OOTC: Who Controls the Narrative

L. Joy is back at the front of the class to continue to her discussion on narrative. She’s  exploring the political power of narrative and how the stories we tell about history, government, and ourselves shape our understanding of democracy and our willingness to participate in it. After she breaks things down at the whiteboard, she brings Dr. Karen L. Cox to the front of the class for the broader conversation.

It’s time to get vote ready. But once you get to your polling place and get your ballot, how do you decide you will cast your vote for? L. Joy is getting us prepared to vote by getting us to think through not just where and when to vote but being educated on the power of each office as well as the people running for those positions. For this conversation, she brings Judson Scanlon and Dr. Chris Jones to the front of the class.

At the top of every #SundayCivics class, L. Joy states “Civics just doesn't begin and end on Election Day,” yet, there are still folks that treat voting as the beginning and the end of democracy. This episode she helps us gain clarity on what our vote actually does and brings Rashad Robinson back to the front of the class.

Back in the Office of the Citizen, L. Joy has one last lesson for us. Today she is discussing civic philanthropy. Philanthropy, L. Joy stresses, does not belong to only wealthy individuals, large foundations, and corporations. It also is more than just charitable giving. What is it? A system that determines who receives resources, whose ideas get funded, and what community projects get to grow. To break down how philanthropy is a civic action, L. Joy brings Margarethe Laurenzi and Dwane Ashley to the front of the class.

Back in the Office of the Citizen, L. Joy brings us a lesson that examines the powerful connection between narrative, education, community, and civic power. She opens with a reflection on history, and argues that political power is shaped not only through elections, demonstrations, and public policy, but also through the stories a society chooses to teach about itself. To bring additional context to the conversation, L. Joy brings Dr. Shango Blake to the front of the class.

L. Joy opens this lesson from the Office of the Citizen with a question she posed to her social media community: Do you consider yourself middle class? Although her respective timelines were hilarious with their responses, the humor revealed that for many folks who have degrees, careers, businesses, and what was once considered high income are no longer financially secure. For this conversation about the middle class, L. Joy brings professor and author A. Mechele Dickerson to the front of the class.

L. Joy has a question for us, “what line has to be crossed before you believe action from citizens is required?” With everything from journalists being arrested, people being rounded up daily and imprisoned, civil rights violations, many things becoming unaffordable and unsafe daily, to unlawful federal actions happening in real time, nothing is normal. She reminds us that democracy cannot be preserved by waiting for the next election alone bringing this lesson to life through the frame of a keynote address she delivered on MLK Day of Service.

L. Joy is back and she has another lesson for us, the occupants of the Office of the Citizen, that is timely and important. Today’s topic: the responsibilities of the people at a time of war/global conflict and how Black political thought has long challenged people to understand freedom as a global struggle. Weaving together everything from Hip-hop culture, to Dubois, PanAfricanism, to Malcom X’s international human rights agenda, and Constitutional powers, L. Joy proves that citizens are not powerless. There is plenty of actions to be taken now. 

L. Joy is back in the Office of the Citizen and for this lesson for our next lesson. She is focusing on how propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation work as tools of political control, and how a high-speed, low-literacy information ecosystem can keep people reacting instead of organizing. To get deep into this lesson, she brings Dr. Michelle Taylor back to the front of the class.

This episode of #SundayCivics, L. Joy preps us with the syllabus for the next semester on The Office of the Citizen. In this political moment when the floor is shifting beneath our feet, we shouldn’t react in panic but with clarity. Clarity about who we are and what democracy actually asks of us as citizens, because the highest office in a democracy is The Office of the Citizen. Over the next weeks, we will learn to break down systems together so we can rewrite the rules and reclaim the office as ours.