Does a Movement Need a Name?
This video series features a conversation between four women
activists in Detroit, Michigan. As organizers rooted in work in Detroit,
they also see the connections between the local and the global. Though
they represent different backgrounds, generations, and organizing
experiences, each is committed to building collaborative movements and
alternative systems.
Detroit's situation has required activists to work with almost
nothing. There is very little in the form of economic and financial
resources. But there is incredible work going on throughout the city,
and much of the activism is intergenerational. Detroit has a long, rich
history of radical labor and civil rights activism, and many activists
from the 1960s and '70s are still involved, rejuvenated by youth
activists and working with them as peers and equals, sharing wisdom but
encouraging youth to lead.
Given that so many political strategies of the past failed to produce
either the kind of change needed, or even healthy long-term
organizations, activists in Detroit are exploring new ways of
approaching activism, creating "a new kind of politics" based on
do-it-yourself (DIY) community-based organizing. Grace, Jenny, Adrienne,
and Shea are women who are putting these principles into action.
Grace Lee Boggs has been working on a wide range of issues for
decades, including Black power, labor, inner-city violence, and
education. She is the author of Living For Change, and Revolution and
Evolution in the 20th Century with her husband, the late James
Boggs. She is founder of the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership
in Detroit, and is active with Detroiters for Dignity and Democracy.
Adrienne Maree Brown is an organizational healer, facilitator,
singer, artist and doula-in-training living in Detroit. She is the
former director and current board member of the Ruckus Society, and a
National Co-Coordinator for the 2010 US Social Forum. Adrienne also sits
on the boards of Allied Media Projects, Third Wave Foundation, Common
Fire, and the advisory board of East Michigan Environmental Action
Council.
Shea Howell is professor and chair of the Department of Communication
and Journalism at Oakland University in Rochester, MI, where she teaches
communication theory and multicultural and political communication. Shea
is a co-author of Making Sense of Political Ideology, and a
regular columnist for the Michigan Citizen newspaper. She is co-founder
of Detroit Summer, and active with the Boggs Center and Detroiters for
Dignity and Democracy.
Jenny Lee is Program Director for Allied Media Projects, which
supports the growth of media-based organizing, and a founder of the
Detroit Digital Justice Coalition. She was an early member of Detroit
Summer, and eventually one of its leaders. Jenny was awarded the JoAnn
Watson Award by Kwanzaa 2009.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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