Bridging Communities across Racial Lines, chapter four

• overcome race & class divisions
• issue: historical inequalities, longstanding cultural stereotypes
• fight for 1. education, 2. economic opportunity, 3. democratic progress
• where can you build relationships across racial lines for common action?
• our social life is segregated
• political groups, organized along racial lines
• coalitions back candidates that help elect blacks and others to office
• anti-racist laws have been passed, government programs for social provision have been passed
• need roots in communities
• interest based coalitions: not effective, narrow interpretation of self/group interests doesn't uplift oppressed groups
• electoral coalitions help multiracial cooperation
• to forge alliances: 1. leadership, 2. relationship building, 3. ideology
• get past 1. mistrust, 2. racism, 3. ignorance
• cooperative action > greater trust, relationships, mutual understanding
• need to lead to cooperative action
• IAF: innovative model of multiracial cooperation
• William Julius Wilson has argued that the current period offers an important opening for the creation of a "bridge over the racial divide. " Rising economic inequality in the midst of an economic boom provides working and middle-class Americans of all races with a common interest in a set of government programs that can improve their lot vis-a-vis the wealthy."
• broad based organization with blacks, Anglos, Mexican Americans (Fort Worth)
• 1. races, 2. classes, 3. religion denominations CAN work together

Fort Worth in the Eighties

• Fort Worth had 1/3 of Tarrant Country's population
• most of its growth occurred in the suburbs
• 1990: grown from 385k to 448k, 28th largest American city
• blacks 22.8%, Hispanics 13% > blacks 22%, Hispanics 19.5%
• segregated city: blacks in east side and central city
• there was a middle class exodus from black poor neighborhoods
• Fort Worth: center for the oil industry
  
• affluent lived outside of city limits
• 1990: 28% of blacks in poverty, 23% of Hispanic families in poverty

Politics

• had been controlled by the "Seventh Street Gang" created by Amon Carter
• the "Gang" wasn't as unified as the good government league
• thankfully in the 1960s, study committees and neighborhood conferences
• 1978: 2 blacks, 1 Hispanic won election
• black electoral politics, organized around specifically families
• Zapata won a position on the north side
• Texas Democrats, strong support in Fort Worth
• industrial unions anchored the Fort Worth Democratic party
• patronage-style local politics: black ministers would support white politicians to get benefits for their communities
• integration came peacefully to FW without violence/strong civil rights movement
• legal segregation ended in 1967 but de facto segregation continued
• neighborhood segregation continued
• Fort Worth ministers heard about COPS success in San Antonio, wanted an IAF in their city
• racially based politics-ineffective @ dealing with the quality of life in poor black communities
• ministers looked for allies with a shared religious outlook & wanted it to lead to social/political action
• 1. relationship building, 2. sponsoring stage > common ground
• "get it all out-don't submerge it."
• General Dynamics fought IAF involvement
• affluent white church members fought IAF
  
• St. Matthew's Lutheran: lower middle & professional classes: teachers, nurses, insurance people, engineers, few wealthy/few blue collar. felt their quality of life threatened by cutbacks @ General Dynamics
• need to address common needs & feel like you have a sense of power
• property values were too low for people to move
  
• Rev. Boggs: recognized people were insecure about their financial position and wanted change, have to help middle class see common ground with lower middle class
• Rodriguez, social services leader, helped on grape boycott in the 60s
• low tension between Hispanics and blacks in Fort Worth
• Rodriguez wanted to generate power for a community-wide base
• ACT won 7/8 changes in utilities legislation

Community Initiatives and Mutual Support, p. 106

• broad based organizations, allow communities to assert own needs and take initiative
• congregations are encouraged to develop their own initiatives
• needs of blacks don't have to be overlooked in multiracial organizations
• Rev. Davis wanted to combat educational decline among black youth
• 85% of students got reduced cost lunches, 51%+ came from single person families
• the school was firebombed in 1985
• goal: get parents involved in the educations of their children
• problem: parents felt isolated from one another
• created after school program with sports, arts, and academic tutoring
• gave awards to parents who read to their children
• created a summer reading program and recognized people
• address neighborhood issues that effect the school
• 1988, Perkins, new organizer for IAF
• problem: blacks and Hispanics in competition for scarce resources

