Jim Grisanzio

“To change society we have to transform ourselves. All the evil is not on the other side.” Grace Lee Boggs

Grace Lee Boggs is still out there building communities. She’s 95. And she builds in Detroit. One of the toughest cities in the United States. So, no excuses. Get going. There’s work to do. Also, her new book came out recently: The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for The Twenty-first Century. In this interview discussing the book on The Take Away (audio/video) she talks about where Detroit is right now:

“Detroit is a fantastic city. It has a historical and sociological meaning that few other cities have. It was at one time the symbol, national and international, of the miracles of industrialization. And then it became the symbol, national and international, of the devastation of deindustrialization. And now people come from all over the world to see how people at the grass roots are growing their own food, bringing the neighbor back into the hood, taking care of each other, and beginning to create a kind of community that was not possible during the years when there were lots of jobs and when industry was expanding. So it’s a whole new way of looking at life in the future.”

Note that last bit: She’s talking about Detroit as a model for life in the future. Stop. Think about that for a moment. Where does your mind focus? Although Grace recognizes the massive problems in the city she also sees opportunities in deindustrialization where others only see a mess left over from capital flight. More clips from Grace here, here, here, here, here, here.

Image: Tokyo, Japan, 2010