Change is difficult. At this time I’m dealing with a plea to Quakers for significant change, this time to support Indigenous peoples and decolonial repair.
As the infographic below illustrates,, the two paths to justice are:
- Immediatism, or
- Gradualism
Although it took many months of seeking what I was led to do about registering for the draft, once I had my answer, I immediately returned my draft cards.
I’ve often shared my story about being horrified by the foul air when I moved to Indianapolis in the early 1970’s. This was before catalytic converters. As an environmental witness, during my entire adult life in Indianapolis I never owned a car. This is an example of the concept of immediatism, i.e. to immediately respond when you find yourself involved in injustice.
When we finally figured out that the permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline across the border with Canada represented an opportunity to confront the fossil fuel industry, we immediately organized and trained people to resist nonviolently.
When I learned about the assassination of one of the activists in the Atlanta forest, trying to stop the destruction of the forest in order to build a massive police training facility, I immediately connected with local activists who were holding demonstrations in support of No Cop City.
As I learned more about colonization of this country and the intergeneration harms related to that, I immediately began to look for ways to work for decolonization. That led to connections with Sikowis Nobiss and the Great Plains Action Society.
These acts often created a conflict with my Quaker meeting in Iowa. The meeting is in a rural setting where there is no public transportation available. Farm work depends upon tractors and other equipment. Police violence did not occur there. I had to learn to calibrate the ways I tried to get Friends involved.
This dynamic is at work today as I try to get people to adopt the NewCO (new conscientious objector) framework for justice work. Immediately, not gradually.
A comparison of immediatism versus gradualism
NOTE: you’ll need to move the scroll bars to see the complete table
