some things i've learned as a student organizer so far.

(disclaimer: the views reflected in this post are mine and mine only. This post does not speak on behalf of any organizations or individuals outside of myself.)

I began organizing in my freshman year of college. I lead an environmental justice group on my college campus and we work directly with a community based organization. Through the guidance of previous student leaders, an amazing professor, and a kickass thoroughly experienced community organizer, I have truly learned from the best on how to do community organizing as a college student. I've spent the last three years doing this and spent all of last summer organizing in the community. That is my backstory (and more so my credentials) for this post. Here are significant reflections from my time as a student organizer so far.

I was hesitant to call myself an activist until around this year. I was hesitant to call myself an organizer until about a month ago. I was hesitant to give myself these titles because of the people I told you about earlier. All of them are activists and organizers and I didn’t feel like I had earned the title. I’m not sure if I’ve “earned” it now, but I know that I put my money where my mouth is so these titles aren’t just that--titles. They are actions.

I was moved to make this post in part because of a post by Bisan, a Palestinian activist living through the current (but nowhere near new) genocide of Palestinians orchestrated by the Israeli government. Read her post below or on Instagram here:

I cried reading this. It was the first time after learning about all of this that I had allowed myself to cry. My mentor once said, “Don’t cry for us, come and join the fight.” I didn’t want to cry because my tears aren’t important right now. What’s important is taking action and doing what I can to scream for all Palestinians, like Bisan, to be free. And still, I finally cried. I cried because Bisan said, “I live in a world other than the one I claim to be building. I am a community activist who lived on the fantasy that the world was free and just, and I sought to bring rights not only to my people, but to many men and women in third world countries!” I initially read that as Bisan giving up hope for the world she imagined, which hurt me in a way because I consider myself a world builder. Like Bisan, I imagine a different world everyday, and work towards ways I can bring that world into reality for the people I love and for all of us. So it hurt me to read this as her giving up on that world. But I was wrong, I read it wrong. The “world” Bisan is talking about is the countries like the US, its Congress persons, and its civilians who stand by idly while millions of people are being murdered before our very eyes. We argue amongst each other while millions are being killed right before our very eyes. We get to look away, we get to push it into the past, we get to forget, and it makes me sick to my stomach. Bisan asks her friends to maintain their hope. It is because of that sentiment that I know we will win.

There are so many battles going on in our world today. There are so many injustices that activists are fighting against. Much of this activism is done by student organizers. My mentor always says that so many of the movements in our past have been started and led by the youth. The Civil Rights movement had significant organization from young adults, teenagers, and children. Hello, Ms. Ruby Bridges. March for Our Lives was created by teenagers in direct response to school shootings and inaction from the US government. The now mainstream fight against climate change is spearheaded by members of Gen Z--shoutout student organizers in C4 (EJ org at Swarthmore).

I wanted to write this to give love and encouragement to student organizers rallying for #FreePalestine and for the plethora of other causes. Recently at my school, Swarthmore College, student organizers leading Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) received ‘warnings’ for violating the school’s code of conduct for simply attending a peaceful student protest inside of our dining hall. This is what prompted me to write this. Now, I’m sure there’s some technical provision that explains why students cannot protest inside of the dining hall, and frankly I don’t care. The reasons bans and limitations on student protests exist is because student protests work. When someone tries to silence you, it is because you are saying something that is important. They will threaten you, they will try to scare you, but we must only scream louder. We must continue to chant, we must continue to have conversations about it, we must continue to write about it, we must continue to post about it, we must never let them forget.

And with that, here are some things I’ve learned as a student organizer so far:

1. This is not a game.

My biggest critique of some student organizing on liberal arts campuses is that it is performative. Some people RARA just to RARA (aka yell just to yell). They graduate and it’s over, but some of us are really fighting for our lives. Fighting for the lives of our families. Fighting for the lives of our friends. Fighting for the lives of people who look like us.

