Real democratic change must come from grassroots action, not parties or Washington

Evidence

The remaking of America will not happen inside the Beltway. Too many there have too much invested in the status quo. A more robust idea of government will not emerge from the current political parties. Both are beholden to big money. Substantive change will have to come from us. Or, as the great civil rights leader Ella Baker said, “we are the leaders we’ve been looking for”—a model of leadership that scares the hell out of the Reverend Sharpton. We will have to challenge the status quo in the streets and at the ballot box. In short, it will take a full-blown democratic awakening to enact this revolution. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 521

Categorization

• XREF: Ella Baker’s ‘leaders we’ve been looking for’ echoes Fannie Lou Hamer and SNCC traditions; resonates with the theory of the trap that chapter eight promises.