The Next American Revolution
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The Next American Revolution:
Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
by Grace Lee Boggs
It is becoming apparent from many different perspectives that We The People need some revitalization in our personal and collective politic. What is working and what is not working as we, particularly in Wisconsin, struggle with a Governor's administration that is clearly bent on pulling supports out from under the poor and the middle class while shifting the wealth of the state to private corporations and their masters.
Many people have written to this over the past months and there is little I can add of consequence but I hope that by reporting on The Next American Revolution by Grace Lee Boggs I might add something to the discussion, (as well as encourage others to read Grace), that must happen in serious ways not only in Wisconsin but across the country. This is the best book I have read in a long time. Why? Because Grace has written down distilled wisdom from a long life in only 150 pages. Because her life of activism is current – yes, she is still active in her home community of Detroit where she and her late husband, Jimmy Boggs, energized people during the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and she is still participating right now at age ninety-five. Because Grace is the most dedicated thinker writing on peace, justice and community building I have heard of and because of her clear process she is able to speak to present concerns and challenges as she encourages us to study Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X for their radical thinking. Grace Lee was raised in Rhode Island the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She received her PhD in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in 1940. When she was unable to find a position within the good old white boys' network she moved to Chicago and began her transformation into a movement activist.
Grace was witness to and participant in all of the earth-shaking movements of the twentieth century from the civil rights movement to the labor movement, the women's movement and the environmental movement. Grace's biggest contribution to the political landscape as the twentieth century progressed was her imperative to think dialectically.
Wikipedia gives the following definition of the method: The dialectical method is dialogue between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject, who wish to establish the truth of the matter by dialogue, with reasoned arguments. The purpose of the dialectic method of reasoning is resolution of disagreement through rational discussion, and, ultimately, the search for truth.
Grace Lee Boggs was committed to performing a constant and rigorous exercise of this type of thinking because she was also committed to change and growth. It produced a woman of immense courage and foresight who has never been afraid to reassess the form of something so it could become more responsive and stronger. Her belief that everything changes and so the forms of one day do not always continue to serve another day is a key to deeply relevant activism. Her questions are critical to significant shifts in the way we do protest and how we confront injustices from the issues of race relations to environmental devastation.
From the book: “What is our response to the economic crisis and financial meltdown?”
“How are we going to build twenty-first-century America in which people of all races and ethnicities live together in harmony, and European Americans in particular embrace their new role as one among many minorities constituting the new multiethnic majority?”
“What is going to motivate us to start caring for our biosphere instead of using our mastery of technology to increase the volume and speed at which we are making our planet uninhabitable for other species and eventually for ourselves?”
Grace goes on to ask how we will finally draw forth the courage to depart from the wars we have become bogged down in and in the aftermath how do we find reconciliation with two-thirds of the world's peoples who resent our domination? The Next American Revolution Grace encourages us to undergo a paradigm shift and reminds us that shifts such as these need to be an ongoing part of how we encounter our lives in the very personal and the collective.She repeats throughout the book that change can only occur from the bottom up. We are the ones we have been waiting for, the ones who have all the skills and knowledge and courage we need to build sustainable communities.
The Next American Revolution begins with and within each one of us. is not a tragic or frightening book. I think anyone who has lived for ninety-five years has a clear perspective on the strangeness of life as well as the beauty and resiliency of it. Grace offers a myriad of stories from Detroit that present a picture of what true grassroots organizing, effective political action and the deep ecology of conflict resolution can bring as help and healing to a broken, angry community.
What must each of us do to address materialism and decline in Janesville, Beloit, Edgerton, Evansville, wherever each of us lives? What can we bring in energy and leadership to our communities, even our neighborhoods to combat violence and apathy? What do our towns need to pull together resources that will provide right livelihood for each citizen regardless of what happens in Madison under Scott Walker? How do we teach ourselves to think dialectically about these and other important issues?
