“Try to live our vision”

What has the movement for change in the South gained in the last 25 years?

When I was starting out as an activist over 20 years ago, there was a lot of emphasis on what we were doing without much attention paid to how we were doing it. Focusing on the “win” at the expense of people in the organization; perpetuating racism or sexism in how we did our work; exploitation or manipulation of those being served; fear of standing up for gay rights because it would cost us our “legitimacy” were some common problems.

I think the communities and organizations doing the best work have figured out this is no way to proceed. I see people trying to do it differently, out of an understanding that we can only build toward our vision of a just world if we try to live our vision as much as we can.

I am also lucky to know a whole group of young people who are inspiring in their political brilliance and insight. I see them at the Institute for Southern Studies, I see them in organizations throughout the region. They bring an astuteness and an analysis far surpassing anything I was capable of when I was starting out. They give me a lot of energy and hope and they confirm that we can learn from the past.

What are they key challenges to making a better South in the next 25 years?

We have to continue to value how we do our work as much as we value winning on our issues. This is a particular challenge because we operate in a world that rarely rewards those who are trying to bring the “how” into the work. We need to learn to reclaim the spiritual — at least those of us who have lost touch with our spiritual side need to learn to reclaim it personally and in our work (all credit for this realization goes to my friend Claudia Horwitz). We have to be willing to look at racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and how these and other barriers are operating in our communities and organizations. If we can’t figure out how to work with each other without perpetuating oppressive dynamics, then I’m not sure there’s much point.

Those of us who have been in the South for a long time tend to think of it as a bi-racial region and many of us haven’t figured out what it means to be in a region that is now multi-racial.

There’s also this history here where white activists are always figuring out how to work in communities of color. I think those of us who are white need to take a serious look at the work we have to do with each other and with other white people. We need to focus on how we’re going to build a base of white people who are willing to work across race lines without being the ones to call the shots, without perpetuating racism.

It’s also really important to have fun.