Kim (up from Houston) and I are both here from Training for Change and have been working together regularly. Both of us have been recording reflections, and now we're staying in the same place we decided to do one together....And yes, we finished the rest of that meal soon as the video recorder stopped. Can't waste a perfectly good bowl of fries.
Hi, Kim and Matthew!
ReplyDeleteThank you both for baring your souls to the world!
I had so many thoughts and reactions as you talked; wish I could have been there. Congratulations, first off, on doing the direct action training that day; sounds like it went really well.
As you wondered whether Ruckus or anyone else with direct action experience had been in Ferguson during the first few days, before you got there, I had to think about New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina (people arriving from all over to help with recovery efforts), and Occupy Sandy in NYC after Superstorm Sandy. Probably both of you would agree with me that a response by people on the ground already, as in NYC, is preferable to a lot of strangers moving in, as with Katrina. So in some ways I'm just as happy that the crisis-hoppers (like I have been, actually!) didn't hop on over to Ferguson right away.
At the same time, it sounds as if you think the skills and perspective and leadership of people who've dealt with mass mobilizations and police brutality recently could have been useful. Guess that really points to the importance of many more people having exposure to nonviolent direct action and to organizing, so that we don't have to have a bunch of crisis-hoppers. And, of course, that's what you're doing there right now -- supporting the development of organizing skills, leadership, and strategizing.
Question: when you talk about trauma among people you're working with, are you thinking of the trauma of confronting cops in riot gear armed with chemical weapons, or the trauma of being under the heels of an occupying army (essentially) most of your life, or the trauma of white racism generally, or all of the above....? I'm struck with how many times you mention healing, Matthew, and I'm wondering how gigantic the healing task is.
Well, I'll go on and watch some more video blog posts, since it's quite possible you'll answer some of my questions later on!
Betsy