Myrtle Thompson Curtis

The Next American Revolution: From Race & Class to Visionary Organizing

With the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the emerging movements for liberation of the 1960’s the United States entered a revolutionary period. Today the only question is will revolutionary or counter revolutionary forces set the direction for our future? The experiences in Detroit offer new ways for us to think about why our choices matter and how we can create advanced, growing centers of power based on principles of transformation, sustainability and love. We emphasize our lessons from the rebellions of 1967 that a revolution is for the advancement of human kind and from Dr. King’s challenge to create a radical revolution in values against racism, militarism and materialism. We also explore what we have learned through the most recent experience of neoliberalism and austerity politics as racialized capital has assaulted our city through bankruptcy, limiting democracy, massive water shut offs, home foreclosures, and accelerated privatization of public responsibilities. We invite participants to share ideas as we grapple with questions of What does it mean to be human? What does self-governing democracy look like? How do we create a country and communities where interdependence is more importance than independence and where belonging is essential to inclusion and sustainability? How do we learn to think dialectically as we create new centers of power? How do we unleash our imaginations? As Grace Boggs said, “I don’t know what the next American revolution is going to be like, but we might be able to imagine it if your imagination were rich enough.”

Speakers: Kim Sherobbi, Myrtle Thompson Curtis