young folks, … why not help them learn? It’s time to ask: Why aren’t more adults willing to be mentors?

Make your community the place our nation should be

One thing I’ve learned in a big way is that our communities are often vastly different from our nation. As a white guy living for decades in a black majority DC, I found myself repeatedly more comfortable engaged in  local issues than reading the NY Times. Today, living in a small town in Maine I am reminded that there is an America where lies don’t count at all, decency is admired and life is about more just buying and selling things.

During a time when the larger America is crashing, such local experiences are not only comforting, they are places to start organizing an effort to bring America back to its senses. Every national jerk, fibber or bribed official also grew up somewhere and never learned the right values. We can stop that from happening again where we live now. And we can make our schools, our churches and our local media pay attention.

We could even have a national organization of democratically and decently run communities to put more pressure on the greedsters who have made such a mess of our land.