Social Justice - Ernesto Cortes Jr.

Thirty years ago, you could see the power of community organizing on display almost every day in the streets of almost every major American city. It was at work in demonstrations for many causes. It took the form of marches, sit-ins, teach-ins, boycotts, and rallies. But those days of mass activism and public participation have largely faded. If you want to see the face of community organizing today, you need to go to a place like Occidental College, a small liberal-arts school in Los Angeles, and visit Professor Peter Dreier's public-policy class. The attendance at this morning's session has swollen to nearly twice its normal size. Extra chairs line the walls, and visitors -- students, as well as local activists and community organizers -- are packed on couches at the back of the room. They've all come to hear guest speaker Ernesto Cortés Jr. talk about his methods for community organizing, a vocation that has earned him a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant as well as a Heinz Award.

His visit has generated the kind of excitement that Michael Dell might bring to a business school or that a talk by Spike Lee might inspire among film students. And justifiably so. Cortés has been a successful community organizer longer than the students in the room have been alive. His accomplishments alone would hold the class's attention, but Cortés, who is five-foot-seven and heavyset, also has a commanding if quiet presence. His expression is unreadable, and that inscrutability gives him an air of menace, like a storm gathering. He's not averse to using his gruff manner and rumbling voice to intimidate -- whether it's to bully a politician or to incite an organizer. It's a tactic that is on display during this class.

When one woman asks him to explain how he "motivates" people to support a cause with actions as well as words, the storm rolls in. Cortés can scarcely conceal his impatience. "Perhaps I prejudge you unfairly," he begins, "but when I hear your question, what I think you're really saying is, 'How can I convince people to do what's good? How do I get them to do what's right? How do I get them to follow my agenda?' " He pauses, frowning. "That's not organizing. What I mean by organizing is getting you to recognize what's in your best interest. Getting you to recognize that you have a child, that you have a career and a life to lead, and that there are some things that are obstacles to the quality of your life. I need to get you to see how you can affect those things through relationships with other people. And it's only going to happen if you engage in some kind of struggle."

He pauses to let it all sink in. "We organize people not just around issues, but around their values," he says. "The issues fade, and people lose interest in them. But what they really care about remains: family, dignity, justice, and hope. We need power to protect what we value."

The confrontational style and almost accusatory tone of his remarks shock a few students. But Cortés did not become the most effective grassroots organizer in the nation by being predictable or polite. For almost three decades, Cortés has been the Southwest regional director of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the largest and oldest institution for community organizing in the United States. For nearly 60 years, the IAF has trained ordinary people to band together to become a powerful political voice and to solve problems in their communities. Texas has the strongest IAF presence, with 12 IAF-affiliated organizations -- coalitions of mostly Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish congregations, along with public schools and other interest groups. Over the past three decades, the IAF network that Cortés has helped cultivate has been responsible for more than $1 billion worth of sewers, sidewalks, parks, clinics, streetlights, and other infrastructure improvements in poor neighborhoods in San Antonio alone, with another $1 billion worth of improvements carried out along the Mexican-American border. And it has successfully pushed for the construction of tens of thousands of new housing units. The IAF network has persuaded cities, counties, and school districts in the Southwest to pass living-wage laws, has developed long-term job-training programs in that area, and has been an effective force in Texas education reform.

But Cortés's goal is not specific reform; it is to teach the powerless to participate in public life. "We used to ask whether people were fit for democracy," he explains. "Now we realize that people become fit through democracy. There is an aspect of our humanity that only emerges when we engage those around us in a debate about our own interests. Our organizations have become mini universities for participating in public life."