This piece was so inspiring, especially the tangible example of what it means to actually create a community of care, "Taking care of one another didn’t just mean having your needs met. It meant pitching in. Every sit-downer was responsible for daily chore duties, and there was a judicial system to ensure that workers who shirked their responsibilities were held accountable"
“the strike was an act of love, in the most active sense of the word. Love in the factory meant commitment to one another. Love meant meeting each other’s basic needs. Love meant vigilance and protection. Love meant accountability and collective responsibility. Love meant the recognition that the only way out was together.” Amen! Thanks for a history lesson wrapped up in a sermon (and you know I mean that in the best possible way!).
Maybe it's because I have so little knowledge of Unions and their history; maybe it's because I am dedicated to the idea that community is the solution and we are creating it wrong; maybe it's because every time someone admits out loud that the panthers were a threat because of their free breakfast and literacy programs; maybe it's because it truly is where you shine; this is my favorite type of your writing. I can feel the passion in it. I believe that unions are an answer to a problem we all understand and that, on a larger scale, unions are a successful case study of what community can do and has done. xx
This is the kind of brilliant, attractional storytelling we organizers need to hear as much as anyone else -- to be reminded that solidarity is not powerful enough when rooted in ideology or self-interest alone, rather that care and love are not only beautiful and make life and struggle better, but that are prerequisites of winning and winning in a way where we get tastes of freedom on the road to freedom.
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring. There’s something so heartening about reading these examples that have happened in the past in our country, gives us hope of what could be possible now!
Love (and solidarity) in the time of political puffery
This is such a wonderful and needed and inspiring piece Garrett, thank you for writing it!
This piece was so inspiring, especially the tangible example of what it means to actually create a community of care, "Taking care of one another didn’t just mean having your needs met. It meant pitching in. Every sit-downer was responsible for daily chore duties, and there was a judicial system to ensure that workers who shirked their responsibilities were held accountable"
Thank you, always, for your words.
“the strike was an act of love, in the most active sense of the word. Love in the factory meant commitment to one another. Love meant meeting each other’s basic needs. Love meant vigilance and protection. Love meant accountability and collective responsibility. Love meant the recognition that the only way out was together.” Amen! Thanks for a history lesson wrapped up in a sermon (and you know I mean that in the best possible way!).
Maybe it's because I have so little knowledge of Unions and their history; maybe it's because I am dedicated to the idea that community is the solution and we are creating it wrong; maybe it's because every time someone admits out loud that the panthers were a threat because of their free breakfast and literacy programs; maybe it's because it truly is where you shine; this is my favorite type of your writing. I can feel the passion in it. I believe that unions are an answer to a problem we all understand and that, on a larger scale, unions are a successful case study of what community can do and has done. xx
This is the kind of brilliant, attractional storytelling we organizers need to hear as much as anyone else -- to be reminded that solidarity is not powerful enough when rooted in ideology or self-interest alone, rather that care and love are not only beautiful and make life and struggle better, but that are prerequisites of winning and winning in a way where we get tastes of freedom on the road to freedom.
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring. There’s something so heartening about reading these examples that have happened in the past in our country, gives us hope of what could be possible now!
Garrett, this is one of my favorite pieces of yours ever!!! I had never heard of this strike and the story is truly so inspiring.