a new study shows the political system is bypassing the poor but money gets big givers a reward most Americans could never afford this is an almost universal sense that something is deeply wrong in American democracy America's working class and poor communities find themselves locked out of the political process without resources to fund candidates and shape issues how can they gain a meaningful voice one answer may be a concept called community organizing pioneered by a man named Saul Alinsky over fifty years ago comes a contest of power those who have money and those who have people we have nothing but people our power is rooted in our being organized people and we are a student of to know what our own destiny is and the gopher coming up next the Democratic promise Saul Alinsky and his legacy major funding for the Democratic promise was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting additional funding was provided by the following underwriters [Music] the mission is to remember those that didn't get homes when we get our homes to continue in the struggle [Applause] power concedes nothing without demand wrote Frederick Douglas the famed abolitionist this is the story of ordinary people making demands for the power to improve their communities and govern their lives [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's what John Dewey called the democracy is a way of life that's the way of life participating in public action this type of public action is rooted in the philosophy of Saul Alinsky who championed new ways of organizing the poor in the powerless that created a backyard revolution in cities across America his work influenced the struggle for civil rights the farmworkers movement and even the very nature of political protest in 1970 Time magazine hailed Olinsky as a prophet of power to the people and argued that olinsky's ideas had forever changed the way American democracy worked yet those who clashed with Alinsky attacked him as an agitator a hate monger and a troublemaker some called him a communist others a dupe of the Catholic Church somebody who goes off in a monastery and starts praying for the salvation of mankind and doesn't do a damn thing with sister and prays I think that when that guy comes up for judgment but the judges can sit there and say why you cruddy bastard above all Saul Alinsky passionately believed that social justice can be achieved through American democracy but he had no illusions on how to obtain it I tell people the hell with charity he once said the only thing you'll get is what you're strong enough to get Saul Alinsky's hard-nosed politics emerged from the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago in the late 1930s the city was controlled by the Kelly Nash political machine and by Frank Nitti heir to Al Capone's empire while the nation was mired in the Great Depression elinsky completed a graduate degree in criminology at the University of Chicago but his real education came from his work on the streets he ingratiated himself with members of Al Capone's gang to study gang behavior from the inside through this work Olinsky and his colleagues were among the first to view criminal behavior as a symptom of poverty and powerlessness saul was a very unusual young man and he winds up involved with a lot of of youth committees he actually works down in Joliet prison and he eventually is working for Clifford sought the institute for juvenile research ensures the one who assigns him to this neighborhood this neighborhood was the back of the yards an immense slum sitting in the shadow of Chicago's giant Union stockyards complex the setting of Upton Sinclair's landmark novel the jungle Shaw assigned Alinsky to work the streets to learn the causes of juvenile delinquency this was one of the great industrial working class neighborhoods of the world you had one of the largest factory complexes that humanity had ever created the people working there were poor you had this being the site of a very dynamic Union Drive so if you were someone who wanted to deal with social problems that's a very exciting place to go down to wages were caught three times in one year and with no security there was a tremendous desire so something to give a decent life a standard of living and respect to the people on the packing industry Saul came around and he told me that what he was interested in is seeing that an organization could be formed of all sectors of the community so that the community should by its own action as a practice of democracy work out their own destiny in other words if you ever have an undue concentration of power in one sector of our society an undue concentration of wealth and in one sector of our society the whole democratic system will collapse internally elinsky was convinced that poverty unaddressed left america opened to the influence of right-wing demagogues and he saw participation in the political process as the key to preserving democracy in back of the yards elinsky envisioned an organization of organizations comprised of neighborhood groups small businesses labor unions and most influential of all the Catholic Church this was a neighborhood that was intensely intensely organized through the churches through what was known as social athletic clubs these people had a very strong sense of organization that they felt very comfortable with and the insight of Saul and Joe was use it don't discard that Joe was Joe Meighan an Irish American youth organizer with strong ties to the Catholic Church he arranged a crucial meeting with Bishop Bernard sheíll one of the few Catholic leaders in Chicago willing to work with labor unions it would have been impossible to organize packinghouse the way it was done without having Catholic Church support Anne Olinsky was able not only to bring those churches together with one another and along with a lot of other organizations in that community but then to get them into a relationship with