Speed-hump victory: community organizing

Christian Century, May 20, 2008 by Scott M. Kershner

We didn't get our speed hump until November, but we did get it. Cars still move faster than we'd like on Newkirk, but they are slower than they were, and once in a while one hears an undercarriage bottom out on the hump. It was a lot of work for a small victory. But even more important than getting the hump installed are the lessons we learned in accomplishing it: si, se puede.

Since our organizing to slow the traffic on Newkirk, our group has expanded beyond the parishes of Flatbush and East Flatbush to include churches--and now a synagogue and a mosque, and hopefully more in the future--across the borough. Our platform includes issues of affordable housing, education, economic equity, youth--especially job training and readiness programs--and immigrants and immigration policy. As the organization grows, we have become better equipped to address broader policy concerns. However, whatever we take on, we will never stray far from the skills used and lessons learned in acquiring our little speed hump. Organizing stubbornly insists that all human beings can be agents in shaping their world, whether one wants slower traffic in the neighborhood or immigration reform for the country.

Scott M. Kershner is pastor of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn.