The annual Social Justice in America series continued Wednesday with a virtual speech by Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, titled “To Catch the Vision of Freedom: Remaking Bloomington in Our Collective Image.” This event was coordinated with IU’s Department of History and more than 200 people attended the Zoom meeting.
According to the Highlander website, the organization assists grassroots movements and education for social justice and equality in Appalachia and the South.
Henderson’s talk introduced four fundamentals and six principles of community organizing and building collective power, which she credited to Brenda Hyde. Henderson requested the audience do something with the new knowledge.
“I would argue organizing requires training, practice, hands-on experience, which involves trying over and over again until you luckily make it right," Henderson said. "It looks like making mistakes. Organizing is more than just turning people out.”
The first fundamental Henderson talked about was organizing communities with a collective vision. She said effective community organizing gives the most people the tools, resources and skill to influence policy and become community leaders.
The second fundamental is about building trusting relationships within the community. The key to building trust is being accountable and consistent, Henderson said.
She said the third fundamental is creating meaningful work for community members. This creates a sustainable movement that engages people. Everyone must feel like their role is important, Henderson said. It is an organizer’s job to help people feel valued and use and discover their talents.
“We’re talking about marginalized and targeted communities that have been consistently told that they’re not worthy, that they’re not capable, that they don’t have the ability to be excellent, to be talented, to be gifted and to contribute that to the well-being of society,” Henderson said.
The fourth and final fundamental of community organizing is creating a space of inclusion and shared power.
“The oppressive systems that we have inherited, we didn’t necessarily create these, but some of us definitely benefit off of them — these systems are about exclusion and unshared power,” Henderson said. “Our work, as organizers, and our language has to be different than those systems that people are coming to our movements to get away from.”
Next, Henderson defined six principles, or values, of community organizing.
The first principle she said was to never assume anything. Organizers have to be committed to liberating communities.
The second principle was about overcoming fear. Henderson said it is crucial for organizers to work through their fears in both communities and themselves.
Henderson said a commitment to telling the truth is the third principle. Being honest with the community allows for trust to foster in organizing.
“We have to talk about what’s true, even if it is controversial, even if it is hard to hear,” Henderson said. “To me, truth-telling is actually a sign that I love you.”
Henderson’s fourth principle is clear and precise communication. She saidthe fifth principle is for everyone involved to benefit. The beneficiaries of organizing should not be exclusive. The final principle Henderson mentioned was engaging with young people. She recommended an intergenerational approach to preserve the movement.
Henderson said she requests everyone take this knowledge and do something with it.
Before she spoke, she was introduced by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, chair of the Social Justice America series and associate professor of history and gender studies at IU.
She also took a moment to acknowledge social justice work and recognized the virtual event was based around IU's campus which is in a settlercolonial nation that was taken from Indigenous communities.
“We acknowledge Indiana University was built on the ancestral homelands of the Delaware, Kickapoo, Miami, Potawatomi and Shawnee Peoples,” Myers said.
IU sophomore Hailey Pangburn attended the event to learn about social movement organizing. Pangburn said she learned a lot about collective protesting and mobilization. She specifically said she learned about building trust in pursuing collective visions.
“Especially for an online setting, I think the event went above and beyond for being so restricted on personal interactions with people over video,” Pangburn said. “I feel like it really exceeded my expectations specifically because of the online environment, and I’m sure if it was in person, it would have blown my mind beyond comparison.”