this Union which they viewed as communist and with the idea of seeing whether Louie the Union and the church and the businessmen could forge an alliance I was also free I told Silas all I said so you may be pretty smooth guy but I don't know whether you're gonna be able to to get me and these priests in the same room but Alinsky understood the nature of self-interest and its uses in bringing disparate groups together with Meighan he organized the churches the Union and over 100 existing organizations to create the back of the yards Neighborhood Council the first meaning of the back of the yards Neighborhood Council was a revolutionary in American history because it showed us the way to organize communities our union and the community became one and the same thing when it came to action I'm things that were needed this is the time when the Union was really building up tremendous strength and preparing to go after winning bargaining rights in one plant after another as the union prepared for a national strike the back of the yards council meeting demonstrated the depth of community support for its cause just days after the first council meeting the union held a massive labor rally Olinsky and Megan worked behind the scenes to set up an unprecedented joint appearance by Bishop Barnard she'll and powerful labor leader John L Lewis one of the founders of the Congress of Industrial Organizations here was a bishop saying thank you for helping my people that was crucial to the CIO but in back of yards it also gave legitimacy to the back of the Arts Council which was the miniature version of creating that linkage one day after the rally the armored company the second largest of the meatpackers agreed to recognize the union it was a victory made possible through this new coalition of church labor and community a new model of democratic participation was born when people are organized one and when they have the power and they've seen the effects of their power as they move into the central decision making tables downtown said we are people and dammit you're gonna listen to us the back of the yards Council went on to win many community improvements including a welfare station that cut the infant mortality rate in half and 1200 hot meals each day for undernourished kids the Chicago Daily News hailed the council as a miracle of democracy and Olinsky gained a powerful new mentor in John L Lewis Polinsky was influenced by Lewis in a lot of ways Lewis understood confrontation the way nobody in that era did Lewis understood mass organization he understood gathering large numbers of people that that was power oh I think Saul got from Lewis a vision of the world and he picked out of Lewis through the CIO organizing Drive these stories Louis taught him the universals of organizing that all action is in the inevitable reaction that every positive has a negative and never naked that the kind of stuff we teach the 10-day training today Alinsky then took what he learned from Lewis and formed the industrial areas foundation the iaf to be the umbrella organization for new organizing campaigns across the country what do i do there we have large masses of our people who are disenfranchised dispossessed both in terms of power and in terms of wealth and what we do is point out that there is a way there is a way through organization and through power for them to be able to do something about it Alinsky laid out his philosophy in his best-selling book revelry for radicals which brought him national recognition in revelry he called on America's poor and working-class to reclaim American democracy through the creation of people's organizations I think Fogg got those values from home and particularly with his work with John L Lewis and the workers there he saw the poor people getting pushed around there and he didn't like it and therefore he said let's organize I think at the core of what motivated him was his mother Sarah rice I think she taught him that it is the responsibility of individuals to be responsible for other individuals and that you can't just walk away when you see something that's not right well the core of it all Alinsky had a passion for justice it came from his mother it came from his experience growing up in a Jewish ghetto it came from things that he saw around him in the middle of depression the theme is is there all the time first rule of change is controversy you can't get away from it for the simple reason all issues a controversial change means movement and movement means friction infection means heat and heat means controversy and nothing created more controversy in America in the 1950s than the growing civil rights movement in the south [Applause] less heralded but no less important was the struggle for civil rights in the North in 1959 Alinsky met with ministers on Chicago's South Side to start an organization called TW o the Woodlawn organization TW o would soon challenge the one man who ran Chicago Mayor Richard J Daley Chicago in those days remember was completely dominated by the daily machine they control the aldermen they control the the vote they were not above having people in the cemetery's voting in the old joke about Chicago and in fairness to the Machine they did things for their people but you had to be one of their people there was no way that Mayor Daley was going to give up power to any other groups the problem was that at that time woodland was deteriorating in certain areas or a slum landlords were getting away with murder and so we had ready targets to hit so we went in and we proceeded to find out what the issues are and then organize around them Alinsky preached that power is built through issue campaigns the trained leaders and prepare the organization for bigger fights for TW o that opportunity came when the state declared Chicago's voter rolls corrupt forcing the entire city to re-register when there was a law passed that everybody had to re-register I talked to von