Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2008

Went to the march downtown Atlanta today.

I had my choice of groups to march with: The Peace and Justice Group, Save Grady Hospital, or the Stop Family Violence group. I went with the third, though I had made plans with the second, and used a sign from the first group.

Yes, it was kind of a confusing beginning. First of all, I couldn't find any of those three groups. I stood on a corner of Peachtree Street near the Peachtree Center MARTA station. There was a woman holding a "Healthcare not Warfare" sign so I asked her where the Peace and Justice group was. Yes, it was really random, but who knows? She might have actually known. But she didn't. Still, we chatted and it turned out that she and her daughter volunteer with refugees and so I gave them my business card. Clearly, I need to get out of the house more often. First at Knit Night and now at the MLK march, I got some good networking done.

Eventually they found their group (the Unitarian Universalists, I think) and I walked north up the street. I figured I might meet up with some people I actually knew, and I did. I found the Stop Family Violence group. They were standing down one of the side streets. When the march comes by, we'll step out at the end and join it. This is the group waiting across from us:

It's the young men of Project Manhood at North Clayton High School. What's not shown are the Girl Scouts behind them. At one point the girls were doing jumping jacks (or should it be jumping jills?) to stay warm. Because it was around freezing and the girls were wearing skirts

The march was supposed to start at 1pm, but of course it didn't. The speechifying by the politicos apparently ran long. It was cold (right around freezing) and eventually I couldn't feel my toes. At 2pm, the march finally came by and here are pictures of the groups that passed us before we could join.

Yes, there actually are unions in Georgia, but not many.


Oh, look: it's the Save Grady Hospital group. I went over to say hey and then went back to the Stop Family Violence group:

Basically Grady Memorial Hospital is the public hospital, serving everyone regardless of ability to pay, and the only level one trauma center in northern Georgia. When victims get airlifted to a hospital, it's Grady they're taken to, not any of the dozen or so other hospitals in the Atlanta metro area. It's in financial trouble and no agreement about what to do to save it.

This was a group of Girl Scouts. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the kids dressed as the cookies.

There were signs for the other candidates, but I didn't take those pictures.

Then it was our turn to join and here are the pictures I took along the way.

Here's Youth Pride, and a sign for their hotline for LGBTQ youth:

In case you can't see, the sign says "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

It was interesting to walk down Peachtree Street and Auburn Avenue, roads I normally drive down. Walking gave me time to really look at the buildings and notice the new shops and restaurants moving in. Auburn Ave used to be the center of black culture and then it went into decline. Having the interstate built right over the middle certainly didn't help.

But now it looks like it has a chance of really making a comeback, with new shops and condos. With the housing downturn, though, I don't know what will happen.

The march ended at the MLK center. And here's a little something to counteract against all the uplift and hope of the march. The placard says "Jesus Lord of All or Hell Awaits You!" Nice, eh?

The tented platform is shown below for more speechifying, placed on Auburn Avenue, right between the MLK center run by the National Parks Service and the MLK center run by the King family. The 2 MLK centers are located across the street from each other and next to the old and new Ebenezer Baptist Churches, across the street from each other. By that time, it was 3pm and I was frozen and decided to go home.

I parked at the Inman Park-Reynoldstown MARTA stop,which is the next stop over from the MLK stop. My brain must have been frozen because I thought "it's only one stop from where I'm at now, I'll just walk there." It turned out to be a mile away.

However, like the walk down Auburn, I got to really see the shops and new condos built along DeKalb Avenue, instead of driving past at 55 miles an hour.

One place was Polly on the Avenue, a pottery studio that I've driven past for over 10 years. Today, Polly came out to walk her dog as I walked past and I finally had a chance to ask about it. It's Polly's pottery studio, where she makes items for art fairs and she supplies the sugar bowls at the Flying Biscuit, a local bakery. She's having a little open house party in February and she gave me an invitation.

So all in all, it was a great day. Not quite a day off, not quite a day on, (MLK Day is a day on, to volunteer at community events to make the "beloved community" better). But a good day, any way you look at it.

Not all Progressives are progressive

This weekend was the 2008 Georgia Progressive Summit. Yes Georgia is a red state, but there are pockets of blue. There are progressives in this state and this is the third time we've come together to find a common cause to get behind and to network.

The beginning was good. One speaker came up with a flip chart with his "Dirty Dozen" of issues that need to be addressed. Examples include energy independence, military withdrawal from Iraq, tax reform, access to health care, and the prison-industrial complex. I was so with him!

Then he made a sexist joke involving prostitutes, dresses, panties, and screwing to make his point about the US tax structure exploiting workers.

I was stunned.

I told the main organizer that I thought that speaker's comments were out of line. She agreed and said that she would speak with him about it. And she asked me to speak directly with him about it, so he knew it wasn't just coming from her but it was widely regarded as inappropriate.

Ironically, the next workshop I went to was presented by that speaker and it was about coalition building! This guy was going to tell us how to build coalitions across issue areas and he makes a sexist joke that alienates half the audience?!????

