Pictured Left to Right: Myself, Bob Zellner, Al McSurely
It was Friday night when I sat down at a countertop with
Bob Zellner and
Al McSurely, who would be my roommates for the weekend.
In many ways, it was humbling and awesome; listening to Bob & Al talk about the stories they knew, the wins and the losses, the struggle, the hope and the goals they had for the future. Bob sat down in an open room, and we talked about how age and the fight was hard; but not as hard as giving up. His feet had blisters abound, a calloused heel and worn shoes. But Bob wasn't prepared to give up his fight for what he believed was justice. In this case, after the Daily Kos event, he would begin to work again for medicaid expansion and to bring healthcare to rural residents.
Bob's story on Friday night and my conversations Saturday night and Sunday morning with Al will be what I remember most from Asheville, because they told the story of our country in a matter of determination, of change, of acceptance and hope. They asked a lot of us; and so did Reverend Barber. What the asked was simple: be a giant killer. What they offered was a vision of the future: with wins or losses, we are men who have lived our life knowing that we have left on this earth more friends and hope than we started.
Now they ask Daily Kos, directly: follow in our foot steps.
Friday Mid-day, Reverend Barber came to the St. James AME Church, and delivered an address to the members of Daily Kos and the community. His address talked of the past and the future, of hope and fear and it ended with a challenge: What if? Daily Kos bloggers were prepared to be the town crier who brought attention to the issues that matter while others seemingly don't care?
Daily Kos Staff member Egberto Williams covered this to great extent in his incredible diary on the need for alternative media. The Reverend Barber pointed out: they had hosted a rally of 100,000, and the news media wouldn't put them "above the fold". When the death of a minister occurred in South Carolina in a church shooting, they were asked to "stay quiet" and below the fold. Now, he argued, is not the time to be afraid, it is not the time to be meek, it is the time to deliver that message. His challenge was clear. His closing message summed it up for me:
Like Dr. King, at the end of the march to Montgomery, let our cry be there aint nobody going to turn us around. Like Nelson Mandela in the midst of apartheid, let us remind ourselves everyday it always seems impossible until it is done. And so, Denise & Carmen, if you want to do something, I have an imagination. What if we hooked up together and had a radical revolution of values tour of revival all over the south and a few other states in the middle. And what if Daily Kos helped us pull this. What if we pulled this off? What if we found 10 states with the worst records on voting rights and labor and living wages and child poverty and health care, and criminal justice reform, and we get those 10 states to agree to a whole month of Moral Mondays in March of 2016? In the middle of the election, and we change the narrative of this country? And what if Daily Kos decided to become this generations Baruch?
I believe we can change the heart of this nation.
I had time to talk about this with Bob & Al Friday night, and again during the day Saturday. Too often people say: this is difficult. This is really hard. But Bob Zellner was someone who understood what hard and difficult was, and yet, he worked through the social pressures upon him to do the right thing.
Many states that are traditionally Republican work this way. We grow up in conservative, religious households. And for many it takes a life event or a challenge to make us re-evaluate our views, the things we know and believe. It's rough when Republicans decide to become a Democrat. Or work with Democrats. Or espouse Democratic views. Very few understand that the way that Bob does.
http://moralheroes.org/...
From a family line of KKK members, Bob Zellner became one of the first white southerners to engage in the early civil rights movement. He organized sit-ins, rallies, investigations and speeches from Missouri to Massachusetts. Along his journey, Zellner was insulted, violently attacked, beaten unconscious, and arrested over 18 times. Yet even now in his 70’s, Bob stands fast for democracy, equality and justice.
Zellner’s story starts about as far as you can get from where he has ended up. He was born into the family of a Methodist preacher and school teacher on April 5, 1939. His father, uncles and grandfather were robe wearing members of the Ku Klux Klan. However, Bob’s childhood took a unique turn when he was quite young. Bob’s father, James traveled to Europe to help support the Jewish underground during the Nazi occupation. Isolated from English speakers for months, Bob’s father stumbled across a group of black gospel singers who were also supporting the Jewish underground. As they lived, encouraged and worked together as equals throughout the Russian winter, James realized that the racist beliefs he was raised with were no longer beliefs he wished to hold. When Bob’s father returned he split from the KKK and chose to raise his children outside of the KKK influence.