Hoffman about the possibility of our taking a caravan of buses down to City Hall to register the city tried every way to make sure we had no buses we had contracts with the Chicago Transit Authority for buses it took those buses away we finally had to get buses from you know these sort of Dutch suburbs halfway in Michigan and on that Saturday morning we had over 40 buses bus loads of people and we were lining up on the Midway black Chicagoans had never brought such power to bear on City Hall on that day over 2000 twl members registered to vote and in a city where politics is like a religion the voter registration drive changed the equation of power and woodlawn area show of power and Mayor Daley knew it was a sharp hour daily was not the kind of man who would understand what was going on here he looked upon this is a very very great threat and it jarred the city it shook up the city tremendously it was a declaration of independence by a segment of a large group of the population and that declaration said hey we're gonna go our own way we are going to develop our own policies and our own programs and I also think it's said to the power structure of Chicago move over buddy what you've got to understand realistic we here as a woodland got the power and once getting the power they were now using it they were now engaged with making deals the democratic process is set up for a check and balance system and if the people are not organized to do to check in the balance is always going to be on their backs and not to say that you're going to start a revolution but to keep the power structure nervous Paul changed comes about as a result the pressure or a threat but you can't get social change or social justice without confronting because if you or have not perhaps never give you anything that's real despite the dramatic gains of the civil rights movement blacks were still locked out of the economic boom of the 1960's even in Rochester New York and affluent city near the shores of Lake Ontario unemployment for blacks was running at 25 percent the problem was that in the midst of all of this wealth and affluence there were people that were not included in that wealth and that progress suddenly all hell broke [Applause] it couldn't happen here in Rochester but it did just about midnight today riots broke out in the Joseph Avenue section on the city's near Northside race riots apparently touched off it was a thunder box the liberal white community was nervous upset the Rochester area Council of Churches got nervous enough they put up gathered $100,000 from somewhere and brought prot Olinsky and they were skeptical again you know what what can this white man do for black liberty black freedom like because of their doubts several black ministers consulted with Malcolm X about olenski Malcolm told a group of us say well the only thing that I can say that he knows more about organizing than any people any person that I know quote-unquote when Alinsky finally arrived in Rochester he was immediately accused of creating hostility between blacks and whites creating tensions what taxes have we cleared we have made comments the Kennedy I won't even allow Chester for five hours and all of a sudden our tensions are on what are you you do have tensions but you know you've refused to look at them what is happening now is that as a consequence of this invitation they had an infection as thing brought out into the open Lenski came in and he hit the town like dynamite because this is a southern plantation translated north so everybody is expecting those shootouts and I have to try to build an organization Edie chambers was assigned by elinsky to be the lead organizer Chambers knew he had to get the organization up and running before another hot summer arrived and then we got beautiful editorials because we called it fight editorial saying why didn't you call it life or light or peace something you know non-confrontational and so it was fight day and it wasn't for you hey everybody understand what white power is because they own the banks but earlier in the 1960s there emerged a new order on the state the order of black power and you spelled black power in Rochester with capital letters F IG HT the main issue that our folk were asking for them both work you know and and our cry was that people didn't have a right to welfare but they had a right to a job that was that was our argument then Kodak had the key if you're gonna move you gotta move easily Eastman Kodak Company was Rochester's biggest employer with over 40,000 workers in the mid 1960s now as in back of the yards some 25 years earlier an Alinsky organization would take on corporate power in their first meeting with Kodak fight proposed a job training program for 600 unemployed community members the issue that we are cutting and which Eastman Kodak sal isaac up as to whether or not a corporation has a responsibility to the local community as well as to his stockholders whether it has a social responsibility outside of a financial responsibility has to be resolved and we proposed to resolve overtime fight built enough power to force Kodak's negotiator to sign an employment agreement but apparently without the full backing of Kodak's chairman and a they worked out an agreement three days before Christmas and signed it and it lasted I think I think that happened in the morning and I think it lasted till 10 o'clock that night that was when they did have real leverage on us then because that was a pretty serious thing to do to renege on an agreement that somebody within the company had made you you could not describe the feeling of despondency because now we have announced this to our people and and and and the first thing came to my mind was a trick I said you know they didn't intend to do it to begin with I said this was delay tactic in response Alinsky and fight leaders devised an ingenious plan they would buy kodak stock control other stock by proxy from