Courage in Motion: Activists and Organizers Who Move Communities (January 8–14).
This week honors movement builders, justice seekers, and community organizers who turned dreams into fierce, tireless action. If last week was about the revolutionary power to see what is “yet to be,” this week is about the courage required to move toward it. Organizing is the practice of taking that single thought and giving it hands, feet, and a megaphone. It is the realization that while a dream can begin in the quiet of the self, it can only be realized through the strength of the many.
The Labor of the Long Haul
Movement building is rarely a single, cinematic moment of triumph. It is the steady, often quiet work of the “long haul.” We look to Bayard Rustin the brilliant strategist who organized the March on Washington while navigating the intersections of his identity as a Black gay man. Rustin’s life reminds us that organizing is an act of coordination and immense discipline, a way to channel collective frustration into a singular, undeniable force for change.
The power of Rustin’s leadership was most visible in his mentorship of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
While Dr. King had studied Gandhi in seminary, he had not yet committed to total nonviolence as a way of life. When Rustin arrived in Montgomery in 1956, he famously found guns in King’s home for self defense. Raised in the Religious Society of Friends, Rustin’s Quaker-informed pacifism was so deeply rooted that he had served prison time as a conscientious objector. It was Rustin who convinced King to remove those weapons, arguing that “one cannot lead a nonviolent movement while carrying the tools of violence.”
This intersection of faith and strategy changed the course of history. It reminds us that courage in motion is also Ella Baker empowering ordinary people to recognize their own power, and Dolores Huerta standing on the front lines for farmworkers’ rights. It is the tireless advocacy of Marsha P. Johnson who knew that liberation is not a gift given by the powerful, but a right claimed by the marginalized. These organizers show us that dreaming is the spark, but the disciplined work of community is the fuel.
“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.” — Bayard Rustin
Reflection: In our community, we are the organizers of our own future. How are we moving together? Let us know who has challenged you to align your actions more closely with your values.
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