The Wisdom of the People

WHILE THOSE IN POWER DECRY THE IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE, WE DISAGREE AND CLAIM THAT WHEN PEOPLE ORGANIZE TOGETHER TO BETTER THEIR COMMUNITIES, WORKPLACES, AND POLITICS, YOU SEE THE KNOWLEDGE AND TRUE GENIUS OF EVERYDAY PEOPLE ON GLORIOUS DISPLAY.

I’ll never forget the time we were organizing in the New City/Englewood neighborhood on the southside of Chicago against a chrome-plating business that had been poisoning the primarily Black and Brown neighbors on the blocks surrounding the plant for many years with noxious odors and toxic chemicals emanating from the plant.

We had been meeting in a member’s backyard with the regional official from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and presented him with evidence and testimony from the people in the community about the many cases of asthma and other cardio-pulmonary diseases that were rampant in the neighborhood and a demand that the EPA stop the company from pumping poisons throughout the community.

The official kept insisting that we were mistaken, ignorant of the harmless chemicals that were being released – this despite our evidence and attempts to educate him about the poisons and illnesses the neighbors had to endure. Neighbors had heard a pump on the plant’s roof thumping each day, emitting white, noxious clouds to drift through the neighborhood, triggering all kinds of allergic reactions to the carcinogens.

But the official kept telling us we were mistaken, that he’d already spoken with the company, checked their records, and they assured him that they were doing no such thing.

Just as he was winding up his denials, telling us why we were wrong for the umpteenth time, those assembled in the backyard heard the pump start on the factory roof next door, loudly thumping, and a large white cloud descended from the roof of the factory onto the assembled neighbors.

The EPA official, in mid-sentence, began coughing furiously, and, bent over at the waist, clutching a handkerchief to his nose, retreated with the assembled neighbors to the front yard to avoid the cloud.

Only after they insisted, did he finally go around the block to the front door of the factory and accompany the irate neighbors into the offices of the plant manager, demanding action.

The EPA finally did cite the company for polluting the neighborhood and demand that they cease and desist – once again, proving that the people knew more than the experts, and when they organize together, armed with the wisdom and genius they possess, it is a truly glorious thing.