sympathetic shareholders and then pressured the company at its shareholders meeting somehow Alinsky acquired a few shares and so and he made he kept making a big case that he was gonna be at the annual meeting and was gonna make a big issue there he is he traveled around he started pushing the that don't give us your resolutions don't give us your nice words of encouragement give us your stocks and we'll vote him Alinsky was now in top form at a press conference he cracked the only contribution Eastman Kodak has made to race relations was the invention of color film on April 25th Kodak held its shareholders meeting in Flemington New Jersey fight busting hundreds of its members from Rochester to protest Kodak's broken promises they went into the stock meeting and people are calling us [ __ ] get out of here you're not allowed here walked in the cars with a stockholders bond was a chairman bond and I stood up and asked the question I said to them are you gonna honor the agreement that was the deal Minister Florence you'll have to wait till it's that part of the agenda you know which is way down and mr. chairman we give you what our to agree or not degree to honor these Salinas agreement you signed and ten jumped up Saul and I and we walked out cat called again down house and all press and television came out so then after an hour we walked back in what is your answer what is your answer excuse me what is your pants we demand to know the answer is no then it's going to be a long hot summer but fight had built an organization capable of sustaining a long battle and by creating allies in the middle class through olinsky's stock proxy strategy they eventually forced Kodak back to the bargaining table [Music] we have a new relationship we have understanding and you know I just have to say it we have an agreement Alinsky may have been a necessary evil one would hope that you could accomplish all the good things we did without that evil but I'm not sure we could have I would not have done what I did I think if it was not for meeting Saul and going through that experience nothing I think ever impacted my life as much as that by the late 1960s Saul Alinsky had become something of a folk hero to many college campus activists he challenged them to move from demonstrating in the streets to organizing people in their communities one of the major theories of social changes that you build up counter institutions to what is the Christianity you don't have a tougher harder more realistic operator than Paul and organizing Christianity Paul hadn't come around organized a Christian Church Christ would have been another guy on the cross we're talking about revolution not revelation Alinsky said in his book rules for radicals there are no rules for revolution but there are rules for radicals who want to change the world and to teach those rules Alinsky and hedge chambers set up a training institute for organizers in 1969 they're gonna be organized they're going to be taught to be realistic top four organizers are going to be by the early 70s Alinsky concluded that america's poor would need to ally themselves with the middle class if we fail to communicate with the middle class he wrote if we fail to form alliances with them they will move to the right maybe they will anyway but let's not let that happen by default [Music] but Olinsky never got the chance to organize the middle class on June 12th 1972 he died suddenly of a heart attack on a street corner in Carmel California he was 63 years old by the time of olinsky's death his training institute had become the classroom for many social activists across the country the three principal people who came out of olinsky's earlier work tom cadet at chambers fred ross then themselves have mentored generations of new organizers so there's not any organizing community organizing that you could look at in the country today that probably can't be traced back to one of these three says our Chavez Stokely Carmichael Heather booth Wade wrath King John Bauman and dick Harmon are among the many nationally recognized organizers who either worked with Olinsky or were influenced by his writings and seminars but olinsky's work also had serious weaknesses having tasted power some local leaders let themselves become co-opted by political and business interests other organizations failed to develop the grassroots leadership necessary for long-term change and Alinsky failed to build a national network of organizations to amplify the power of local groups he loved the combat the bringing people out and then he'd get kind of bored with it and as a matter of fact he was later to say the light the good life span one of these organizations is five years and after that they either die or they become part of the establishment so I think of the great one of the great steps forward in organizing today has been to put that idea to rest after olinsky's death Edie chambers assumed the helm of the IAF and built it into a network of more than 50 organizations across the country the iaf organizers and leaders are trying to create a new political culture in America where ordinary people learn the skills of politics to remake their Unity's people don't normally get involved in civic life in our cities we are trying to teach people to do that [Music] our walls are down and then those street signs we burn out we read lined by banks education is poor or none at all we do have some difficulty with law enforcement in terms of stereotypes and so we have to make decisions about fall assembly whose agenda is your vote a working weapon our organizations are the mechanism where people can practice some public life let me just draw you a picture of what we were up against when we first started this you know the Greeks wouldn't let you practice politics till you were 50 or over because you didn't have Sophia you didn't have political judgment we are training lay men and women in the art of political judgment