Baby Steps Into Activism

This Friday we're reading The Real Rosa Parks (plus two other articles) in class. I like this small article, because it's about the little things that go into making big changes. The article explains the danger of idolizing (essentially) key figures in historical movements, because it gives us the impression that they are somehow in possession of above average ability.

This conventional portrayal suggests that social activists come out of nowhere, to suddenly take dramatic stands. It implies that we act with the greatest impact when we act alone, at least initially. And that change occurs instantly, as opposed to building on a series of often-invisible actions. The myth of Parks as lone activist reinforces a notion that anyone who takes a committed public stand, or at least an effective one, has to be a larger-than-life figure--someone with more time, energy, courage, vision, or knowledge than any normal person could ever possess. This belief pervades our society, in part because the media tends not to represent historical change as the work of ordinary human beings, which it almost always is.

What is more important is realizing all the little things that led up to the big action.

Think again about the different ways one can frame Rosa Parks's historic action. In the prevailing myth, Parks decides to act almost on a whim, in isolation. She's a virgin to politics, a holy innocent. The lesson seems to be that if any of us suddenly got the urge to do something equally heroic, that would be great. Of course most of us don't, so we wait our entire lives to find the ideal moment.

Parks's real story conveys a far more empowering moral. She begins with seemingly modest steps. She goes to a meeting, and then another, helping build the community that in turn supported her path. Hesitant at first, she gains confidence as she speaks out. She keeps on despite a profoundly uncertain context, as she and others act as best they can to challenge deeply entrenched injustices, with little certainty of results. Had she and others given up after her tenth or eleventh year of commitment, we might never have heard of Montgomery.

Parks also reminds us that even in a seemingly losing cause, one person may unknowingly inspire another, and that person yet a third, who may then go on to change the world, or at least a small corner of it. Rosa Parks's husband Raymond convinced her to attend her first NAACP meeting, the initial step on a path that brought her to that fateful day on the bus in Montgomery. But who got Raymond Parks involved? And why did that person take the trouble to do so? What experiences shaped their outlook, forged their convictions? The links in any chain of influence are too numerous, too complex to trace. But being aware that such chains exist, that we can choose to join them, and that lasting change doesn't occur in their absence, is one of the primary ways to sustain hope, especially when our actions seem too insignificant to amount to anything.

Sometimes all the little things you do may not lead to something greater, at least in your lifetime, maybe. But it is the striving that is the important thing. The striving is what inspires people to do something besides watch events unfold around them. Striving gives people a model to follow. It leaves people without an excuse as to what they could be doing. Striving tells people who would take advantage of others that they won't be able to do so without opposition; that if nothing else, someone will point a finger at the problem and direct attention to it.

It is my opinion that being a good citizen means being an engaged citizen. To me, that means being educated and it means being active. It means understanding my part in the issues of my community. It means I don't get the luxury of pretending not to care about the news or yawning about politics, because that makes more work on someone else. It especially means connections and community building to me. I believe in small steps that make small differences. I believe in being conscious.

It is easy for me to get caught up in the minutia of my job and my life and ignore those things that I could do. It's easy to think that my job is enough, since it is in academia and I mentor students who are living on the cusp of changing the life cycle of generations. And maybe it is enough; but it doesn't feel like enough to me.

So I'm going to devote some regular space to reminding myself of the small acts of power that are within my control, things that can make an actual difference. Who knows? Maybe somebody else will be inspired by it, too. :)

-- DV