Most Activism Is Brought About By Us

To Maintain Their Power, Dominant Groups Create And Maintain A Popular System Of 'commonsense' Ideas That Support Their Right To Rule. In The United States, Hegemonic Ideologies Concerning Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality, And Nation Are Often So Pervasive That It Is Difficult To Conceptualize Alternatives To Them, Let Alone Ways Of Resisting The Social Practices That They Justify.

Despite Long-standing Claims By Elites That Blacks, Women, Latinos, And Other Similarly Derogated Groups In The United States Remain Incapable Of Producing The Type Of Interpretive, Analytical Thought That Is Labeled Theory In The West, Powerful Knowledges Of Resistance That Toppled Former Social Structures Of Social Inequality Repudiate This View. Members Of These Groups Do In Fact Theorize, And Our Critical Social Theory Has Been Central To Our Political Empowerment And Search For Justice.

Social Conditions That Spur Large Numbers Of People Into Action Are Ignored In Favor Of A Hollywood Version Of History Focusing On One Conquering Hero. Since A Movement For Social Change Is Embodied In Its Leader, Death Of The Leader Means Death Of The Movement.

A White College Student From A Private College Goes Into A Poor Neighborhood And Volunteers Four Hours A Week And That's Considered Exemplary. [whereas] A Poor Kid Who Lives In That Community And Takes Care Of All The Kids In That Neighborhood Four Hours Every Day Is Not Seen As A Volunteer.

Black Women's Feelings Of Responsibility For Nurturing The Children In Their Own Extended Family Networks Have Stimulated A More Generalized Ethic Of Care Where Black Women Feel Accountable To All The Black Community's Children.