Don't Mourn— Organize

That was the motto of the resistance group known as The Wobblies? Never heard of them? Of course you haven’t. No schools generally have seen it as a good idea to teach children about the history of protest and resistance in this country and that decision to casually choose ignorance has now grown to full-out prohibition of telling the truth to children in schools. So short story:

 

“The Wobblies” is the nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a democratic international labor union founded in 1905. It fought against the seven-day work week, long hours, low wages and harsh and dangerous working conditions. It sought to include those who had been excluded by traditional unions based on race, gender and creed. It stood for worker control of production and wages in the face of big bosses getting rich off their labor and who were supported by the police and government. Stories about great government-sanctioned violence done to striking workers to protect the sacred creed of capitalism— profits over people—abound. (Check out the book The Cold Millions by Jess Walter, Woody Guthrie’s song The 1913 Massacre and the movie How Green Was My Valley to get a taste of these stories.)

 

When a fellow worker died from a coal mine collapsing or was murdered by vigilante thugs or local police, the IWW response was “Don’t mourn—organize!” (I would amend that to “Mourn—and then organize!). And after visiting my second Civil Rights Museum in a row—the first in Jackson, Mississippi, the next at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, my takeaway was a reminder of the extraordinary grief of the ongoing (through centuries) purposeful plague, scourge, curse of White Supremacy and the extraordinary intelligence, determination and comradery of organized resistance each and every step of the way by the Black people in this nation. In the 50’s and 60’s, such strategic, non-violent and organized responses to the next wave of government-approved, initiated, sanctioned violence against its Black citizens included:

• Sit-ins at lunch counters.

• Sit-ins at libraries.

• Sit-ins at select businesses. 

• The bus boycott.

• Business boycotts.

• School integration.

• Voter registration.

• Caucuses at Democratic Conventions.

• More.

 

I feel so proud that resistance is finally on the rise from white citizens previously content to just let things be because they were not at risk, benefitted by our white supremacist history and just wanted to—and had the privilege to—get on with their lives. But if there is any upside to the horror of the Trumpist regime and agenda, it is in the way they have laid bare the facts that we all suffer when the 1% of billionaires are in charge, that systems built on hatred and exclusion damage us all, that none of us are immune from the next attack on our basic rights and dignity. 

 

But walking through these museums, it strikes me that we have to do much more than just show up on the streets in fun costumes and clever signs. We need to learn from our resistance forebears how to strategically organize our energies as they have shown us how to do. Can we consider a general strike? Boycotts? Continued voter registration at massive levels? The models are in place and they indeed proved to be effective. Study any one of them (I find the Bus Boycott in Montgomery to be particularly inspiring) and learn. 

And if you’re in shouting distance of the two museums mentioned above, by all means, go! As well as the African American History Museum in Washington, the Whitney Plantation outside New Orleans, the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham or any one of the dozens of such museums throughout the country. The foundation of resistance is strong and well-documented. Let’s move forward from that base.