Posted by Dave on 09/04/08 at 12:06:52 pm
Categories: Social Justice Ravings, Campaign 2008

Sarah Palin had an interesting attack against Barack Obama's community organizing experience. Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani also joined in the fun. Of course, for what its worth, when Barack Obama was working as a community organizer Sarah Palin was a sports announcer, not a mayor. She may want to check the facts on that one. But that is beside the point.

Being that Sarah Palin has shown a complete lack of understanding of what a community organizer is, and what a community organizer does, I point all of you to Marshall Ganz's web module on organizing. This is an excellent overview on what an organizer does and why he or she does it.

If the McCain campaign wants to attack Barack Obama because he was a community organizer, I welcome that line of attack, because it is so very easy to respond to.

What does a community organizer do? A community organizer organizes, mobilizes, and empowers members of a community to take an active role in changing their communities. A community organizer helps engage people on their levels, over their issues, in order to create social change. A community works with struggling families, home owners facing disclosures, sick individuals that cannot afford care, other community leaders, politicians, and all other community members. They have meetings, knock on doors, plan actions and rallies, register people to vote, and work well over 40 hours a week.

A community organizer is about change. A community organizer is about social justice. A community organizer is about empowerment. A community organizer is about the community.

Sarah Palin does not know what she is getting into when she starts attacking organizers.

UPDATE: Organizers are already fighting back:

• A blog: Community Organizers Fight Back

• A facebook group: We are all community organizers

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