@DrMikeRobinson One of the most critical aspects of community activism and advocacy is a willingness to cement your efforts for change in writing. Advocacy is by nature a road map for future generations to follow and move the cause further; when an advocate pens their work, their passion, and their mission for a change or a cause, it leaves a powerful message for then and later.
A willingness to chronicle your work as an advocate serves to ensure your voice is heard in an unfiltered manner. By writing, you as the advocate have placed a marker in history, one with the boundless potential to be used, quoted, and cited in advocacy work for generations. Using media platforms such as TV, Zoom, and Podcast, for example, provides another layer of access to your audience. Still, they do not lend themselves often to the scholarly research used when attempting to understand the sociological aspects in the study of communities.
Do you recall the images you saw in your mind and heart as you read Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"? Scholars have cited the Letter as one of the most powerful moments in the civil rights movement. Many believe this changing narrative moment would not have been as decisive had it been a video or an audio recording. The Letter from Birmingham Jail is required reading in the study of the civil rights era. It chronicles a moment in the life of a civil rights icon.
While not every advocate will become the icon of their moment, by sharing their efforts in writing they help place historical markers regarding the efforts for change. There is and will always be a place for visual and audio storytelling of advocates' work, but the written work is where scholars and researchers begin their journeys to understand and learn.
To the Advocates out there, fight on and write on!
A willingness to chronicle your work as an advocate serves to ensure your voice is heard in an unfiltered manner. By writing, you as the advocate have placed a marker in history, one with the boundless potential to be used, quoted, and cited in advocacy work for generations. Using media platforms such as TV, Zoom, and Podcast, for example, provides another layer of access to your audience. Still, they do not lend themselves often to the scholarly research used when attempting to understand the sociological aspects in the study of communities.
Do you recall the images you saw in your mind and heart as you read Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"? Scholars have cited the Letter as one of the most powerful moments in the civil rights movement. Many believe this changing narrative moment would not have been as decisive had it been a video or an audio recording. The Letter from Birmingham Jail is required reading in the study of the civil rights era. It chronicles a moment in the life of a civil rights icon.
While not every advocate will become the icon of their moment, by sharing their efforts in writing they help place historical markers regarding the efforts for change. There is and will always be a place for visual and audio storytelling of advocates' work, but the written work is where scholars and researchers begin their journeys to understand and learn.
To the Advocates out there, fight on and write on!