After watching, The Democratic Process I really had a different view of social change and macro practice. This video mapped out the life of Alinsky and all of the things he did to contribute to social change. Alinsky graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in archeology but then went back and received a degree in criminology. He stated that most of his education came from the experience of working on the streets growing up in a Jewish ghetto community. Alinsky is widely known as a civil rights activist and his main focus was to help the poor and working class to organize them to improve their community. He was one of the first leading organizers of neighborhood citizen reform; he wanted to fix communities so individuals could gain from their community instead of suffer. Alinsky published a book titled, Reveille for Radicals. The purpose of this book was to promote community organization and explain how it is done.
Aside from Alinsky’s thoughts and beliefs on community change, he organized many campaigns. He was a large believer in the church and community coming together to promote change. One of his bigger campaigns was the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Counsel. This counsel was run by the citizens and they worked together with organizing communities. Some things that were put into place included hot meals for malnourished kids and the infant mortality rate decreased greatly. This campaign also put a lot of opportunity in place for neighborhoods in Chicago particularly jobs in the meat industry. After this campaign the Industrial Area Foundation was developed which organized new campaigns around the country for social change. Alinsky really made an impact in society with getting citizens together to promote change for all.
There were a few quotes during the film that really struck me. The first quote was said in the very beginning of the film which was, “Social justice can be done through American democracy. The only thing you will get is what you are strong enough to get.” This quote really put into perspective macro practice for me. It proves that in order for one to get what they need and what they need to put the effort forward and work hard for what they want. Individuals that do not strive for what they want and do not remain strong will not get where they picture themselves to be. It takes at least one individual to step up for change and without at least that one individual no one will be heard and change will not occur. The next quote that I really liked was, “You cannot get social justice without confronting it.” I believe that everyone deserves social justice and equal rights but oppressed groups need to be heard and stand up for what they believe in order to make society problems societies strengths. One of the discussions during this video spoke about Alinsky’s mother and her impact on him. His mother once said that, individuals are responsible for other individuals and you cannot just walk away when you do not see something right. Not everyone would agree with this statement but I am a strong believer of helping others and that is something that I enjoy doing. If you see something that does not look right and you overlook it the involved individuals could be in trouble where if you do not overlook it you could potentially be saving an individual’s life or impacting it in some way or another.
I overall enjoyed this video. I felt that it really expressed macro practice in the works and everything it took to get society on track in the 1900’s, and yet it was never as great as it could have been. It proved that it really takes one person to lead a community to step up and work towards social change. The empowerment from all of the individuals involved in the campaigns helped individuals feel what they were doing was good worth it. In order for social change to occur society needs to come together as a team and stand for what they believe the more participants the better the change outcome.
Bibliography
Hercules, B. (Director). (1999). The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky & His Legacy [Motion Picture].
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