With Love at the Center
More than a destination, freedom is a constant struggle, a verb as well as a noun. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous assertion that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice may be true, but only if, as he demonstrated with his entire being, we organize and fight to make it so. We’re honored to be joined in conversation with Heather Booth, a Civil Rights pioneer, peace and justice activist, feminist icon, and legendary community organizer. She was an early leader of Students for a Democratic Society, participated in Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964, and was one of the founders of the pioneering clandestine abortion network, the Janes. We talk about Organizing 101, what it takes to commit to the Freedom Struggle for the long haul, and why our organizing has to be built on a moral vision—“with love at the center.”
To learn more about Heather Booth and the movements she’s been a part of, check out these documentaries Freedom On My Mind, The Janes, and Heather Booth: Changing the World
Featured Poem:
Maya Angelou, Still I Rise
Free write:
Describe the promise as well as the precariousness, the hope as well as the fear, of this precise time we’re living through. How will you, as well as your friends and neighbors, your colleagues and your comrades continue to say with confidence and power: But still I’ll rise?
Under the Tree Podcast 