The election is over and we have a new president...or we will have in 69 days.
I am excited about President-Elect Obama. Barack Obama picked a team of people that ran an absolutely amazing campaign. He inspired young and old alike. He rose above many of the stereotypical and racist comments and insinuations throughout the campaign. His campaign staff used technology in ways no other campaign thought of. He encouraged all of us to believe that WE are the government...that it takes US to make change happen.
But now he's elected. Will those same inspiring efforts continue?
What's exciting to me is that I don't see this changing!
I am still getting emails from http://www.moveon.org/ asking me to host house parties so that we can come together and offer our ideas to the incoming administration.
Color of Change is still collecting our stories...stories that help define who we are as a nation and what we are going through as individuals who make up this nation...with the goal of informing our political system.
Barack Obama's staff continues his ground swell efforts through the internet by allowing people to apply for jobs in his administration, share personal stories with him, or just keep up with what's going on with his transition.
I have high hopes that these groundswell efforts will continue and we will continue moving toward the day when the United States is not about one person in charge, but is a collective of voices from all different perspectives, socioeconomic statuses, ages, religious beliefs, and genders.
3 comments:
There have been a couple of incidents lately that have really empahsized to me how important it is to not only seek input from vested people, but then to really take their insights and suggestions seriously and find ways to weave these ideas and thoughts into collectively-created solutions.
For example, the DISD fiasco. I saw this week where Dr. Hinojosa held yet another closed-door private meeting with the city's business leaders to discuss the district's financial remediation plans. Even the school board wasn't included in this discussion. Yet have any of the teachers, staff, students or parents been invited to any such round table to come up with solutions for the district? I am somewhat perturbed that during this whole mess, communication with the employees and constituents of the district has been so vague and pretty much non-existent. We have to read in the newspaper what is going on with our livelihoods, with our children's teachers and schools. Dr. Hinojosa rarely addressed the thousands of people whose lives he was putting into complete chaos (students or teachers). Cold, calculated decisions were made and implemented without absolutely no input from the people who truly know what is going on in our schools and with our kids. Principals had no input into what teachers were axed from their carefully built staffs and who was sent their way to replace them. What was amazing to me was that the district has known for several months that this whole thing was about to implode. They didn't even have the decency to inform employees that such measures might be necessary back in the summer when teachers could have potentially found positions in other districts. But beyond that, I am insulted that it never even occurred to the district's leaders to sit down with some of the teachers and staff who are in the schools day after day and seek their input on what kinds of things could be changed or cut in order to improve the financial situation without removing the educators that are the most critical piece of these students'growth. I think they would have been surprised at the compromises this distict's employees would have been willing to make in order to make sure our colleagues were able to stay in the classrooms where they were working so hard to make a difference. If they would have bothered to ask us, perhaps we would have been willing to give up our extra stipends, our professional development trips to out of town conferences, even fore-go our pay step raise for the year. Perhaps we could have told them we could save energy costs by not having the air conditioner keep the schools at at 55 degree temperature setting in August. Perhaps we could have let them know that we're really not benefitting from all this Just for Kids, Foundations, Dallas Achieves, etc etc etc trainings that we spend hours attending and that are conducted by outside consultants. There are thousands of suggestions that the heart of this district could have made but were never even asked. Instead we had to sit helplessly by as decisions were made for us and we were just expected to adjust, although we were sick at heart about the impact these decsions were having on our campuses and with our students. We lost two excellent administrators who had an amazing rapport with the students only to receive two other administrators who have no ties or knowledge of this community or long-standing relationships with these students. The district only saw these employees as ID numbers with x-amount of "experience." No input was taken into the other things these employees may have brought to the table that cannot be replaced. Passion for a community and its students cannot be replaced with any amount of "experience." We had teachers and administrators who did not see their jobs here at this school as just a job...they wanted to be at this particular school at this particular time because it was more of a calling to this community and to the neighborhood. Schools and communities are not cookie-cutter creations. You can't just move people around like pawns on a chessboard and expect them to fit. That's why it's important to get the input from those "pawns" to see where they feel they can be the most effective. Morale is so low in this district right now because employees do not feel valued. We're not even important enough to invite to the table of discussion. We don't feel valued because despite our hard work and dedication to this distict's goals, we could be axed at any time. We have no say in any of the decisions that affect not only our lives, but the lives and futures of the students we grow to care so much about. It's a very discouraging and frustrating feeling.
The second incident (bet you thought I forgot about that one!) occurred this week as the long-debated renaming of Industrial Boulevard came down to a decision by the Dallas City Council to call it "Riverfront Drive." There has been a huge effort to honor and acknowledge our Hispanic neighbors who make up such an important part of our community by naming the street "Cesar Chavez Boulevard" in honor of one of the greatest civil rights activists in our history. Polls and surveys were taken that showed overwhelming support for the "Chavez" name. Usually what a poll or survery means is that "we want your input." At least that's what I think when someone asks me to fill out a survey. However, it was almost like a slap in the face when despite the clearly expressed support of the city's residents for the "Chavez" name, the council disregarded that and named it "Riverfront Dr." anyway. As a bone thrown to the crowd, there were some vague promises to name a building or some other "important" place after Chavez. The sad part is the council is really missing the point...the fact that they are elected to represent the greater community and that they are completely ignoring a clear message the community has sent them about a major decision they are in charge of making. They're also missing the point of how insulting their justifications for the decision sound. The DMN article says that "Leppert and others in the city are eager to give the Trinity River Corridor and particularly the land along Industrial a new image." It noted that "Craig Holcomb, a former council member and longtime member of the Trinity Commons Foundation, urged the council not to forget the years of work that have been poured into changing the Trinity from a neglected riverbed into a catalyst for new development in Dallas." So Mr. Leppert and Mr. Holcomb...just what are you implying here? Just what kind of "image" would the name "Cesar Chavez Boulevard" create that you are so opposed to? If we were talking about a street in Oak Cliff or West Dallas, would you be so concerned about "image" then? Or is that just where Cesar Chavez "belongs?"
I was really saddened by the message that this sends to the Hispanic community as well as Dallas as a whole---unless you're some kind of big money developer, your voice doesn't really matter. In DISD, unless you're one of the city's business leaders, you're not invited to the table.
So Janet, finally coming back around to your post, Obama's example is sorely needed right now. If in the midst of the biggest financial crisis in decades, in the midst of one of the messiest foreign relations scenes in history, in the midst of all America is dealing with...if in the midst of all that Obama still has the time and desire to seek and listen to the voice of the people he serves...then surely local leaders could find a way as well. Surely they could follow his example and be surprised at the genious of the ordinary people they represent...if they just took the time to listen.
Geesh Rachel! Now I'm really hoping that what I said about Obama is true. I really HOPE that he *does* listen to the voices he's soliciting.
Listening to your points (which are very relevant and very true), I wonder if even Obama will listen. As a country, as a society, do we even know how to listen any more? I really hope Obama moves us to the next level on that. I know he will change once he becomes president; he has to. But I also hope he continues moving toward change more so that the system changing him.
I think its great that Obama is valuing the ideas, insight and suggestions fron Americans from all walks of life.
I think we need to remember that he is only ONE person and he can't fix everything.
I must say I'm a little dissappointed about his recent executive orders focusing so much on abortion - I mean out of all of the first things he can do, why does it have to do with taking away the rights of the unborn. Sheesh. Even Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said Obama’s policies will increase the number of abortions. Why couldn't his first executive orders be on something like... say... helping people in crisis.
But other than that, I do think that Obama will bring the much needed change our nation is seeking.
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