Community organizing's legacy treasure v. the "foe of the USA": No-show forfeit or fearless faceoff

Optimism has returned to the country, since last year's electoral victories have led to President Biden signing into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, families have received sorely needed money from the federal government, multiple vaccines have tamed the pandemic, and significant progressive legislation is on the horizon. But our faith and hope remain subdued. We're unsettled by the threats to our democracy: the disunity on matters of fact and science, partisan circling of the wagons, reactionary sedition, and perhaps most ap palling, legislative assaults on the right to vote and nonpartisan election administration -- all of which wear away what ought to be a spirit of safety and confidence. It's easy to see, when ". . . access [to the ballot] is thwarted by connivery, deception, intimidation, or fraud, the fabric of the nation begins to unravel." Yet, despite the gravity of the threats, popular movement to defeat them has been wanting. Retreat from the breach that has divided the country has many twists and turns. Navigating our way to some semblance of national unity and well-being promises to demand far more than anything community organizing (CO) has ever achieved or even contemplated. This article describes our unsettled thinking about the tortuous path ahead for our profession.