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who were only one or two generations removed from this world. Although many of the
members were Latinos and came from poor backgrounds, they were also, for the most part,
college educated and had stable jobs. They were middle-class, college educated and largely
childless. To them, the world of community members was the world of their mothers and
fathers, tios and tias, abuelas and abuelos. Although many were so close demographically to
these working class people, there was a profound social distance between these members and
the community members. As one participant said of a community member, “He’s very
different from us.” Although possibly presumptuous of me, I often felt that I – a middle class,
suburban white male from Missouri – had more in common with these members than they
had with the community members they were organizing. As Monica brought up in a Winston
St. meeting:
“I think at first we felt that we didn’t want to overwhelm them [the community
members]. That we have a lot of privilege to be at all of these meetings, and they have
invested commitment and made changes. These people have kids, and some of them
work two jobs and others get up at five am, and we are here at what? Eleven [pm]. We
are privileged. I mean, they said we are going to have meetings on Fridays because
many don’t have to get up early on Saturdays. They told us that, that ‘The meetings are
on Fridays, can you make it?’ These families are invested in the [housing]
commission.”
Participants saw themselves as privileged and different from those in the community, yet they
wanted to become a part of it.
Thus activism was a political liability. Organizers perceived activists as impeding the
integration of these organizations with “the community.” Participants at both groups
frequently reported that community members felt alienated and unwelcome at both Winston
St. and the Unity Center. Organizers thought that community members thought that activists
were different for having strange political views . . . or even strange facial hair – as one
example shows. Geraldo said at a Unity Center meeting, when speaking about the garden
committee, which worked with “the community”:
Convention