Everyone is an advocate.
I’m an English teacher.
That’s what I told myself and others for five years as I began working in diversity, equity, and inclusion training, trying to make my community and state a better, more equitable place to live. Even after beginning the MO Equity Education Partnership, I spoke in front of our state legislators and pronounced to them that I was “just an English teacher.”
It took five years for me to arrive at the understanding that although teaching gave me some essential tools that prepared me for this work, I am an organizer. My driving purpose has been to teach and empower others to step into their role as organizers, too.
When people say to me that they do not know if they can be an organizer, I ask if they have the ability to do any of the following:
Create goals
Think about action steps to achieve those goals
Work with others collaboratively toward a common goal
Explain directions well to others
Accept constructive feedback
Collect and analyze data
Think critically about complex issues
Many times, their answer is yes to enough of those traits that they begin realizing the possibilities for how they can use those skills to effectuate change in their communities. At this challenging point in our history, individuals willing to step up and use these skills are exactly what we need to address the challenges we face: book bans; anti diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; attempts to whitewash history, anti-LGBTQ laws; the removal of reproductive rights and affirmative action; and so much more. We need more people working together to ensure the future of our democracy.
So the next time you are faced with book bans, anti-equity policy, or anything else that will negatively impact your family, friends, and neighbors, remember that you have all that you need to become an organizer and advocate.
