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When revolution is made easy, is it really revolution, or rather an exercise that we use to excuse ourselves from being a part of the problem?The recent execution of death row inmate Troy Davis created an online frenzy. The regular opponents of the death penalty came forth as well as what I will refer to as the black flash mob. You know who they are. Those college students, pseudo-intellectuals and Twitter rebels who have a lot of tough talk about the death penalty, the prison industrial complex and post-traumatic slavery disorder. But rarely do much more than update their Facebook statuses and at the most come out for one night of protesting. These people don’t realize their microwave revolutions actually hurt their causes more than help.
Long standing institutions in America and the people who protect them have realized that most Americans – especially the poor and under-served communities lack the will and the stamina for the prolonged civil unrest necessary to change policy and paradigms.As I watched the Occupy Wall Street movement and spawns spring up all over the country such as Occupy the Fill In The Blank City I was struck by the fact that very few of its participants were poor or black.
In fact, when I visited the Occupy Chicago Movement in full swing, there were approximately 3,000 participants from the city who all seemed to be out of work college graduates who would quickly put down their picket signs if a new position opened up at the corporation they were screaming about.
The problem with America’s modern day movements is that they seem to be missing a few essentials. In the case of Troy Davis, it was not clearly defined whether the protesters were against the death penalty or the death penalty for Troy Davis. The great comedian and Civil Rights activist Dick Gregory made his position on the death penalty clear by protesting outside of the Texas prison that executed Lawrence Brewer the same night as Troy Davis.
Brewer, a white supremacist, brutally drug the body of James Byrd to his death. While most of the media was giving attention to the Troy Davis flash mob, there was one lonely revolutionary who stood on his principles that the death penalty in itself was wrong, no matter who was being lethally injected or what their crime was.
In the case of the Occupy movement, we have yet another flawed strategy. The fact that it is a leaderless movement is a great source of pride for its followers. However, historically, every great movement has started with a few people that metastasized their cause to the masses. Jesus and the Twelve Disciplines, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Black Panthers, The Irish Republican Army and the ANC of South Africa are just a few examples of how clear leadership and a specific agenda creates long-term sustainable change.
It is imperative that we begin doing the hard work. This includes:
- Picking an issue or movement that we are passionate about beyond the sound bites or new story of the week.
- Finding a base of support that is just as passionate about the issue and willing to take prolonged action with a strategic plan and specific outcome.
- Going door-to-door no matter the weather realizing that we may be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. In one word this can be called sacrifice. Something that the flash mobbers are not willing to do long-term.
A true revolutionary has principles and solutions and is willing to put their career and their life on the line to defend them. So though there may be thousands of people at a rally one day, there needs to be sustainable action until the next rally so that the powers that be are put on notice that the new revolutionaries mean business.
Give H.O.P.E. Live H.O.P.E.
Che “Rhymefest” Smith
Guest Blogger
About the Author
Inspired by his life experiences growing up in a working class, single-parent household, Che has carved out a life in art, music and social activism, always using his music career as a platform from which to stimulate social change. Che Smith is a dedicated father and a loving husband whose wife is a proud Chicago Public School teacher. In 2005, Che won a Grammy for “Jesus Walks”, which he co‑wrote with friend Kanye West. Follow him on Twitter at @RHYMEFEST.
I totally agree! I think if we do this sooner than later more progress will be made in our communities and lives overall.
I agree with this in its totality. I’m a Nigerian and in recent times it seems the new cool thing is to get on twitter and Facebook and talk bout how corrupt and distant from the people the government is. However very few of this cyber-activists ever get up from behind their computers to make real life impact. If you will talk about it then how about you be about it.
Thank you for writing this.
Well thought out and articulated piece. To sacrifice and sustain a movement by staying with it day in day out is the challenge.
We need to know that results differ just like plants, vegetables take a few months, but oak trees and their ilk take considerably longer but their ability to withstand adverse conditions is also inherent.
In order to build something that’ll last we must be ready to stay. How many of us will do so? Time will tell.
I can appreciate where the thoughts in this article are coming from and agree with most of the points. However, I don’t think we can overlook the impact that social media does have on various causes (worthy or not). Honestly, how many people, that did attempt to support Troy Davis , would have even known who he was if someone didn’t spearhead some type of social media movement? This is how a lot of modern day, grassroots, movements begin.
