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Okay so a gay high school student named Darnell "Dynasty" Young was getting bullied in my city and got suspended (in fact, I think he faces expulsion) because he brought a taser to school with him that he got from his mother because he was apparently afraid he'd need it! So he gets suspended, natch.
People who are not monsters are upset about this, because maybe if IPS did jack shit about the problem, he and his family wouldn't feel like he had nobody to protect him but himself. This is correct, in my opinion.
The problem is that someone I know who likes to have his name on shit decided to organize an action at a school board meeting a week from now and only after I'm like "hey are there organizations like Indiana Youth Group that are doing stuff that we should be supporting?" and then I find out that the dude's apparently had a few phone conversations with the IYG ExecDirector and is doing this on their behalf BUT DIDN'T MENTION THEM ON THE ORGANIZING PAGE.
Because that's not relevant information at all, right? Their participation is so trivial that he doesn't even need to tell anybody he called them. BAD SIGN.
So I am like, "Hey guys. Maybe the organization for LGBT teens should be the heart of this because it's about an LGBT teen. Maybe we should find out what they want by way of support before we try to offer it so that we do right things." An action on behalf of an LGBT teen without LGBT teens or people who've been LGBT teens is doomed to eventual failure because it failed at the start to empower the people WITHIN the movement that the movement seeks to empower overall.
Organizer guy: "...Oh. Yeah, we should do that."
Immediate response from other people: "Oh, hey! I didn't see anything about IYG. If this is an IYG thing, I'm in."
Me: =D
I have time, money, and no small number of ideas and a reasonable pile of organizing experience to offer, but if IYG is going to be a focus or beneficiary of this work, I refuse to treat them like they need this done for them. This is their fight; I'm just a resource. I'm willing to offer time, money, and organizing experience, but there is no reason why an action focused on the lives of LGBT teens should be entirely comprised of adult-aged straight people. Even if the guy who wants his name on this shit is right that they're geared toward offering programs and not political action, that still doesn't mean it's our job to do this for them and then offer them involvement.
Maybe this is just because I'm a canvasser, but just because someone doesn't know what to do doesn't mean they're useless and should just sit down and be grateful that someone else will handle it. It just means that they need some options to choose from and an opportunity to suggest new ones. We may know politics (though including this guy in that categorization is pretty generous considering how he conducted himself during Occupation stuff), but they know themselves. In what universe does this mean they're unable to contribute unless the middle-aged straight cisman makes calls and hands them a political action?
So I don't fuckin' know. Hopefully that thinking has been derailed early enough that something good will actually get organized with input from the organization in our city that exists to provide a support system for LGBT teens. I'm hoping that pointing out the GODDAMN OBVIOUS FACT that these are the people who best know the needs of the community we're trying to help has cut this shit down early enough, but I don't know. I'm going to keep an eye on it.
I knew that this happened, but I've never seen it in these early stages before. I know where it's headed because I've seen what this turns into, but wow. Never seen how it begins before. This is ridiculous. I just can't believe that he thought IYG's involvement was such a trivial matter that it wasn't even worth mentioning, but that he's doing this "on their behalf." Then, um. Why didn't you invite any of them to this discussion? O_o
People who are not monsters are upset about this, because maybe if IPS did jack shit about the problem, he and his family wouldn't feel like he had nobody to protect him but himself. This is correct, in my opinion.
The problem is that someone I know who likes to have his name on shit decided to organize an action at a school board meeting a week from now and only after I'm like "hey are there organizations like Indiana Youth Group that are doing stuff that we should be supporting?" and then I find out that the dude's apparently had a few phone conversations with the IYG ExecDirector and is doing this on their behalf BUT DIDN'T MENTION THEM ON THE ORGANIZING PAGE.
Because that's not relevant information at all, right? Their participation is so trivial that he doesn't even need to tell anybody he called them. BAD SIGN.
So I am like, "Hey guys. Maybe the organization for LGBT teens should be the heart of this because it's about an LGBT teen. Maybe we should find out what they want by way of support before we try to offer it so that we do right things." An action on behalf of an LGBT teen without LGBT teens or people who've been LGBT teens is doomed to eventual failure because it failed at the start to empower the people WITHIN the movement that the movement seeks to empower overall.
Organizer guy: "...Oh. Yeah, we should do that."
Immediate response from other people: "Oh, hey! I didn't see anything about IYG. If this is an IYG thing, I'm in."
Me: =D
I have time, money, and no small number of ideas and a reasonable pile of organizing experience to offer, but if IYG is going to be a focus or beneficiary of this work, I refuse to treat them like they need this done for them. This is their fight; I'm just a resource. I'm willing to offer time, money, and organizing experience, but there is no reason why an action focused on the lives of LGBT teens should be entirely comprised of adult-aged straight people. Even if the guy who wants his name on this shit is right that they're geared toward offering programs and not political action, that still doesn't mean it's our job to do this for them and then offer them involvement.
Maybe this is just because I'm a canvasser, but just because someone doesn't know what to do doesn't mean they're useless and should just sit down and be grateful that someone else will handle it. It just means that they need some options to choose from and an opportunity to suggest new ones. We may know politics (though including this guy in that categorization is pretty generous considering how he conducted himself during Occupation stuff), but they know themselves. In what universe does this mean they're unable to contribute unless the middle-aged straight cisman makes calls and hands them a political action?
So I don't fuckin' know. Hopefully that thinking has been derailed early enough that something good will actually get organized with input from the organization in our city that exists to provide a support system for LGBT teens. I'm hoping that pointing out the GODDAMN OBVIOUS FACT that these are the people who best know the needs of the community we're trying to help has cut this shit down early enough, but I don't know. I'm going to keep an eye on it.
I knew that this happened, but I've never seen it in these early stages before. I know where it's headed because I've seen what this turns into, but wow. Never seen how it begins before. This is ridiculous. I just can't believe that he thought IYG's involvement was such a trivial matter that it wasn't even worth mentioning, but that he's doing this "on their behalf." Then, um. Why didn't you invite any of them to this discussion? O_o
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Date: 2012-05-07 10:52 am (UTC)From:Ally 101 right there :(