what you have here is the power analysis of what the cities like these are some of the citizen leaders of East Brooklyn congregations EBC they are among the thousands of people putting Saul Alinsky's ideas into action I didn't see myself as a leader what I saw myself is just another person in the community I came to church every Sunday um left an hour later and that was it and in the preaching at church this was the thing that was coming forth to me you need to be involved in your community I wasn't politically involved I'm just a family person a regular guy but I believe working with this organization that we could be heroes to normal people common people that go to work every day we could be heroes in our communities and we have to take that role but taking that role has not been the common experience in America our recent political experience has been citizen apathy low voter turnout what some political commentators describe as the crisis in American democracy you cannot go anywhere in America rich neighborhood poor neighborhood in between neighborhoods and not have a conversation about the failure of politics this is an almost universal sense that something is deeply wrong in American democracy but can faith in American democracy be restored for the industrial areas foundation the process begins one-on-one people begin and democracy begins really in conversations people have to realize the only thing you get something in this country as if you work for it people sitting in a church basement or around the kitchen table or in a union hall or wherever they choose together and talking about their perceptions of public life in this society and what they might do about it if they had power people do mobilize but they mobilize around issues that are of importance to them and once you give them that push then they get up off they're tough and they do what's necessary the common experience of citizens ought to be the starting point for every political debate we're going to go one-on-one and talk to people with first place we're going to start is at home which is here in the church but how do ordinary people acquire the skills to become players in the public arena for IAF leaders it starts with intensive 10 day training sessions led by seasoned organizers like Arnie Graff you're organizing around self-interest if you're not around a multi-issue to agenda you're gonna have only those if you bring in only those people that are interesting education we'll be an education organization if you bring in only those people that are interested in housing you're gonna evolve into a housing organization if the purpose is to build for power okay then you then you need multi issues because you're gonna have multi interests I didn't know Olinsky well but one of the things that Olinsky he did about two or three sessions when I was there before he passed away and when he talked about this I'd come out of the civil rights movement Ryan talked about all the actions he asked me without evaluation in court we just didn't do it you know the evaluation where's the next demonstration right I mean that's how I you know was taught and he said well you young man you probably just a pile of undigested actions thought what's he talking about some like I need alka-seltzer sup my man but what he was getting at was you got it you got to reflect on what you're doing you've got to reflect on your action because if you don't reflect on your action you won't learn the aim of it is to train and develop people is to get more people learning and developing more people to become public players in the early 1980s after leaders were trained and relationships developed EBC wanted to tackle one of the neighborhoods most pressing issues housing they set out to build over 2,000 affordable homes called the nehemiah plan but to complete the project they needed the support of New York's Mayor Ed Koch they knew how to turn it on and turn it off you came to a big open meeting they'd bring in five hundred people they would cheer you they would boo you whatever it is to manipulate you and they would seek to get you committed by putting you on a platform asking you a question knowing that you're gonna say no but maybe they might get you to say yes to something that you would normally say no to I wouldn't do it city officials and religious leaders gathered for a ceremony on the steps of City Hall today to pledge support for plans to make thousands of houses grow out of the rubble of Brooklyn [Music] but EBC had built more than just homes they also created a citizen base to challenge City Hall and other powerful institutions in 1989 EBC launched plans to build another 1,100 nehemiah homes in the same neighborhood I didn't apply for the Nehemiah homes the last time but I'm sorry I did but I did apply this time and through a lottery system my number is 465 and I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to get a home because that's what debts that's the dream that's the American dream to own your own home BBC's efforts to build the Nehemiah homes are threatened by cuts and mayor Giuliani's city budget at this pre meeting leaders discuss strategy for a rally to take place the following Sunday a pre-meeting is when we asked for the key leaders from the congregation's to come and meet with us on an agenda we didn't know if we were going to get a meeting or if he was even going to show up and so you have to start strategizing about what if this happens what are you going to do suppose the mayor can declare walk with mirror julienne okay this is a planning session folks but we don't know exactly what's going to happen as of today things look good we have the promise of a meeting but on Sunday we'll know for sure [Applause] [Music] 1,500 miles from East Brooklyn on a bus traveling from Dallas to Austin Texas another group of citizen leaders are going to the State Capitol to lobby for an innovative public education program called Alliance schools