Podcasts about social arsonist fred ross

In this episode I examine the second key tool organizing uses for listening, building relationships, and effecting change: the house meeting. As a form of democratic politics that begins with listening and is attentive to the experience, conditions, and stories of people where they live and work, organizing needs practices for listening well. Along with the one-to-one discussed in the previous episode, the house meeting is just such a practice and the other basic tool of community organizing. So in this episode I discuss the history of the house meeting, what it is and why it matters, how to do it, some of the issues and problems that often come up when facilitating a house meeting, how it feeds into building power, and how it contrasts with other approaches to listening and engaging people in democratic politics such as focus groups.  GuestsTim McManus has been with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) for over thirteen years now, organizing in Dallas and Phoenix before becoming the Lead Organizer for Communities Organized for Power in Action (COPA), the IAF affiliate on the Central Coast of California. He is currently building a new IAF organization in California's Central Valley.  Before becoming an organizer, he was a high school teacher.Maria Elena Manzo was born in Mexico and came to the US aged 14. She was a farmworker, going back and forth to Mexico until she was 30 after which she was able to settle in California. She has been a leader with COPA for almost 20 years and currently works as program manager for Mujeres en Acción.Resources for Going DeeperGabriel Thompson, “The Mexican Problem,” America's Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2016), Chapter 5; Aaron Schutz and Mike Miller, “Fred Ross and the House-Meeting Approach,” People Power: The Community Organizing Tradition of Saul Alinsky (Nashville: University of Vanderbilt Press, 2015), Chapter 8. 

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (University of California Press, 2016), Gabriel Thompson provides the first biography of Ross, one of the most influential, albeit virtually unknown, activists and organizers in American history. Radicalized by his experiences working with impoverished Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression and interned Japanese Americans during World War II, Ross developed an insatiable desire to stand up for those “kept out” of mainstream society. He spent the majority of his career building Latino political power across the state of California aiding in the establishment of the Community Services Organization (CSO) and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), two of the most progressive Mexican American organizations of the post-war and Civil Rights eras. Harnessing a distrust for established institutional structures and middle-class do-gooders, Ross sought to empower communities by developing community leadership from the bottom-up. Above all, Ross believed in the power of ordinary people working together to make democracy work for them. Preferring to work behind the scenes, Ross indelibly shaped the trajectory of American history as his philosophy and tactics continue to be used by community organizations, labor unions, and political campaigns to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (University of California Press, 2016), Gabriel Thompson provides the first biography of Ross, one of the most influential, albeit virtually unknown, activists and organizers in American history. Radicalized by his experiences working with impoverished Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression and interned Japanese Americans during World War II, Ross developed an insatiable desire to stand up for those “kept out” of mainstream society. He spent the majority of his career building Latino political power across the state of California aiding in the establishment of the Community Services Organization (CSO) and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), two of the most progressive Mexican American organizations of the post-war and Civil Rights eras. Harnessing a distrust for established institutional structures and middle-class do-gooders, Ross sought to empower communities by developing community leadership from the bottom-up. Above all, Ross believed in the power of ordinary people working together to make democracy work for them. Preferring to work behind the scenes, Ross indelibly shaped the trajectory of American history as his philosophy and tactics continue to be used by community organizations, labor unions, and political campaigns to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (University of California Press, 2016), Gabriel Thompson provides the first biography of Ross, one of the most influential, albeit virtually unknown, activists and organizers in American history. Radicalized by his experiences working with impoverished Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression and interned Japanese Americans during World War II, Ross developed an insatiable desire to stand up for those “kept out” of mainstream society. He spent the majority of his career building Latino political power across the state of California aiding in the establishment of the Community Services Organization (CSO) and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), two of the most progressive Mexican American organizations of the post-war and Civil Rights eras. Harnessing a distrust for established institutional structures and middle-class do-gooders, Ross sought to empower communities by developing community leadership from the bottom-up. Above all, Ross believed in the power of ordinary people working together to make democracy work for them. Preferring to work behind the scenes, Ross indelibly shaped the trajectory of American history as his philosophy and tactics continue to be used by community organizations, labor unions, and political campaigns to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (University of California Press, 2016), Gabriel Thompson provides the first biography of Ross, one of the most influential, albeit virtually unknown, activists and organizers in American history. Radicalized by his experiences working with impoverished Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression and interned Japanese Americans during World War II, Ross developed an insatiable desire to stand up for those “kept out” of mainstream society. He spent the majority of his career building Latino political power across the state of California aiding in the establishment of the Community Services Organization (CSO) and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), two of the most progressive Mexican American organizations of the post-war and Civil Rights eras. Harnessing a distrust for established institutional structures and middle-class do-gooders, Ross sought to empower communities by developing community leadership from the bottom-up. Above all, Ross believed in the power of ordinary people working together to make democracy work for them. Preferring to work behind the scenes, Ross indelibly shaped the trajectory of American history as his philosophy and tactics continue to be used by community organizations, labor unions, and political campaigns to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire.” This axiom encapsulates both the approach and dedication exhibited by Fred Ross during the five decades he spent organizing impoverished and disenfranchised communities throughout the country. In America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century (University of California Press, 2016), Gabriel Thompson provides the first biography of Ross, one of the most influential, albeit virtually unknown, activists and organizers in American history. Radicalized by his experiences working with impoverished Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression and interned Japanese Americans during World War II, Ross developed an insatiable desire to stand up for those “kept out” of mainstream society. He spent the majority of his career building Latino political power across the state of California aiding in the establishment of the Community Services Organization (CSO) and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), two of the most progressive Mexican American organizations of the post-war and Civil Rights eras. Harnessing a distrust for established institutional structures and middle-class do-gooders, Ross sought to empower communities by developing community leadership from the bottom-up. Above all, Ross believed in the power of ordinary people working together to make democracy work for them. Preferring to work behind the scenes, Ross indelibly shaped the trajectory of American history as his philosophy and tactics continue to be used by community organizations, labor unions, and political campaigns to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show #122 | Guest: Gabriel Thompson is a Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. He is the author of several books, including Working in the Shadows, and has written for Harper’s, New York, Mother Jones, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Nation. | Show Summary: Community and labor activist Fred Ross’s story remains poignant and relevant today, though he first started organizing in the 1930s. Author Gabriel Thompson joins Angie to talk about his book America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the 20th Century.