What Is An Organizer?

I was asked to submit something to a zine on power, accountability & organizing so I edited down this series of thoughts to fit the word count…this offering is in conversation with Mike Miller’s “What Is An Organizer?” and will be released eventually in its full form

1.

• An organizer is clear about who they are, what they do, why they do it & who they do it with. They know what tools are in their toolbox & how & when to use them
• An organizer understands “the personal is political’’ but that identity doesn’t dictate politics (They know identity can shape a person’s potential for certain experiences, and that certain experiences can shape or sharpen one’s politics)
• An organizer knows & owns what they know as much as they know & own what they don’t *(It is helpful for an organizer to learn the differences between organizing, mobilizing & activism as well as between hurt, harm & abuse)

2.

• An organizer is rooted in community|communities & builds non-transactional relationships. They’re not attached to the title “organizer” & don’t need it to do The|ir Work. They do not use the title “organizer” to separate/elevate themselves from community|communities & understand that ‘organizer’ is not a status identity. An organizer doesn’t seek accolades & weaponizes any recognition/affirmation from the state against itself.
• An organizer doesn’t organize “on behalf” of “The People”. They understand the relationship between individual & community wide decolonization & liberation. They’re clear “The People” is not an abstract & that they are part of “The People”.
• An organizer recognizes that each of us is a world unto ourselves & works to change their interior world as intentionally as they do the exterior one. They know they’ve been raised in the same society they’re fighting and they work diligently to abolish the state as well as to “abolish the cop in [their] head & heart”.
• Part of an organizer’s role is to demystify & expand the conventional understanding of “organizing”. They encourage people to see & claim the ways they organize, even if they don’t call themselves “organizers”.
• An organizer doesn’t tokenize some of “The People” over others. They understand that different organizing brings different people into “the room” (When in “the room” some questions an organizer may ask are: Who is missing from “the room”, why? Who is present in “the room”? What makes this possible? How can we make “the room” more possible for those who are absent?).
• An organizer’s love for “The People” must be unshakable & able to hold nuance, complexity & contradiction. They must hold the duality that “we are a hard people to love” & “We are each other’s harvest…each other’s business…each other’s magnitude & bond”
• An organizer must believe that we WILL win, even if they’re unsure of how.

3.

• An organizer is a lifelong student and sees every interaction as classroom. They ask questions & understand that not all answers are known or need to be known in order to do “The Work”. An organizer knows that most answers can be unraveled with the right questions, & that sometimes, questioning is the answer.
• An organizer understands there are many paths to knowledge. They know study is critical to individual & collective growth, & they expansively define study (ex: reading, listening, CONVERSATING [with elders, peers & youth], watching documentaries, experience based learning [such as gardening, cooking, assisting community members], listening to podcasts & audiobooks etc).

4.

• An organizer is honest with themselves & others about The|ir Work & their capacity to do it. They set & maintain boundaries from a principled place. They don’t hyperbolize “The Work”, nor do they minimize its impacts on the self|spirit.
• An organizer knows this is generational work & strategizes in the short, intermediate & long term. They understand the need for pacing & patience & don’t manufacture urgency or “speed up the slow down” during intentional periods of rest or stillness. An organizer is in no rush because they know that “whenever we arrive is on time”
• An organizer understands there is no ‘healed’ when the systems harming us continue to do so daily. They engage in community based care & intentionally step back to reassess, realign & rejuvenate. They center healing as a lifelong journey & understand that who & how you are shapes how you show up in community & as an organizer.
• An organizer must be “willing to be transformed in the service of the work”. They must be willing to grow & learn to acknowledge/articulate the ways they’ve grown without shame.
• An organizer studies the lexicon of Movement & understands that shifting language is part of our quest for liberation. However, they don’t assume that knowing/using certain words means that someone practices the politics that shaped its meaning.
• An organizer does not use jargon to shield themselves from accountability. They know how to simply say “no”, “i’m sorry”, “i don’t know”, “i don’t understand”, “i’m tired” etc.

5.

• An organizer is more committed to collective liberation than to maintaining the reputation of a celebrated organization or individual in The Movement
• An organizer understands the importance of building platforms but doesn’t allow celebritization to keep them from risking said platforms in service of liberation. They understand that celebrity can be a tool, but like most tools, it must be wielded with intention or it can cause damage.
• An organizer is clear about their relationship(s) to power & positionality & weaponizes them as often as possible. They understand the difference between visibility & actually being seen & are invested in the latter from their community|communities.

6.

• An organizer knows that organizing must happen with or without a paycheck, but recognizes that labor in Movement deserves compensation. They understand burnout happens often in Movement because many are juggling unpaid community commitments, passions & positions with their paid jobs).
• A paid organizer understands that building collective power is about more than mobilizing large numbers in “Movement Moments”. They understand community cohesion & connectivity are more important than collecting membership numbers. They scale intimacy & engage in growth that is not contingent on evaluation metrics from funders (ex: a paid organizer doesn’t bring “The People” together for the sake of saying they did on their grant evaluations).
• A paid organizer must recognize the power & positionality a paid role gives them in Movement. They must be aware of the history of the NonProfit Industrial Complex (or internationally, the NonGovernmental Organization Industrial Complex) & its impact on Movement(™)’s radical potential. An organizer must always be clear that their job is not more important than The Work.
• Despite the apparent contradiction, a paid organizer aims to work themselves out of their job, not into a career.

7.

• An organizer understands there are many ways to define “organizer”. They know there are different organizing traditions (cultural, youth, frontline, donor, digital, etc) & they engage in constant (re)negotiation with themselves about their identification with & definition of the term.
• An organizer is more invested in defining “organizer” or “organizing” with their actions rather than their words.

QUOTE ATTRIBUTIONS:

1. “the personal is political” -coined in 1968 by Carol Hanisch
2. “abolish[ing] the cop in [their] head & heart” — Paula X Rojas in “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded”
3. “we are a hard people to love” — i cant’ remember -_-
4. “we are each other’s harvest…each other’s business…each other’s magnitude & bond” -Gwendolyn Brooks in the poem “Paul Robeson”
5. “willing to be transformed in the service of the work” — Mary Hooks, “The Mandate” — FULL MANDATE: The Mandate for Black People in this time is to avenge the suffering of our ancestors, earn the respect of future generations, and be willing to be transformed in the service of the work”
6. “speed up the slow down” — the author first heard this from writer & activist R Cielo Cruz
7. “whenever we arrive is on time” -the author often heard this in Black Feminist circles