Category Archives: Community Organizing

Sophie Scholl

Sophie Scholl (1921-1943, Germany)

Nominated for: a founding member of the non-violent anti-Nazi resistance group The White Rose, which advocated for active resistance to Hitler’s regime through an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. In February of 1943, she and other members were arrested for handing out leaflets at the University of Munich and sentenced to death by guillotine. 

“Stand up for what you believe in even if you are standing alone” ― Sophie Scholl
 
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
― Sophie Scholl
 

For more information: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/scholl.html 

Alicia Garza

Alicia Garza

Alicia Garza

Nominated for: being a community organizer and helping organizations build capacity to fight for social justice, dignity and fairness for workers; and against environmental racism & gentrification. She is one of the co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter, a call to action after the death of Trayvon Martin.

For more information: http://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/29813-building-movements-without-shedding-differences-alicia-garza

Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg

Nominated for: Transgender and labor rights activism.

Quotes: “Everybody’s scared, but if you don’t let your fears stop you, that’s bravery!”

“We are pitted against each other in order to keep us from seeing each other as allies. Genuine bonds of solidarity can be forged between people who respect each other’s differences and are willing to fight their enemy together. We are the class that does the work of the world, and can revolutionize it. We can win true liberation.”

For more information: http://www.transgenderwarrior.org/

Mother Jones

Mother Jones

Mother Jones

Nominated For: being a fierce labor organizer and fighter for the working class in the early days of the movement, when such activities could very easily get you killed. She strove especially hard for miners and to abolish child labor.
Frequently arrested for her hell-raising ways, she was once in court when objections were raised to the defendants’ profanity-laced testimony. When called out by the judge she said:
“Why, Judge,” Mother Jones said, “That’s how working people pray.”
“Do *you* pray that way, Mother?” the Judge asked.
“When I want an answer in a hurry, I do!” she replied.

Quotes: “Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living!”
“I have been in jail more than once and I expect to go again. If you are too cowardly to fight, I will fight.”

For more information: http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Mother-Jones-1837-1930