Student organizers put themselves on the line. They put their behavioral status at school on the line. They put potential job opportunities on the line. They put their own emotional well-being on the line because at the end of the day people are dying. None of this, and I mean none of this, matters if there are millions of people around the world who don’t get to live as comfortably as I do. It is our duty not to look away. It is our duty to say something, even if it feels small, because one voice sparks a thousand voices. I would not have the courage that I have if not for watching the people who’ve come before me. What they’ve risked, what’s been taken from them, all for doing what we all know is the right thing.

Regarding the school’s warnings, banning someone’s right to protest makes this institution illegitimate. More broadly, it makes governments illegitimate. It is our democratic right to critique entities we give our money to and who are supposed to operate under our wishes. Democracies are supposed to reflect the wishes of the people and if a democracy fails to do that, then it is no longer a democracy.

2. You have to be comfortable making people uncomfortable.

To this I add, if you are not ruffling feathers, if you are not getting in trouble (aka good trouble like John Lewis), if you are not breaking any rules, you are not doing the work. If what you say is accepted by all, in this day and age, you are not doing the work. Because the work will ruffle feathers. It will cause you to be disliked. People will call you a bitch. They will threaten you. They will try to make you silent. But, you win by not letting the fear stop you. I win by believing that there is no one on this Earth who I am afraid of. Why should I be? Silence equals fear and you can’t scare us.

3. You cannot do this alone. Don’t try to.

Speaking of “us”, community is everything to organizing. No one, and I mean no one, can do this alone. No matter how smart you are, no matter how many skills you possess, organizing must be driven by the collective. They cannot arrest you all. They cannot give “warnings” to half of the student body. They can’t kick us all out of the public hearing. There is strength in numbers, so even if you don’t view yourself as an organizer or activist, show up. Showing up is activism. Using your body to amplify the voices of others is activism. If you are white this is even more important. When things go down, Black and brown students are targeted harder by officials. Show up and in a way that lessens harm to the marginalized people around you, not in a way that increases it (ex. Antagonizing cops or whatever force is there. Don’t do that. You can get away with it, POC in your group can’t).

Additionally, four brains of the world’s smartest people make a much better idea than one. My organizing work is impossible without my friends/team. I do not dream of doing this work alone because I know it is made infinitely better by us workshopping ideas together. Organizing requires the complete refusal of ego. There will be things you don’t know. You will make mistakes. But the people who will help you through all of this (and even prevent you from making these mistakes in the first place) are right next to you. Utilize them.

Lastly, community is protection. I scream so loud because I have people who will light this whole shit up for me. Don’t let anybody fuck with you and don’t be intimidated. Your community has your back.

4. Seek out the truth.

Another thing I’ve admired with the community group I work with is their authenticity. In order to run the pathological liars out, our organizing must be driven by truth and honesty. We don't need lies to win. All you need is the truth. Let it be your biggest ammo, seek it out diligently. It is always there.

People respond to the truth because they can sus out bullshit. Be authentic because that is how you build trust and relationships.

5. Black women. That’s it. That’s the tweet.

Black women are everything. I really mean it, we are. Every movement you fight for, I promise you, impacts a Black woman and we know how to fight for it because we are oppressed by it. If your movement does not contain Black women (not just token Blacks) I don't trust it! Listen to Black women. Read the literary work of Black women. See where Black women stand on an issue (that’s the cheat code, I promise). Black women are always on the frontlines, learn from them.

6. Always be willing to learn.

You are never done learning. There is no level ten of organizing where you become the master. There is always something you can learn from another group. That is why we must always be in community and coalition with other groups. No matter what we are all fighting for, everything is connected. We all want the same thing. Your education is our liberation.

7. Remember who you are and be that.

I admire the fuck out of the people who I watched organize as a fledgling freshman. I wanted to be them. However, my strength, and your strength, is being yourself. Show up as yourself, and as much as you read and watch other organizing, always remember to be yourself. You may have a way of doing things or a way of thinking that significantly helps the cause. There has never been another you before, that is your power, and that is what we need!