Bob's perspective was unique, and his stories at the event were unique as well. He comes from a perspective of change. He knew of people who had been longtime advocates of a group like the KKK who had that realization in their life that they were wrong, and to move to become a backbone of support for progressive causes. This is the story of all movements, Bob told me. It isn't a matter of maintaining, it is a matter of growing who is with you; and if we can move people to think outside of fear and indoctrination to hope and concerns of the future, they can become the force of not just supporters, but the backbone of change in our nation.
What we don't have now, Al told me, was an active press purpose in the statehouses. "People have absolutely no idea what is going on in their state house, because our media won't talk about it.. you can't get them to cover it." He's right.
Many use Daily Kos as a way to communicate, to tackle big issues, national goals, senators and elections. I admit, I have used Daily Kos for years with a single purpose: to highlight legislation and the action within our legislatures, Missouri and Kansas. I do so not because I'm particularly good at it - trust me, there are far better writers than I - but I do it because without it, I don't always know if anyone will talk about a story at all.
They aren't all Rec-listable diaries. A legislative plan to end rural phone service in Kansas. A plan in Missouri to strip cities of local control. Sometimes they are; Ferguson comes to mind, a plan in Missouri to change policing.
Saturday morning, I had Reverend Barber's thoughts in my mind as we made breakfast and began our day. MSNBC was on. We talked about the future of North Carolina, South Carolina and the NAACP. "I can tell you what you writers at Daily Kos can do. I've got one for you." Said Al. "Go to the legislature. Go. Just one day. Find someone to go. We used to have statehouse reporters from half the papers in the state. Now we have none. The TV networks don't come. Can you do that? Someone needs to do that."
I thought about this a lot this weekend. Two giants shared my roof for a few days and asked very little. What they asked was what Reverend Barber asked. Don't buy into the sensational story. "I love Bernie Sanders," said Bob, "But if people knew what bastards represented them here in North Carolina we could beat some of them."
The reasoning was simple, "Most of the damage is being done in our statehouses" noted Reverend Barber. But as Al, Bob & The Reverend pointed out, too many in our states don't know those people, they are elected as strangers with little to define them. They are faceless representatives because the press has retreated.
Egberto talks about the need for an alternative media to raise attention on national issues that go under reported. Al, Bob & Reverend Barber talked about the need for an alternative voice - specifically named as Daily Kos - to spend more of our time talking about our state houses. From North Carolina to Utah, from Maine to New Mexico, Louisiana to North Dakota.
If no one tells that story, no one will ever really know. If you come to Daily Kos in hopes of finding yourself stuck to the Rec list, or you write as a goal to talk about your national candidate it is fine. I am glad of those topics.
But we are the gatekeepers, the last gasp of accountability, the citizens who are tasked with a duty from those who came before us. That task is simple: spend some time talking about your state, about your community, about your city, about your county.
Everyone can get the national story from most major news sources. But if you want to let people know what is going on in your statehouse, you may not only be the only person on Daily Kos talking about it, you may find yourself one of the only people in your state talking about it.
What if, says Reverend Barber, you could be the Baruch of your generation? What if, he asks, Daily Kos could be the truth teller. What if, he notes, we could bravely convert those into allies who opposed us, and get them to voice fear.
Bob Zellner sat down on Sunday in our dining room, looking down at his feet. A blister boiled up that had bothered him all weekend. But he would have more than 121 miles of walking ahead of him in the next few weeks to talk to people, even those who hated his position, about medicaid expansion. He's 77.
"I'll live" he said with a smile. We went to their vehicle, and I wished them well. "It's up to you guys now to do something" said Al.
I'm asking members of Daily Kos: are you ready to do something? Are you prepared to be that voice in the wilderness, a leader, a broadcaster? Their are no more town criers in America anymore. Small town print papers are dead or dying.
Hillel the Elder once said: "If I am not for myself who is for me? And being for my own self, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?"
You may be the only person who can speak for yourself and your way of life. Progressive giants and giant killers still walk the world. I spent a weekend with them. They ask of you very little. Are you willing to help heed their call? Not to help them, but to help your state, your friends, your family, and your future?
I'm asking something else: With the world filling with giant conservative talking heads and think tanks and money magnates, I'm asking you to be Giant Killers. Are you in?