Power Corrupts?

I grew up with the idea that power was, well, dangerous.  People who had power, so I thought, were to be respected - from a distance.  And people who wanted power?  Those folks made me nervous.

The limited training in community organizing that I have had so far taught me the really important lesson that power is neutral.  It exists.  What people do with power, how they engage it, is what matters.  Power is the ability to accomplish something.  People of color and their allies assumed power as they fought for equal rights in the Civil Rights Movement.  The Philadelphia Eleven engaged power in 1974 as the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church. When Lake County United affiliates gather this Sunday in Waukegan, Illinois, to pressure the superintendent and the school board to ensure quality education for the children of its community, we'll be claiming the power that arises when hundreds of people come together to work toward a common goal.

The kind of power that community organizing builds comes from organized people.  The initial building block is the individual meeting: one by one, we get to know the great joys and the great concerns of our neighbors.  But something needs to come of those conversations.  Taking action is a bit like taking those individual components out for a test drive, like saying "Okay, this is your concern; let's do something about it in our own community to change things for the better."

So my work tonight and for the last several days has been inviting people out for the test drive. In organizing language, that's called generating turnout.  It comes from the idea that when many people speak with a unified voice, people pay attention.  One of the affiliate churches in Waukegan, an Episcopal Church whose members are deeply invested in improving education for their children, plans to have 200 members at this Sunday's Education Assembly.  

This power is real, and healthy, and born of a community's desire to see its children realize their potential.  I can't see a way that such a power corrupts.

For anyone out there who might be in the greater Chicago area, please join us in this effort!

Lake County United Education Assembly

Sunday, July 20th

3:30-5:00 (seating available at 3:00)

Holy Family Catholic Church

450 Keller Avenue

Waukegan, Illinois