National Economic and Social Rights Initiative Executive Director Cathy Albisa, in In These Times: “Effective human rights movements are not aimed at merely naming and shaming. They build power.”
… Today, many people may find their faith in that prophetic phrase shaken. Indeed, to many it may feel that our nation’s better angels have failed us, that our country has turned back from its path toward justice, that recent events may have actually succeeded in twisting that majestic arc toward a time of lesser freedoms, of greater fear.
But nothing, in fact, has changed yet. Yes, a new president was elected. But presidents have never been the hand that bends the arc — people, common everyday people, have. From the slave rebellions and the abolitionist movement of the 19th century, to the suffragettes and the civil rights movement of the 20th, people have fought and sacrificed to protect and expand our freedoms. While presidents, and other elected officials, have eventually embraced the moral high ground that emerged from those movements, they never led the charge. In the words of the late historian and activist Howard Zinn:
"What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but 'who is sitting in' — and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change."
In short, the arc of the moral universe is still ours to bend, and if the story of the Fair Food movement is any indication, bend it we will.
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