I was late for it because I and another guy got a bit lost finding the room. We got there just as we're going around the tables and introducing ourselves and our cause. I mentioned that I work for women's rights and I take exception for something he said this morning.

He was a bit surprised but that he hoped that there'd be opportunity for me to discuss it in the workshop and that his shoulders are broad so he can take it.

Well, there really wasn't any opportunity to talk about it in the workshop and I was going to just talk to him privately later. But towards the end, he turned to me and said Sister ______, what was it you took exception to?

I said I didn't think it was necessary or appropriate for him to use a sexist joke about a prostitute and her dress and panties to talk about how the US tax structure exploits the people. I said, as someone who wears dresses and panties, when you said that joke I identified with the prostitute being screwed and did not appreciate it.

He apologized for having offended me, it was not his intent. He was also defensive saying it was a woman who told him that joke in the 1970s. (Dude, get with the times! Yes, you're my elder and need to be respected. And need to keep learning yourself, too.) And that feminists need to be part of the movement.

What?!???? I said WE ARE part of the movement. He was so clueless and he's supposed to be a progressive?!????

He did also say that he realized that he still had work to do regarding sexism. And then he said I guess next time he tells that joke he should make sure that there aren't any women in the room.
?!!?!?!?!?!???????

I said there should be no next time! I was so mad, my face was hot.

Afterwards, the other guy who was late with me, came over and said that I should have talked to him privately, otherwise he was defensive. This guy was also older, white haired. He mentioned that that's just the way their generation was raised, but that each time he's held accountable, he does remember and tries to modify his behavior in the future.

I asked this guy to talk to the presenter then. If this guy thinks I was right to call out the speaker about the sexism, then he should back me up (and be a good ally and progressive) and say that to him too. Because the speaker (older man) will respect you (another older man), instead of me (younger woman).

We still have a long way to go.

Got interviewed for local news station

Yesterday, I was video interviewed by Brenda Wood, for her "Good People" segment on the local news on Monday nights. I think it went pretty well and I think it was pretty clear that I'm a social justice activist. I'm a little apprehensive about how it will be edited and shown.

There was one point where she asked me what I get out of the work and I was surprised at how emotional I got at that question! I said I get a lot out of working with the refugee and immigrant women. It's great to see how our work with them allows them to move forward with their lives, empowers them to become community leaders, to open their own businesses, etc.

Later, she came back and asked me why I got so emotional. I mentioned growing up in the US being the only Asian in the neighborhood and not being accepted by Americans and then living in Taiwan and not being accepted as Chinese. The unfairness of being rejected and discriminated against for aspects of my identity that I can't change is what fuels my activities with regard to social justice.

But I don't think about that very much. I mentioned that it's important to acknowledge the past because it informs who you are. But if you focus too much on the past, you can't move forward. And certainly the rest of the world is moving forward, with or without you.

She asked if I would volunteer with my organization even if I wasn't paid. First I asked if it was still as executive director. When she said not, then I said yes (paying bills, doing payroll, having to deal with staffing issues, and all the administrative stuff is not what I want to volunteer for, as important as it is) and described my tree of life as a crape myrtle tree, with the multiple trunks representing the different pillars of my life -- social activism, art, and family. The trunks come from the same roots, the branches of each trunk are intertwined, and all work together to sustain and grow the tree. (Deep, isn't it? Sometimes I got it in me.) So I would still volunteer and be active because it's something I believe in.

Then she asked me about my art. I mentioned my knitting and pottery and she just loved the metaphor of my molding the clay like my work molds the women my organization works with. I said I can certainly take credit for bending the clay to my will, but my influence over other people is definitely not as extensive! I prefer the metaphor of the quilt, where you take pieces of different fabrics and sew them together to create a new fabric that is beautiful and useful.

She asked about my pottery and I mentioned how you have to really concentrate on centering the clay, and you can't be thinking other other things because then the clay will fly off the wheel or fall in on itself. It's like meditation, it clears the mind, but unlike meditation, you have an object at the end that you can share with other people. I guess you could share the serenity you get from meditation, but I still prefer giving pottery. She asked if I sell the pottery or give it away. I most definitely just give it away and I joked how my family is pretty tired of getting pottery from me.

But that may actually just be my husband. Most other people are pretty impressed when they find out that I made it myself. I think in such a consumerist society, we have become removed from the actual creation of things and when we are exposed to it again, we are impressed. I didn't go off on that consumerist jag in the interview.

She loved the molding clay metaphor anyway and said they might come to my pottery class to film me actually throwing a pot. In the end that didn't happen.

So how did she find me to want to interview me? A few weeks ago, I was honored by a girl-serving organization for my work with women and girls, and Brenda Wood was the MC for the event. She read my introduction (which I did not write), which talked about my work on women's issues, refugee issues, nationally and locally, etc. It was a lot just in the last 4 years, since I've been executive director of this organization and I felt pretty tired after hearing all that. I don't try to do all those things all at once and so I guess I hadn't thought about it cumulatively.

Plus, I'm usually looking forward, not backward. I mean I do try to reflect on past experiences, but mostly in order to apply lessons learned to future activities. Moving on!