MY DAYS AS AN ADVOCATE AND LESSONS THAT I LEARNED?
Close Rikers, stop homelessness, provide adequate housing, change the laws, are some of the chants that I shouted while marching on numerous campaigns.?
Has the shouting corrected any of these facets that seem to be engraved with the core of society? There is the concept of homelessness while one man has a billion dollars. There is the reality of people being enslaved for the violation of social norms, that even the best of us has violated or will in the future.?
So, what is advocacy? Is it a bunch of people that share the same ideals? It is about marching, shouting, screaming, or pointing the finger? When I first joined the movement to preserve humanity my first stop was the nonprofit sector. Once it became clear that the top was too heavy to execute real change, I looked for greater horizons.?
I connected to advocacy groups that boasted about power, the power to eradicate systems that suppressed humanity. The excitement was real for me, unadulterated, I was in high spirits, I shouted, screamed, interviewed, and marched to bring light to these causes. So, what happened to me? I will be brutally honest, I got swallowed up in the room.?
I forgot a valuable lesson. These systems were crafted, designed, and preserved by other entities before I opened my eyes. These systems were bolted down ten feet under. The systems of harm, that went against humanity, were preserved and masterminded by humanity, not aliens. I forgot!
Advocacy is not about marches, shoutings, gatherings, or the like. Advocacy is about knowing why you are in the room, your purpose for being there, and how you will execute change when you are the only one in the room. The boasting, bragging, projections, or highlights connected to any cause is not your cause, don't get catch up in the hype. You are there because your spirit has bought you there to execute change for others as well as yourself. Look closely, if the issue was not directly connected to you then there would be no reason for you to be in the room.
Don't forget like me! Understand your purpose before you enter the room. Before you connect with other leaders understand what of their wants. If someone calls on you to have breakfast, lunch or dinner ask yourself what do they want. It will be a disservice to you to walk blindly into any room, especially if you seek to execute everlasting change. If you fail to do this, your passion, desire, and power will get sucked to the bone. Ask yourself, what happens to the bone once all the meat is gone?
The path of you is greater than the path of you. It is about protecting and preserving one's physical as well as spiritual path. Know that you are in the room for a purpose. Understanding that purpose will be the purpose of your ways. Don't forget!
CEO @ VIP Transformative Living LLC | Helping Black Men (and the women who love them), live FULLY after 40
3 年Keep your light glowing. You are never counterproductive from 'too much' skin in the game. When you least expect it, your light will be a beacon to someone seeing shore.
Civil Rights Activist
3 年I don't get it. What happened? What went wrong? What do you mean, You were swallowed up? How is it counterproductive to be consumed by a cause that you care about? What's wrong with LUNCH? I'm in the early stages of advocacy - learning the landscape, understanding the powers - and the victims, seeking solutions. Homelessness? It's easy to talk about, write about, read about the drug addicts and mental patients who die daily all over the richest country in the world IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. It's another thing to sit down with a homeless person and get to know them. And yes I buy them lunch. An illegal alien bought ME dinner 2 nights ago. He's a chef in a nice restaurant here in Roslyn. His English is basically nonexistent (but better than my Spanish). He sits on a cement bench in the dark, walking home, at the train station. I sat down next to him and we talked. And talked. And talked. He rents an illegal room in one of the most affluent zip codes in the state. He drove him home. And the next night, he had my dinner, a 5 star salad with roasted chicken, in a nondescript plastic Pandemic takeout bag. It was delicious. I find, in these conversations filled with surprises, that the world is darker than I realized. The pain is awful. They scream, and no one hears them. People are busy. Editors have deadlines - there's no such thing as interviews anymore that aren't set up by a PR dept and a press release. Homelessness? You have no idea... I plan, at the sentencing of the next homeless person for petit theft here in Nassau County, to stand in the courtroom and tell the judge that hungry people denied Food Stamps b/c they can't figure out the paperwork is overly onerous and there's no place to sleep around here. I see no reason to fine people who haven't seen a pillow in years. I hear their screams. So do you. I don't understand. What we do can be risky. But how else can you understand these things? I'm no beginner. I haven't reached a crossroads. I haven't marched - only 24 hours in a day - but I've admired those who do. Those marches and interviews you do are the kinds of noises everyone needs to hear. If you don't, who will? If not now, when? Yes we can.