NC Grievance Organizing Lessons Learned
Last summer, around June, I ordered several copies of the North Carolina Grievance petition from MIM, then had copies made and sent out. Then I announced to the block how to use the petition forms as a solution to our grievances not being answered. The forms were then distributed in the block, door-to-door in our segregated dorm. Sadly some papers were heard being ripped up as soon as they entered the cell. I challenged the chicken-shits to reveal themselves, to no avail. The remaining forms were distributed in other blocks. It wasn’t long before I realized hardly anyone would use the forms.
A couple weeks later my neighbor mentions the petition during a conversation with someone else and was telling the guy, “the police gave it to him, he saving it to the day he need to file a grievance so he could attach it to the grievance.” Translation: he has no idea how to use the petition.
Other than some people being lazy and others just don’t care, this is what I learned:
- I can’t assume we are all convicts
- Gather participants first and speak to each of them to confirm their ambitions
- Write directions on top of the form, where to send it, such as “send to address on last page or which ever office/dept you’re trying to target”
- Sometimes an orchestrator may need to influence members to participate
Close fist, Panther struggle