Bond Elections, p.111

• raise $ for improvements to city's infrastructure by submitting bond packages for an electorate
• inner city leaders needed funding for specific projects
• Morningside School campaign built trust
• church leaders-researched community needs
• got $ for streets and drainage projects
• white middle class and working class voters thought the development of a cultural district would benefit only the wealthy
• 21/30 precincts approved the plan, redevelopment project defeat

Synergy, p. 113

• congregations had demands, part of bond package
• 1990s: workers hurt by downsizing of local defense industries
• 1993, multiracial group created a plan for long-term job-training
• white, black, Hispanic ACT leaders
• Reverand Boggs, key leader
• jobs, organizing issue

Building Understanding and Trust

• church committees > campaigns
• develop relationships and trust & begin to depend on each other
• everything changes because of relationships built in ACT

Religious Values as a Broadly Unifying Force

• society is fractured along racial lines
• common beliefs/shared identity as people of God> help people to see themselves within the same community
• meetings start with prayer
• prayer serves a unifying function
• prayers should call people to social action/refer to the building of community

The Limits of Multiracial Unity in Act

• 1991, skinhead shot a black man, wasn't given a prison term. 10,000 marched in protest in downtown Fort Worth
• ACT didn't join the march
• 1. ACT can't respond quickly to new issues
• 2. ACT doesn't see itself as a protest organization
• 3. blacks did not demand ACT take part in the protest
• successes: Morningside school, common ground in bond-elections and job-training
• ACT does not discuss issues of race/racism directly
• strong leaders: Rev. Davis, Rev. Boggs, Raymond Rodriguez
• Davis believed IAF tried to expand its number of affiliates too quickly
• ACT, diversity of leadership made relationship building more difficult than the more homogenous Hispanic dominated COPS

Conclusion

• 1. common beliefs and shared identity can bring diverse communities together, use commonality of religion
• 2. importance of institutional organizing
• need to respect the integrity of community traditions/institutions
• letting communities develop initiatives gives them autonomy
• however, avoiding the discussion of racism internally/externally makes relationship building superficial
• Byrd, IAF, black-organizer, worked with drug users/prostitutes in Port Arthur, TX
• black organizers got hired

Beyond Local Organizing: Statewide Power & a Regional Netwok

• Ch. 3, p. 72-97
• El Paso, was the poorest of America's large cities
• Hispanics were excluded from meaningful political power
• conservatives want to crush IAF
• Democratic candidates have to support IAF
• sometimes local problems need greater resources & more complex programs from a higher level of government
• fact: the pope tries to suppress Liberation Theology in Latin America

Early Statewide Efforts, p. 75

• the Texas IAF fought a utility rate increase at the power company, Texas Utilities
• leaders in San Antonio & Houston created a 7pt proposal for reform
• 1. lobby elected representatives in home turf, 2. meet & negotiate with key public officials, 3. build alliances with other political actors
• six of the seven points of the utility campaign were picked up by the Texas legislature
  
• 1983, IAF wants to reform education @ the state level
• neighborhood schools were underfunded
• wanted to raise funding and standards in schools
• bill for educational improvements resurrected with IAF pressure
• upset about inadequate healthcare facilities
• hearings about healthcare, lobbied Governor White, brought 100s of leaders to meet with state legislators
• "Members of the Texas AIF network organizations flooded the capitol dome, yelling, chanting, and effectively blocking the major exits. A group of Hispanic legislators went to the Governor's Office, accompanied by Ernie Cortes and leaders of TIAF organizations, to demand an immediate special session-or else the Hispanic caucus would run its own candidate to oppose White in the next election. Under all these pressures, the governor had no choice but to call a special session to begin the following day, specifically to deal with indigent health care."(78, Dry Bones Rattling)
• Colonias, like shanty-towns, were along the border with Mexico
• no running water/sewers
• state agencies had to recognize the colonias problem
• it has taken years of follow-up to get the services in place (p.80)
• "bringing people together and sharing a common vision."
• public institutions that serve poor communities need to be reformed, not just funded more
• Fort Worth: black leaders address poor academic performance rates/high drop out rates among black youth
• needed a lot of outside support to reform schools
• oil crisis in 1980s in Texas > recession
• 1990, Democrat Ann Richards was elected governor. Worked with IAF on colonias issue when she was State Treasurer
• appointed COPS co-chair as director of education policy
• approved funding for teacher training, curricular development in schools
• grant for education coordinators
• want the kids to develop problem solving, use a 1000 different approaches
• develop higher-order thinking schools among students, implement block schedules
• test scores: do not equal cognitive development/community improvement
• school based organizing.
  