we're here to give you the briefing this morning before we get to Austin margeeve each is a leader in Dallas area interfaith one of nine organizations that make up the Texas IAF network I don't think I ever really appreciated what it means to be a citizen until I got involved with Dallas area interphase I think that as most citizens I thought before that if I didn't break rules or the law and I voted I had probably done what I was supposed to do [Music] using skills learn from community organizing parents and teachers from the Alliance schools have transformed dozens of low-performing schools from poor neighborhoods into some of the states and top performers now they are lobbying to increase funding for the program how we're supposed to go [Music] they may be down okay [Music] good morning what we're interested in is we're here to talk with legislators about an increase in that investment capital fund and we wanted to ask you know how you feel about that fund and if you would support that any time you're doing you know more funds we had a number of people who had never been to the State Capitol before and who had never talked to a legislature and so it was an opportunity for them to participate in the process to understand that this is what you do you go and talk to the people who represent you to say I'm important to you I teach at Cochran elementary we're one of the Alliance schools and we have been online school now for three years basically what what really makes it my passion a government's a very intimidating thing and those of us who served in public office are oftentimes intimidating as well but that person is prepared they know exactly what they're going to say they are given support from the other members in the presentation and then they go in and they ask for it would you be willing to stand with us at a press conference in Dallas area to to give your support to if it yeah if it fits on my schedule I mean I'm not trying to put you up on that just some you know there's some things that weren't committed to and if it's if it's available or just slot open then yeah that would man I felt bad for once in my life you know you always think as far as politics is concerned that your opinion does not matter and at that one instance I felt that you know here's my chance to tell my passion and how I really feel about it and I was just excited because I was actually face to face in here so let me tell you my story how many sinus chairing a meeting as big as this is probably something different for me I know it's a role I have to step up to and it's not gonna be easy but I think I'm ready for it [Music] the mayor is expected to be here we're all anxious with pleased to hear that for like always we're in the last minute we never know how that's going to turn out we always hold politicians accountable so he will be confronted with the questions that we're concerned with the building of near my homes of western Pennsylvania and Spring Creek [Music] [Music] [Applause] knocking down h i'm president of the nehemiah all waters association in the Brownsville Brooklyn and a member of the EBC strategy strategy team and I will be your chair for today's meeting despite doubts about his attendance mayor Giuliani arrives midway through the rally yet complete funding for both sections of the Nehemiah housing plan is still unsure I dreamt that maybe I could get a home and today I have my home and some of you that will get homes near my homes need to know that it's more than just getting a home that the mission is to remember those that didn't get homes when we get our homes to continue in the struggle [Applause] Oh [Applause] brothers and sisters the mayor of New York City mr. Rudolph Guiliani good afternoon and thank you very much last week I was very very pleased to meet with representatives of the East Brooklyn congregations and I'm very also very pleased to say that we are ensuring funding for the Nehemiah housing initiative west of Pennsylvania Avenue and because we recognize the East Brooklyn Nehemiah initiatives as one of the very very finest low-cost housing initiatives in the city of New York we're going to make sure that there's enough funding in the budget so that Spring Creek can begin so that it can begin on time and so that it won't be interrupted today we was asking him to personally present himself in order that our people would know that he the mayor was behind us we feel victorious I think we accomplished what we wanted we didn't know where it was gonna go but when it got there it just just zoomed off Vinnie I tell you it to me it was electrifying let's just give a little recognition where it's do urban dominance to know he had immediately after an action or rally EBC members hold an evaluation session with key leaders to critique their performances and discuss future strategy let's give ourselves credit for forgetting big time power to react let's give ourselves credit for for for for having that kind of power having that kind of success and understand the whole assembly is like a drama and you need to know in this drama where all the actors good this week EBC got to heavy duty major officials in New York to react if the actors weren't good how could they be improved did the audience understand the message the main one we got to react was the mayor what's our next step are we going to be acting or are we going to be reacting and if we're gonna act what are we gonna do now not only did we make the mayor react but we got all his all the bureaucracy under him reacting to the good news is it takes a very developed broad-based organization to pull this off to pull it off the the other side of the coin is do we think any of these victories are over back in Austin the Texas IAF is preparing for a meeting with the state's education commissioner and various legislators they'll be asked to pledge support for the Alliance schools funding plan good afternoon commissioner Moses we're going