A New World is Possible... Possibly: Notes on the USSF

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By Kari H.N. Fulton

On July 27, 2007 I grabbed my registration badge and entered the confusing world of progressives. Across the Atlanta area workshops were held on every cause you could imagine. I just began working for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative and was interested in finding out ways to build a successful campaign. What I found was that there were millions of people ready to bring positive change into the world but were too caught up in their own misery to find a way.

But who could blame them. Workshop after workshop dealt with the systematic injustices caused by the United States government. Survivors of Hurrican Katrina are dying because of the tozins and pollutants left in the aftermath of the storm. As they lie dying, their hometown is being sold off to the highest coporate bidder. I cringe as I think of standing in their pain, but then I think of the original inhabitants of the land and the pain they must have felt when the land was first stolen. My question is answered easily by the looks of discontent on the faces of their descendents. While listening to their stories I realized there are people even more pissed off than black folk.

The plethora of problems were all made clear at the USSF but the solutions seemed to slip everyone's mind. On the last day I stuffed the comment boxes with my thoughts on the forum's lack of real productivity. I left Altanta wondering, what was the purpose of this long sermon to the choir known as the USSF? But as I stepped off the plane I began to look at my DC world with fresh eyes. People I disregarded by rule of city mentality became vibrantly grey. They existed again and I realized what an experience I was blessed to have had. I needed that frustration so I could go back home and see again. I needed to quench my revolution with this truth because quite frankly, I was getting a little parched.