The thing that I always took away from her work is the seriousness of it, the methodical and intentional way that one has to go about organizing. It requires an immense amount of discipline.
Workers deserve not just stable housing, health care, and good benefits. They deserve time off. They deserve to be able to live the good life.
She writes about building or developing capable organizers, which is something DSA does. And she influenced the attitude that I brought to Albany and to legislating: you make your list, then you go down your list, you talk to people, you talk to them again, you try to find the places where you have common concerns and interests, and you try to move them. And in every single conversation, you’re trying to map out again the situation you’re in. In Albany, the terrain changes all the time depending on what we’re debating, what the governor is doing, what primary elections are happening. Assessing and reassessing those conditions requires you to be very attentive and very thoughtful.
Jane’s work made me want to commit to a lifetime of doing this kind of organizing and being within the struggle. The book is called No Shortcuts, and that phrase is the anthem of so many different organizers I’ve met. This isn’t something that’s going to be done anytime soon — it requires all of us to be committed to it for all our lives.
Auteur: Claire Valdez
