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Omowale
Satterwhite
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Community
Development Institute (CDI)
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profile by
Azania Andrews
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Omowale's first
involvement with community organizing came in his activism
on behalf of the Black students at Stanford University in
the late 1960's, where he was a graduate student in the
School of Education. The 1960's was a tumultuous time in the
United States and especially in the Bay area with the
prominence on the Black Panther Party in Oakland, the Hippie
movement in San Francisco, and the strikes at Berkeley. The
country was in shock over the assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr. and the protest of the Olympics had inspired many.
Omowale describes the point in his life when he turned to
community organization as his "moment of explosion". He uses
the phrase, "the best way to learn a language is total
immersion" to explain his beginnings in community
organizing. He saw that the work needed to be done and
joined with others with all his energy to change their
situation. Along with other members of the Black Student
Union organized the now famous "take the mike" in which
Omowale and members of the BSU took the microphone from the
President of the Stanford University and stated their
demands. Omowale describes the movement as very collective
and further he describes his role as minor. Omowale's
philosophy is that "humility is the central ethic" and when
he speaks of himself in the first person he "means little I
not big I." This attitude has governed much of Omowale's
work. He sees the people in the communities he works with as
"smart people who know how to change things but just cannot
come to consensus". He sees himself as the consensus
builder.
After his involvement with
the BSU at Stanford, Omowale began work on independent
schooling in East Palo Alto. He helped found Nairobi
College, an independent school in E.P.A. which served
3,000-4,000 students. Later he worked on the incorporation
of East Palo Alto and was a member of the Congress of
African People. Throughout this time Omowale continued to
work on his Master's thesis in higher education at Stanford.
But, around 1970 or 1971 Omowale decided that he could not
be a great scholar and a great organizer at the same time
and he began to delve more into organizing. Omowale spent
two years at Oberlin college in Ohio creating their first
Black Studies Program before finally finishing his
thesis.
In about 1975, Omowale
made two major decisions: he decided that his professional
and political life would be the same and he decided that he
did not want to work for anyone else. Around this same time
Omowale discovered that he was suffering from Chronic
fatigue syndrome. He had been so involved in his work that
he never stopped to acknowledge his own physical
limitations. He says of that time period, "back then if you
weren't organizing twenty- four seven you weren't
organizing." Today Omowale has made many choices about his
body and time management which help him to overcome chronic
fatigue syndrome. In his interactions with others Omowale
says yes to everyone but on his own terms. He has released
himself form the burden of everyone else's problems. he
helps other's as much as he can but says, "when they leave
my office they take their problems with them." He says,
however, that the work energizes him( and sustains
him).
In 1979, Omowale founded
the Community Development Institute (CDI). CDI's mission is
to support communities by serving as an organizer of
organizers. The organization to serve to support local
community organization by providing them with funding,
community organization training, and networks in the
community.
Omowale says that he did
not think of his work as community organizing until
recently. He did follow any particular models of organizing
(Alinsky, Delgado etc.), but in retrospect he says he served
as a facilitator and an organizer which allows his work to
be viewed under the umbrella of community organizing. He is
a "fan" of community organizing as it now being practiced.
He sees community organization as a central part of the
transformation process of America's communities. He believes
some human development should definitely accompany the
community organization. He also is pleased with student
involvement in community organizing. he says is necessary
for older organizers to "pass the baton" and welcome new
organizers into the movement.
The organization is
currently in the process of spinning off several of its
organizations. Omowale hopes to move CDI to a more strategic
level. His goal is to have regional offices throughout the
country who serve to help start community organizations. He
has also considered going back into academic work and plans
to do some personal mentioning as well as spending more time
with his family.
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