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Palin Betrays McCain Message by Demeaning
Community Organizers:
Apology Sought from Palin
By
Frank Pierson
Supervising Organizer, Arizona and New Mexico
Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)
In her acceptance speech as the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin mocked "community organizers." She repeated word for word the same sneering lines the following day on the McCain-Palin campaign tour of small towns. On both occasions, she was met with laughter and applause. Her words have bounced around the media echo chamber ever since.
Mission accomplished? Not if you're on the receiving end of the put down. Not if you care about the health of our democracy. Not if you recognize the importance of active citizenship in communities large and small around the United States.
Governor Palin chose to ridicule the many community organizations representing ordinary Americans that have worked together with mayors, city councils, boards of supervisors, governors and congressional leaders to initiate community improvement projects large and small. Organizations like:
- The Jeremiah Group, a community organization that is at the center of efforts to rebuild New Orleans.
- Valley Interfaith in the Rio Grande Valley that brought water and sewer to the Texas-Mexico border communities and will celebrate its 25th year with a gathering of 5,000 on October 12, 2008.
- East Brooklyn Congregations and the remarkable achievement of rebuilding entire Nehemiah neighborhoods out of the rubble of burned out despair.
Senator John McCain knows better and said so in a recent interview describing community organizing as honorable work.
Senator McCain has experience working with community organizations on immigration reform. He held a press conference with Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), the largest community organization in Southern Arizona, in Tucson opposing Proposition 200 in 2004. Through his staff, he has participated in strategy meetings supportive of grassroots efforts to advance comprehensive immigration reform. He has met with community organizers and leaders on several occasions to discuss a variety of topics. An organization he heads, the International Republican Institute, contracted with professional community organizers to help rebuild civil society after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Community organizers were invited to participate in the rebuilding of civil society in Iraq.
Currently there are four major broad based community organizations in Arizona affiliated with the national Industrial Areas Foundation. Together they comprise the Arizona Interfaith Network. All of these organizations employ professional organizers. All share a central tenet: Never ever do for people what people can do for themselves. Their work is mushrooming, especially as the economy continues to deteriorate and pressures on families increase. In these troubled times, families are increasingly turning to community organizations based in churches, synagogues, non-profits and labor unions for powerful, high impact responses.
Community organizations like those in Arizona are as American as apple pie and a preeminent form of the very community service the McCain-Palin ticket extols. In fact, community organizing epitomizes the tradition of citizen participation in public life. It embodies the practice of democracy by creating opportunities for citizens to positively impact decisions in their cities, counties, states and country. To ridicule such work is to belittle democracy and subvert the American ideal that all citizens matter, including those without much wealth or power.
Governor Sarah Palin should apologize for her ridicule of other Americans working with sincere hearts through lawful means to make life for themselves, their families and their communities better. Failing to do so mocks her campaign's core message with which community organizations deeply resonate: Put the Ideals of the Country First.
Frank Pierson can be reached at frankcp1@gmail.com
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