I saw an interview with her on our local PBS station a few weeks ago and was blown away by her story and was disappointed that I didn't know of her sooner, being Chinese myself an all.
Thanks for the link though, -marina Greg Earle wrote: > Does anyone subscribe to Harper's Magazine? > > http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/0081594 > > A friend forwarded this excerpt: > > "... inside that stockade of racial divide and urban decay are > visionaries, > and their visions are tender, hopeful, and green. Grace Lee Boggs, at > ninety-one, has been political active in the city for more than half a > century. Born in Providence to Chinese immigrant parents, she got > a Ph.D. > in philosophy from Bryn Mawr in 1940 and was a classical Marxist > when she > married the labor organizer Jimmy Boggs, in 1953. That an Asian woman > married to a Black man could become a powerful force was just another > wrinkle in the racial politics of Detroit. Indeed, her thinking > evolved > along with the radical politics of the city itself. During the 1960s, > the Boggses were dismissive of Martin Luther King Jr. and ardent about > Black Power, but as Grace acknowledged when we sat down together in > her > big shady house in the central city, ``The Black Power movement, > which was > very powerful here, concentrated only on power and had no concept > of the > challenges that would face a Black-powered administration.'' When > Coleman > Young took over City Hall, she said, he could start fixing racism > in the > Police department and the Fire department, "but when it came time > to do > something about Henry Ford and General Motors, he was helpless. We > thought that all we had to do was transform the system, that all the > problems were on the other side." > > ... > > When she and Jimmy crusaded against Young's plans to rebuild the city > around casinos, they realized they had to come up with real > alternatives, > and they began to think about what a local, sustainable economy would > look like. > > They had already begun to realize that Detroit's lack of > participation in > the mainstream offered an opportunity to do everything differently > -- that > instead of retreating back to a better relationship to Capitalism, to > industry, and to the mainstream, the city could move forward, turn its > liabilities into assets, and create an economy entirely apart from the > trans-national webs of corporations and petroleum. > > Jimmy Boggs described his alternative vision in a 1988 speech at the > First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Detroit. "We have to get > rid of > the myth that there is something sacred about large-scale > production for > the national and international market," he said. "We have to begin > thinking of creating small enterprises which produce food, goods, and > services for the local market, that is, for our communities and for > our > city ... In order to create these new enterprises, we need a view > of our > city which takes into consideration both the natural resources of our > area and the existing and potential skills and talents of Detroiters." > > That was the vision, and it is only just starting to become a reality. > ``Now a lot of what you see is vacant lots,'' Grace told me. ``Most > people see only disaster and the end of the world. On the other hand, > artists in particular see the potential, the possibility of bringing > the country back into the city, which is what we really need." > > - Greg > > ============================================ M. Tang | A & R ============================================ Generator Detroit/Chicago/Berlin email. [EMAIL PROTECTED] aim. jiji2017 www.generatormusic.com ============================================= Coming soon: GEN029 - Neon Sex Fiend - Elektrofive (12") Remixes by DJ K1, Ultradyne, and Mauser. Soundclips @ www.generatormusic.com