Most importantly, always speak your truth. You do not want to live this life knowing you stayed silent about something you care about. Even if you think you don’t have the words, even if your voice shakes, even if you say “um” twenty times, speak. Say what you believe. Say it because you can. And stand by it.

8. Breathe.

You will burn out. That is student organizing 101. We want to do it all, but we can’t. We want to change the world in a week, but we can’t. I have burned out more times than I can count. I’ve wanted to quit twice. Overexerting myself ends up doing more harm than good because then I can’t show up at all, rather than being able to show up for let’s say an hour. 30% is better than 0%. Show up when you can, but don’t work yourself into the ground. We must all share the load.

This work is real life and it can cause feelings of anxiety. I like to mediate to help myself feel grounded and allow myself to feel in control. We work in uncontrollable circumstances so taking time to breathe in deeply and sit in peace for even two minutes does so much.

9. If you cannot imagine it you cannot do this work.

You must dare to imagine the unimaginable. They will tell you that you are asking for too much. They will tell you that it will never happen. They will tell you that this isn’t the reality we’re living in. I dare you to imagine a different reality. I dare you to question why these things cannot be. I dare you scream for the world you want to see. Freedom from slavery was once unimaginable. Integrated schools were once unimaginable. Women being able to vote was once unimaginable. Dare to imagine what they say you can’t because, why not?

A philly based organizer I met through my student organizing is really big on imagination. She says that as our elder it is her duty to pass on her wisdom and playfulness to us. Imagination is playful, but is also dead ass serious. You need to be able to imagine the result you are fighting for. I imagine a future where Chester is free from the Covanta incinerator. I imagine a future where Palestine is free. I imagine a future where everyone is liberated from the shackles of this oppression we live under. I really do see it y’all. I want you to see it too. You need to see it too. Close your eyes, and imagine it. If you can see, then it is real.

10. Never forget what you’re doing this for.

I know you might ask, what’s the point if you’re just gonna die in the end and maybe you don’t tear down the thing you wanted to tear down in this lifetime? The point is that you can kill the person, but you can never kill the idea they sparked. You can’t kill the passion of the people that will pick up the torch you left and continue the fight. So, my motivation comes from what I can show others. That even if one day I'm feeling like everything is pointless, someone will pick up the torch because they believe just as much as I do. I know this will be the case because I've experienced it. I fight so hard because of my mentors. Because they’ve shown me to believe.

I do it because I need my ancestors to know that I picked up the torch where they left it. I do it because I need my descendants to know that I did what I could to make things better. I tried my best. We should all try our best.

Your best is activism and activism takes many forms. My activism is writing (and sometimes speaking, lol). My activism is choosing joy and trying to help others take back their joy in a world that does its best to crush it. My activism is doing my best to stay authentic. My activism is screaming. Screaming on behalf of those that can’t. Screaming in conjunction with those that have already been screaming for decades. My activism is showing up when I say I will. My activism is being angry. My activism is posting selfies on social media. Showing that you can be a baddie and care about social justice issues. (I kid, I kid.) But for real, I lean so hard into my organizing because two of the coolest people in the world showed me that you can be so fucking cool and also be passionate about environmental justice. My goal in life is to show people that you can have fun, you can be joyful, you can be beautiful, you can be cool, whilst still screaming passionately about liberation for others--no matter the form it takes up. We should all be fighting to make sure we’re all as free as we can be. Freedom is my biggest dream. I think about her everyday and I hold mine so closely to my chest. I believe so deeply that everyone should have that.

To close... 🌹

If you are a student organizer of color, just know that I am so proud of you. You didn’t ask for this, you didn’t dream of this, but you do it anyway. Organizing is sometimes scary, but it is powerful. So powerful. You are taking back everything they stole from your ancestors and you are giving it to your descendants. They are so proud of you. I know that it will all be worth it. No matter how much they try to silence you, no matter how much they threaten you, you still fight. It is so hard watching others around you be harmed from this battle, simply for fighting for the freedom of all, but we must carry their torch. We must scream louder. We must be brave. But most importantly, we must remember to stick together.