• Albuquerque, Tucson, Phoenix, Omaha

An Institute for Organizers

• need large number of professional organizers
• sophistication & unity among organizing staff
• an institute for organizers was created in Texas
• increase professional organizers salaries
• organizers suffered from burnout
• Texas is very spread out-issue
• seminars for collective support & intellectual stimulation
• political philosophy/theology/economics readers
• had ministers speak that had been part of the Civil Right's movement
• Ford Foundation money donated money to fly in speakers
• seminars every two months
• met with prominent writers, scholars, policy analysts
• developed mutual support among organizers that wasn't threatening

Expanding the Ranks of Organizers

• issue getting enough organizers
• IAF needed funds to put new recruits on payroll for training
• Florence/Schumann Foundation: trainee expenses for several years
• retreats for junior organizers
• Alinksy: organizer: male, from outside community, nomadic, leader: female, rooted in community, stayed when organizers left
• Alinksy: didn't believe women could be organizers
• Cortes, recruited women on his staff
• organizers, long hours
• large organizing staff consequences 1) organize into schools & elsewhere, 2) campaigns at the state level, 3) build new organizations in Texas & Southwest because there were enough organizers to lead new efforts

Why Texas?

• high receptivity to a public role for religion
  
• open field for organizing. less competition from other community/political groups
• IAF, only game in town
• clergy, little ties to the political establishment
• Democrats and liberals have worked with IAF
• bureaucracy is less in Texas then East/Midwest

Toward a Regional Network in the Southwest

• organizing in Phoenix in 1980s
• Pierson, hired as lead organizer
• Phoenix, has a strong libertarian tradition
• state government likes to cut taxes/fees, no minimum wage established
• Pima Country Interfaith Council, PCIC
• PCIC, got after school/summer youth programs
• PCIC got after school employment
• PCIC, JobPath, job-training program
• 1995, fight for a living wage ordinance
• 1999, $8 an hour with benefits
• 1. living wages, 2. school funding, 3. reform, 4. improvement of immigrant communities

Conclusion

• IAF: community-based organizations moved beyond the confines of their local areas
• how to stay true to local work? when working @ a state level...
• expand to new cities: how to monitor existing organizations
• local vs. state: creative tension

A Theology Of Organizing: From Alinsky to the Modern IAF

ch. 2, p.40-71

• 1975, San Antonio, Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS)
  
• fought for South-side and West-side neighborhoods
• wanted $100M of infrastructure improvements and services to Mexican Americans
• gained new drainage projects, sidewalks, parks, libraries
• Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals, his way to organize
• Alinsky saw churches as repositories of money & people to be mobilized
  
• religious traditions + power politics = a theology of organizing

Origins of the IAF

• Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC) on Chicago's SW side in 1939
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
  
• Upton Sinclair, exposed filth/degradation in the meat-packing industry in The Jungle
• Catholic Bishop Sheil helped convince pastors to support CIO unions
• BYNC: union leaders, small merchants, local churches
• BYNC used sit-ins and boycotts
• BYNC won many concessions from City Hall
• Alinsky wanted to extend his work to other parts of the country
• organizers in Lackawanna, NY, Butte, Montana and Chelsea, New York
• Woodlawn Association (TWO): residents went from 86% white to 86% black
• Protestant churches supported Alinsky and he tried to organize the large black community
• TWO used picketing/boycotts to stop the exploitation of landlords
• does urban renewal mean forcing the marginalized out of cities?
• massive voter registration drives, won improvements in sanitation, public heath procedures, and police practices
• FIGHT (Freedom, Integration, God, Honor, Today) Reverent Florence, a dynamic black minister from the civil-rights South became its president
• KODAK pledged to hire blacks & give them job training but FIGHT had to get control of proxies to make them honor it
  