through and we wanted to be tight there involved in schools the school process in a collaborative effort to educate all children because we are a community of learners school-wide you always want to space it's a little too small for the numbers you're gonna have we hope we have enough people that we're standing room only because you to get the attention of the legislators you know we don't have the organized money we need to have the organized people they see us wrong the people from around the state all here for this issue pretty powerful statement yes we're going to beat the toss but more than that we're developing educated parents who are life learners thank you we've had rats invading our building for years our custodian found 18 rats in one classroom 18 I put in work orders I got no response but our parents wouldn't tolerate rats that you have over 10% of the state Senate present and accounted for here today do you know that which you are down here asking your state government to do will in fact happen because of your involvement there's two ways of looking in the rally one is that you look at the event itself but the other way you can look at it is also in you see the action in terms of not just what you do but in terms of the reaction so the question I ask myself is six months from now after that rally how will voice West think about what happened today right here what I think today kind of demonstrated is that there is an enormous amount of support for this initiative okay there was I thought a clear exchange of power I thought commissioner Moses was emboldened challenged by having as many reps and as many senators there and I thought your statements were powerful I particularly like when rodents turn into rats okay because when we first heard the story it was about 20 rodents I learned a long time ago and organizing don't talk about rodents talk about rats okay ugly dirty filthy rats okay all right thank you very much go home go rest and then go after those guys at the capital [Applause] [Applause] after years of hard work and negotiations with three separate city administrations EBC triumphantly held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new nehemiah homes on October 2nd 1996 this is about people like me that would never have been afforded an opportunity for homeownership had it not been for ABC and those of you that are gonna all these homes listen to this the belief that the answers to all your problems after you get your homes are in your hands and in your minds to solve that's what this is about this get me started with the city of New York supporting you you made the city of New York support you because you were right in what you were doing and forcing others to notice because of the good work that you're doing [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pick me up some of that dirt she's great it's really great was a victory freebie see it's a victory for the city of New York I feel great after your great resume waiting for this day for a long time all real action political action is a deliberate calculated focused and our actions are that way you go back to the 1980s and most of the political establishment in this city opposed them tried to undercut them didn't want to make it happen because in many ways they do not they do not take hamish the feeling for speaking when you come to their meetings they require you to speak in three minutes and they'll close you off and shut you up if you don't speak in three minutes they require you to answer their question and they remind you that you are a public servant a consensus is nice that belongs in private life when you're out in the public life it's something to do with power self-interest change and and the ability to get that back in Austin continuous pressure on the state legislature forced passage of a funding bill for the Alliance Schools Initiative we have just been through a long series of meetings back and forth to Austin working on legislation and there's been eight million dollars approved for the expansion of the Alliance schools across the state of Texas so it's a real victory and we're really proud of it because more and more schools who are low-performing schools are going to have the opportunity to improve their schools ordinary people have shown that if they mobilize and and work at it and and collectively aggregate their power as citizens they can change the outcomes of government that's doable power concedes nothing without demand it's as true today as when Frederick Douglass wrote about it and Saul Alinsky organized for it when of people have open that power you know where they're going and they know they're gonna keep getting more as they get more and more power they know how to do it now they know how to function as citizens in the democratic process I just don't think that we can lead our lives in isolation and I think that making the world richer and better is not looking just for my own self or for my family but I think it's looking out for the community and what can be done in the community without organized people you're gonna really have communities that are just going nowhere it's the people that's the key the people that's the key for these citizens the Democratic promise is not found in political party tickets nor does it hinge on a Supreme Court decision or an act of Congress there can be no democracy unless it is a dynamic democracy said Saul Alinsky it is not a formula to be preserved like jelly it is a process a vibrant living sweep of hope and progress which constantly strives for its objective in life the search for truth justice and the dignity of a man so we're in the redemption business you know it's not revolution its Redemption we love democracy and we love America but we just critical lovers [Music] major funding for the Democratic promise was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting additional funding was provided by the following underwriters