A Reflection on People Power

Written by Avery Kolers, a member of Congregation Adath Jeshurun's Rodfei Tzedek Network and a member of Temple Shalom, and shared at CLOUT's June Justice Celebration

The first time I attended an event like the Nehemiah Action, it was with the Pima County Interfaith Council in Tucson, Arizona, more than 25 years ago, in 1999. We were demanding a living wage.

I remember sitting in the back of a large hall with 1000 other regular people, seeing our elected officials facing out from the stage. Even after all this time, I can still recall the feeling of collective power: “we’re going to remember your name, and we’re going to remember what you said here, and we’re going to hold you to it.” I felt like I was part of a tidal wave of justice. It’s the ability to start that sentence with “we” that makes all the difference. It’s hard to say no to 1000 people, isn’t it, CLOUT?

Growing up, I had that idealistic image of the political process, where if you write a letter, your representative will read it and maybe say, “yes, good idea, let’s do that!” And then they do, because it’s a good idea and it’s right. I had this image from Amnesty International, which is a great organization, but which, at that time at least, was built around the idea that a lot of letters will do the trick. And I’m not against letter-writing, of course; we should all be writing and calling our elected officials, especially the ones who are afraid to show up and meet 1000 of us in person. 

But if you really want change, you need more than letters. You know the famous statement from Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand”? That’s true. But what I learned half a lifetime ago, in Tucson Arizona, staring down our elected officials and issuing the collective moral call to pass a living wage, was a second point, put so nicely by Barbara Major: “When you go to power without a base, your demandbecomes a request.” Turning that around: when you go to power with a base, your request becomes the demand that can make power concede.

Of course, there’s more to the CLOUT model of change than people power. There’s the opportunity for each person to have a role in house meetings where community problems emerge from the grass roots. There’s the opportunity to caucus with our congregations at the community problems assembly and vote to decide which issue to work on for the year. There’s the opportunity to be on a research committee, meeting with experts and practitioners, so that when we come face-to-face with decision makers, we know our stuff, we’ve done our homework. Overall, there’s the opportunity to be accountable to others for our commitments: to say, “yes, I’ll be there,” and then to get a phone call reminder to be there, because we said we would be, and because we’re needed. The reason we get that call, the reason we hold ourselves and one another accountable, is because our good intentions don’t bring change. It’s easy for an elected official to stare down 1000 good intentions; they do it every day. What’s hard to stare down is 1000 faces of 1000 people who hold one another accountable and will hold that decision maker accountable.

This year, I had the opportunity to be the negotiator for our Mental Health issue. And of course I was thrilled that our decision makers all said “yes,” and I didn’t have to negotiate anything. But being up there reminded me of the feeling from that night in Tucson long ago. I don’t remember who the living wage issue negotiators were in 1999. There must have been someone up there asking the questions. What I do remember from 1999, and have seen from the audience of the Nehemiah Action during the years that I’ve been involved with CLOUT, is that the negotiators, in fact, all the CLOUT leaders who are on the stage, are really just the foam on the tip of the tidal wave. You – all of us – everyone in this room – the CLOUT network members and activists and concerned friends and family – we all are the tidal wave.

Those of us on the mental health committee worked hard to research the problem and identify a solution. The same is true for all of our issue committees. But none of that work would have mattered without people power. Foam without a wave is just a few stationary bubbles. It’s the wave that brings the change.