• needed allies among the middle class

Community organizations

• 1. indigenous leadership, citizen participation
• 2. financial independence
• 3. commitment to local issues while avoiding divisive issues
• 4. based on the self-interest of communities in a pragmatic & non-ideological manner
• 5. should remain independent from parties & not endorse candidates
• 6. citizen participation through their own independent structures
  

Alinsky

• wanted to empower the poor
• wanted independent political power as opposed to a machine
• political organizations should be based on existing social institutions of a community-unions, block clubs, small business
• populist organizer
• the organizations he built did not stay grassroots
• one movement he started opposed racial integration of neighborhoods 25 years later
• TWO> giving services to community > giving people in communities a voice
• TWO lost its participatory side

Chambers

• Alinsky died and Chambers was in charge
• supported long term contracts with organizations, Alinsky wanted short term contracts
• upgraded pay to attract professionals
• collective supervision vs. Alinsky's one man show
• believed religious ideas/traditions could mobilize resources whereas Alinsky mainly saw the resources and social institutions as useful in mobilizing

Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS)

• Ernesto Cortes, Jr. was trained by AIF
• wanted to help poor/working Mexican Americans
• broke the Anglo elite's monopoly on power in San Antonio
• organizations based on religious values & material interests
• Good Government League, dominated by whites, kept Latino representatives out
• Hispanic parts: unpaved roads, no sidewalks, poor schools, frequent floods
• 25 catholic churches supported COPS
• helped with labor strikes, school desegregation and federal antipoverty money
• Hispanic priests organized into PADRES: wanted the church to address poverty & discrimination
• recruited lay leaders, people from social clubs, PTAs
  
• a school was closed to direct $ into a new administration building, parents fought to have the $ channeled so neighborhood schools could have smaller class sizes
• met needs of particular neighborhoods
• had a rich social fabric to draw from. rich Hispanics could not leave
  
• small portion were foreign born so newcomers could stay with families and become established
• strong tie to godparents
• tactics: large scale protests at city council meetings, disruptive actions at symbols of economic power
  
• 1976, blocked the construction of a shopping mall above an aquifer
• voted for a charter change for the city council, then the city council was mostly Mexican with a black member
• Community Block Grant (CDBG) program in San Antonio, COPS got 1//2 of funds
  
• COPS registered & mobilized voters
• accountability nights for candidates
• city bonds, important source of funding for COPS projects
• COPS lost the 1978 bond election, learned it had to share bonds with development oriented interests and city officials who wanted to fund capital projects
• middle class voters resist the tax implications of large bond campaigns
• COPS needed inner city votes to pass bonds
• COPS got health-clinics, a community college, afforsable housing from HUD
• COPS opposed a Midwestern manufacturing plant because it wanted to pay workers low wages
• voters voted to build this dome because they wanted jobs & major league sports teams in the area
• issue: streets and drainage concerns
• early days: wanted streets and libraries built
• allowed other agencies to handle the administration of monies
• didn't accept money or jobs for its leaders, focused on organizing

Bringing Values and Interests Together, p. 57

• Cortes leaves San Antonio for E. Los Angeles
• starts the United Neighborhoods Organization (UNO)
  
• IAF usually left COPS leaders on their own after they left
• new way: IAF affiliates and organizers placed in a long-term relationship so affiliates would stick with the organization's principles. disaster: Back of the Yards Council opposed integration of neighborhoods
• Alinsky: politics is not about doing good/right. It is about self interest.
  
