Elisa Camahort Page - Road Map for Revolutionaries

PROTESTS AND
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

PROTECTING YOURSELF
ONLINE AND OFF

ECONOMIC
PRESSURE

GETTING INTO (AND OUT OF)
THE GOVERNMENT

REFORM SCHOOL: REFORMING OTHER
INSTITUTIONS IN OUR LIVES

FOREWORD

Every activist has a story. Every part-time revolutionary has a defining moment. Before they grabbed the megaphone, made their first protest sign, or put pen to paper. Before they rallied their communities or took a lonely stand. These are the moments when they realized that they could change the world. Let their stories inspire your story.

As a marketer, I had spent my entire career working with young people, helping them find the latest sneakers, best-tasting drinks, and fastest cars. But in 2008, I was asked by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help young people discover something else: their ability to change the world. I spent months learning about the issues young people face in their communities. I felt their desire to fix things, and I heard their ideas on how to do so. I realized through that work the power young people have to create solutions to the worlds problems. I also realized the power I have to help them. It transformed me and awakened a sense of purpose that fuels me to this day. Ive since dedicated my life to feeding the good in young people and helping them to feed the good in the world. I believe that young people are not the future; they are our best hope for changing the world right now. That is why the two most important questions we can ask young people are, what are your ideas to make the world a better place, and how can I help?

BOBBY JONES

chief marketing and communications officer, Peace First

coauthor, Good Is the New Cool: Market Like You Give a Damn

The first time I realized I could raise my voice and take an action that has impact was when I was very young. It seems almost unfathomable now, but I will never forget that I raised my voice to question my third-grade teacher about what the difference was between a thesaurus and a dictionary. My classmates and I were growing up in Midland, Texas, and I was the only Black girl. My teacher told me I was wrong about what a thesaurus was, and she told me to come to the front of the classroom and apologize to the class. I was so young and didnt understand what was happening, but I knew it was wrong, and I was raised right. I told my teacher no. I dont know why or how, but that shaped me. I knew, and still hold to the belief today, that the reason she asked me to do that was because she was intimidated and could not believe a little Black girl would push back on anyone in academia. I knew that what she was asking me to do was something I wouldnt have been asked to do had I been white or male.

AMBER GOODWIN

founder, Community Justice Reform Coalition

This wasnt the first time I realized I could make a difference, but its probably the most important time. In October 2016, I went to Berlin to speak to the marketing staff of Mercedes-Benz. I had dinner the night before with two friends, and the conversation inevitably turned to the presidential election in the United States. At this point, thirty days before the election, few people believed Donald Trump would win. But the fact that Trump was one of the final two candidates astounded us.

My friends told me that they still didnt understand how their grandparents generation could let Adolf Hitler come to power, and they saw direct parallels between Hitler and Trump. They warned me, If Trump wins, it will be 1930 for America. What they meant was that before Hitler was Hitler, he was just a popular politician. He didnt start exterminating Jewish people and invading countries on his first day as chancellor.

The effect of this conversation was profound. I didnt want my grandchildren to wonder if I resisted Trump, and so I started using my social media accounts to fight Trump. Few, if any, social media influencers took such an aggressive stance at the time. They didnt want to go off-topic from social media, marketing, sales, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

I wasnt going to avoid resisting Trump because I was afraid of losing followers and business. So I turned my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ into political feedscontrary to the wisdom of so-called social media experts, who thought this would mean ruining my brand and losing followers. Quite the contrary happened. There were a few hundred people who complained about me getting political and resisting Trump, but by far the feedback was supportive. My favorite email contained this:

You are Guy Fuckin Kawasaki. Who gives a shit about losing some followers because of something you write? Your power comes from your vast experience, by you being right, and by you being early. Dont change from those three things.

I may have lost a few hundred followers, but I gained thousands more. Standing up for what I believed was not only the right thing to do, it also was a good marketing decision. However, even if my stand had cost me in terms of followers, branding, or income, I still would have done it.

GUY KAWASAKI

author, evangelist, technologist

My first foray into activism was a failure. At fifteen, I spearheaded a campaign to get comprehensive sex education taught in my conservative hometown. After three years of organizing, the school board roundly rejected our proposal.