While going door-to-door may have been the way to reach the masses of yester-year, it is so much more effective to utilize the social media avenues that are available to reach even more people in a shorter amount of time. Door-to-door was efficient when everyone didn’t have telephones or when a majority of the people you needed to access were illiterate. I am, in no way, suggesting that the examples i am about to name even begin to compare to the issue of the death penalty or the under-served but recently, it was social media movements that gave “the people” a voice to go up against corporations such as Netflix and Bank of America and champion their cause.
It is honorable that Dick Gregory had so much conviction in his stance regarding the death penalty to champion his cause outside of and apart from the Troy Davis 3-ring circus event. However, who heard his message? To be honest, I was unaware that he’d even done that until I read your article.
Medgar Evers said that “you can kill a man but you can’t kill an idea” and Malcolm X said “by any means necessary”, so while the majority who show up to support may not be deeply invested and in it for the long haul, the key for any grassroots and cause building is to plant the idea first…by any means necessary. The true revolutionaries will continue to champion, support and invest in the causes they believe in no matter who sells out, puts down their picket sign or moves onto the new story of the week. If the idea takes root in even just one member of the the “flashmob” then the dance wasn’t wasted.
@Kay – The point of this article was not to take away from the power of social media but to attempt to inspire people to really take advantage of its power. Social Media is a great tool to create awareness and to give information, but even the Occupy Movement would not have been as strong nor would it have garnered as much media attention had there not been bodies on the ground actually occupying Wall Street.
I saw the power and importance of going door-to-door during my campaign for Alderman in Chicago. We were on social media all day, but to a certain extent many people in low-income communities do not have access to the internet and if you don’t have a strong ground component for a movement then the participation will be limited. Additionally, the nature of social media is that it is fleeting and temporary. Many of the social & economic issues of today – education reform, political empowerment, etc. require a long term strategy if we are truly going to make the policy changes necessary. I would also argue that in terms of Netflix and Bank of America it wasn’t just social media that gave the people the power it was ACTUAL ACTION – canceling Netflix subscriptions and shutting down bank accounts that gave them their power.
Your example of Dick Gregory’s protest further illustrates the problem with “microwave” revolutions. There was national outrage after James Byrd was drug to death by Lawrence Brewer. What is interesting is that although Lawrence Brewer was put to death the same night as Troy Davis there was little to no media coverage about this heinous hate crime. Additionally, I don’t think that media attention is the goal for true revolutionaries. The day of revolutionaries receiving prime time coverage for their actions ended with the death of Malcolm X. True revolution is about the change and about standing on one’s principles regardless of how small or large your audience is. While you (or others) may not have been aware of Gregory’s actions that day – the individuals inside of that prison who were witnessing the death and those who came in contact with him were and he made an impression.
I totally agree that social media is a great communication tool for movements – but it is not the movement in and of itself. I’d argue that it’s not enough and those who are serious about championing their causes will have a multifaceted approach to achieving their outcomes.
Che,
You are correct, I wasn’t suggesting that bodies on the ground weren’t needed or play a role in furthering the impact of the mission. In the sense that, utilized properly, social media is a great tool to create awareness, I think we’re seeing eye to eye.
You raised a valid point about the importance of door-to-door because it is true that, even in this age of technology, everyone is not fortunate enough to have access. You would fall into the category of those that choose the front line because they are truly invested in the cause and know that sometimes “by any means necessary” means putting in face time and using your hands to mold the idea you want to see take shape.
The murder of James Byrd was a vicious act and I can’t say that I am saddened to hear that his killer was put to death. While I agree that prime time coverage is not the goal of a true revolutionary, if it can be utilized to help create the change that is sought, it should be utilized when possible. Emmitt Till was just another anonymous Black boy murdered in the still of the night until his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, had the courage to put a face to what had happened to countless young Black men before her son. She could have gone door to door but that one image of her son’s corpse sent a resounding notice across the country that could not and would not be ignored.
I don’t agree that social media is the alpha or omega of championing the modern day cause. However, the impression I got from your article was that it had a whimsical quality and did little to affect real change. It probably plays a bigger role than you or I would like it to. To the true revolutionaries that roll up their sleeves, Theodore Roosevelt summed it up best:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
So hats off to all that get in where they fit in… whether it’s sitting in front of a QWERTY keyboard or going door-to-door. At the end of the day, I suppose the most important part in creating change is to let the idea you have for it occupy more than your mind.
Thank you to everyone who has commented so far. I appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts and hopefully we can all start to work toward change in our own individual ways.
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