• religion: provides value commitments.
• "theology for housing"
• Alinsky, tough, secular brand of power politics
• "draw from faith to take action to build a community."(59)
• fight unjust social and economic institutions

Relational Organizing & Institution Building

• sometimes social networks are not present
• Chavez would use house meetings to organize farm workers in California
• needed to strengthen faith institutions, more than mobilizing them
  

Houston

• no zoning laws, poorly funded public services, weak public institutions
• huge, sprawling city
• traded votes for community services
• COPS, committed to Hispanics

The Metropolitan Organization (TMO)

• black Catholics + Hispanic Catholics + Anglo Protestants
• fought high electric bills
• improved public transportation
• combated drugs in school
• problems: not enough members, not enough finances, small leadership base
• 1970s/1980s: middle class left cities
• 1. identify new leaders, 2. build a consensus, 3. forge collective leadership
• "According to Catholic social thinking, people could only achieve their full dignity and humanity through relationships in community, relationships structured by Catholic institutions."(64)
• The Republican party tried to crush the IAF effort
• struggles: sprawling size of Houston, weak neighborhoods
• COPS excelled better in San Antonio

Building Broad-Based Organizations, p.65

• COPS: dense organization in Hispanic neighborhoods
• problem: COPS in S. and W. sides, most growth in N. side
• E. side was poor blacks
• created East Side Alliance (ESA), still concerned Hispanics would dominate the game
• IAF: difficult to expand in the north side-more affluent
• Metropolitan Congregational Alliance (MCA) was formed
• 1. develop new relationships, 2. bridge social capital

Conclusion:

• Alinsky: interest-grop model of politics, no-holds-barred power politics
• identify an issue, mobilize community resources, win!
• flaw: couldn't sustain broad participation over time
• versus identify concerns, find a basis for cooperative action
• IAF. faith traditions/relational strength of women lay leaders were taken more seriously
• too much faith/values> idealism
• too much interests/pragmatic politics > alliances with some unappealing groups
• problem: religious opposition to different roles of church
• Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (PICO): issue-based and neighborhood organizing on the west coast
• faith based approach: religious culture and political organizing
• instead of moving to the suburbs, be part of rebuilding a neighborhood
  

Chapter One, Community Building and Political Renewal

p. 3-39

• How to engage working Americans in low income communities politically?

• social capital: networks, norms, social trust that facilitate cooperation/coordination for mutual benefit

• “The main lesson to be learned is simple: a key to renewing American politics is to rebuild its foundations in the values and institutions that sustain community.”(x)

• fight for affordable housing, job training, and school reform (p. 3)

• a lot of progressive developments are from the east and west coasts

• faith-based community building can be effective

• Texas Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) brings leaders together from different ethnic and socioeconomic groups to formulate action plans

• IAF isn’t concerned with abortion, gay rights, or prayer in school

• IAF: build housing, improve schools, job training programs, build parks and libraries

• no-nonsense, pragmatic approach

• Texas is becoming a non-white state & center for information technology and telecommunications technologies (Austin, Houston, Dallas)

• poor blacks and Hispanics need to become part of the new tech economy

• housing, education, employment and healthcare are more important issues than debates over abortion, gay rights, and prayer in school.

• Saul Alinksky founded AIF in Chicago in the 1930s

• project QUEST, innovative job training program

• built low-income housing in New York, worked with AFL/CIO to fight for a living wage bill for city workers paid by contractors

• white evangelicals are largely absent

• economic development, neighborhood improvement programs, combat poverty, promote solutions to economic and social development

• SEIU, community based approach

• 1. faith based organizing, 2. community development corporations, 3. unions.

• “They represent one of the nation’s best hopes for reinvigorating our democratic life and reconnection political institutions to the needs and aspirations of working people and their communities.”(9)

• our goal is to become racially inclusive with regards to politics but also to become more politically effective

• “Revitalizing American political life requires connecting it to community-based institutions and the values that sustain them. Since these institutions and the social fabric of many American communities, that is, their social capital, are so weak, democratic renewal requires community building. In other words, the two processes must be linked.”(11)

• need stable institutions of community life (15)

• need multiracial cooperation & effective power in the political arena

• local party organizations would penetrate a dense network of social organizations: fraternal associations, volunteer fire departments, Catholic parishes, and local business associations

• political campaigns would include marches/fairs where people socialized

• unions + churches + fraternal orders + veteran’s associations > impact on the Democratic Party

