Organizing for Justice Everywhere

I saw this short thread on Twitter today by self-described preacher and moral activist Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove…

I spent about four hours of President’s Day driving through rural Virginia, which boasts more U.S. Presidents than any other state. But I saw more homes flying battle flag of the Confederacy than the U.S. flag. In Alabama a newspaper editor is calling for the Klan to ride again...

MAGA has no doubt emboldened white nationalism, but I keep thinking about how whiteness has always been a lie to keep poor people from working together for systemic justice.

I remember Ann Atwater teaching me that her friend C.P. Ellis joined the Klan because he didn’t believe anyone else wanted or cared about him. His Klan robe made him feel like somebody. But what he really needed was a better community.

Truth is, rural Virginia needs the same things poor folks in the city need—access to healthcare, living wages for decent work, high quality public education and sustainable use of land and resources.

We need a moral movement that offers marginalized communities a better identity than whiteness—the hope of a shared life where all of us do better when all of us do better. Yes, we need a new President. But that is not all. We also need a better imagination of greatness.

...and it made me think of the Chris Hayes podcast from back in January with George Goehl. If you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it. Goehl not only has had an inspiring life; he's talking about the same thing as Wilson-Hartgrove (like the Klan recruiting in places hit by the opioid epidemic), and how to organize for justice in solidarity.