Louisville Urban League President Lyndon Pryor said something at the organization's annual Impact Luncheon last month that has been stuck on replay in my head ever since. I'm paraphrasing here, but he told the crowd, "If you're wondering what you would do in the face of injustice, you're doing it right now."
We find it easy to judge people in history who seemingly stood by while their neighbors disappeared and Nazi Germany took hold. We wonder how we would have reacted during the Civil Rights Movement when Jim Crow laws were being challenged. We feel certain that we would not have allowed atrocities to happen in our communities. But is that really true? Because as Lyndon said, whatever it is you are doing right now, that is exactly what you would have been doing during those moments in history. His words serve as both a warning and a call to action.
Things feel especially dire now as we watch ICE agents terrorize neighborhoods and everything from education to the Endangered Species Act is under attack. But the truth is our communities have always needed help. Many of our communities' hardships are as old as time. It's why nonprofit organizations exist. For every community nonprofit, there is a gap in the system it is trying to address.
When I think of Lyndon's words, I not only wonder about what I am doing, but also ask the question: Is what I am doing enough?
The supplies in my car that I pass out to the unhoused, are they enough?
Is it enough to attend community meetings and stay informed?
Is voting enough?
Teaching my children the importance of civic duty. Is that enough?
Are these weekly columns to lift the good work being done, enough?
Beyond voting and hounding elected officials, it's hard not to feel hopeless in the face of decisions being made in the White House and Congress. How can I possibly make a difference? Is all that social media ranting just performative?
I keep returning to my community for the answer. I know that every political decision trickles down to real people in my neighborhood. That's where the proverbial rubber hits the road, one person at a time, and it is where I can make my greatest impact. It's why I gravitate to the stories of people doing grassroots work. It's where you can see the positive change happening, person by person.
Lived experience is every individual's superpower. It's how we have empathy and why we are able to help others in trustworthy ways. Nobody gets through life unscathed. The question then becomes: Are you going to let it harden you or are you going to use what you went through to help someone else?
While we work to make American policies align with the interests of everyday people, grassroots efforts will be the glue that holds us together and lifts us up, and each of us has a role to play. You get to decide if you want to be an ally, an advocate or a co-conspirator. We need all three.
When I think of hard times in my own life and the people who got me through, it wasn't the policymakers or the politicians; it was my therapist, my best friend or a mentor. Someone who has been there and who understood what I was going through. That's how we change the world: person to person. In real life.
We are all in this world together, and it's going to take us working together on the ground level to see us through. When history looks back at this moment, where will you be standing? What will you be doing? Because whatever it is, you're doing it right now.
Do you know anyone who's doing cool things to make the world a better place? I want to know. Send me an email at Bonnie@WriterBonnie.com. Also, stay in the loop by signing up for her weekly newsletter at WriterBonnie.com. To find out more about Bonnie Jean Feldkamp and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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