• TV: candidate centered, not party-centered elections

• “While political parties still play an important role in elections in nominating and fundraising vehicles, their local party organizations have atrophied as mobilizing vehicles.”(16, Dry Bones Rattling)

• The American legion helped create the GI Bill

• women’s clubs helped pass welfare legislation

• 1990s: decline in social capital

• civic life is essential to democratic life

• “Tocqueville, a French aristocrat, came to the USA in the 1830s to determine why American society supported a democratic form of government while his native France was so easily controlled by a central political authority. The key to democracy in America could be found in the set of social & political institutions-voluntary associations, town meetings,free press, churches that sustained cooperative activity & self government.”(17)

• individual well being connected to well being of the whole community

• today: decline in participation: parent/teacher, women’s clubs, fraternal organizations, Boy Scouts, Red Cross, league bowling

• small groups that provide support/caring have increased: Bible studies, Alcoholics Anonymous

• advocacy groups: National Organization For Women (NOW), Sierra Club, organizations of Hispanics, African Americans, and gays & lesbians, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)

• the downside of advocacy groups like National Organization For Women (NOW) & Sierra Club is that few have active local chapters in which large numbers of people work together

• “Neither small groups nor national social movements, whatever their contributions, have helped to restore community foundations for democracy. If we want to revitalize democracy in America, then we need to find ways to build social capital at the level of local community institutions.”(19)

• building social capital: 1) start with institutions in communities, 2) develop leadership capacity of community members & cooperative ties, 3) strong local communities can be isolated. Thus broader identities & a commitment to the common good must be developed. Need to stretch social capital across communities especially those divided by race. 4) effective power requires creating institutions capable of intervening in politics & government

• Part One: care for one another within institutions, religion is one means of social connectedness, churches sponsor community activities, churches: stable institutional base for democracy

• YMCA, YWCA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, schools: provide social services

• “a vision of social justice can inspire members of oppressed groups to action.”(21)

• “Rather than root politics in narrow religious teachings on controversial social issues, we need an approach that engages the community networks and religious traditions of congregations to inform an agenda that serves the more concrete needs of families and communities.”(22)

• Part two: persons are shaped by and oriented by their communities, in inner-cities social capital has deteriorated. Middle class blacks moved to suburbs, crime made people afraid to participate in community events, building social capital requires leadership,

• “The affluent have more of the individual resources, like money and education, that can substitute for a decline in social assets. If their public schools and community centers fail, the affluent can and do send their children to private schools and summer camps. The poor are left defenseless.”(25, Community Building, Political Renewal)

• Part Three: strategy to bring people together across communities, community life in USA is extremely segregated by race & class

• Catholics refused to allow black Protestants into their communities

• “Any effort to build social capital to revitalize democracy will require a strategy to confront this deep history of racism and racial conflict. Such a strategy is all the more important if greater democracy is to lead to concrete improvements in the quality of inner-city life.”(26, Community Building, Political Renewal)

• in what institutions can people of different races interact?

• religion could help cooperation, have to find common ground

• Part Four: communities need to be able to assert themselves politically, need more cooperation

• “American society has deeply rooted structures of inequality in its economic, social, and political systems. Efforts to harness social capital, especially for the purpose of bringing effective power to inner city communities, must confront the reality of oppression and inequality.”(29, Community Building, Political Renewal)

• community development corporations exclude community members, oops!

• need more local, participatory action

• IAF strategy: recruit citizens in stable community networks, encourages women to emerge as leaders, build affordable housing, improve local schools, fund libraries and health clinics, repair streets and infrastructure,develop job training programs, improve public safety, identify issues on which community members are prepared to act together, “never do for people what they can do for themselves.”(32)

• creating consensus across socioeconomic and racial lines

• independent, nonpartisan strategy: voter-registration & get out to vote drives, accountability nights: representatives must agree publicly to support certain initiatives

• there are no fundamental differences that cannot be bridged between groups

• relational organizing

• bottom-up organizing as opposed to top-down, hierarchy

• authority needs to be legitimate, inclusive and accountable (p.35)

• old time politics: voters connected to their community organizations

• advocacy groups: useful to middle and upper middle classes but not the working class

• old-politics: votes for jobs