Upski Grows Up: No Bombs, Please

[marmar]

from an interview with Billy “Upski” Wimsatt in In These Times:



....(snip)....


What are your goals for Please Don’t Bomb the Suburbs?

I have three goals: 1) Tell the untold adventure story of the past 25 years of cultural and political movement building in the United States. Howard Zinn isn’t with us anymore. My generation needs to tell its own history! 2) Evangelize for responsible adulthood as central to progressive change. Growing up is not a right-wing conspiracy. Being responsible adults is core to the change we want to see; and 3) Spark a conversation about the super movement we have the opportunity to build over the next 25 years, using 21st-century tools. We have a huge opportunity if we seize it!

Are you targeting the initial readers of your other books, who are now in their 30s and 40s?

Yes. It’s speaking simultaneously to my generation, Gen X, to the young whippersnappers, and to the baby boomers whose footsteps we’re walking in.

What accounts for the subdued attitude in your new book?

The world has changed a lot in the 16 years since Bomb the Suburbs. The suburbs have changed—they’re more like cities. Cities have become more like suburbs. Social change is complex. We need to love the suburbs. We need to grow up. The left has been good at critiquing power and throwing rocks. But what about building power? What about governing? We’re good at critiquing leaders. But do we know how to support a leader? It’s safer to be pure, pissed off, and powerless. It’s our responsibility to build a majority to actually turn the Titanic, not just to be mad that we’re headed toward an iceberg.

What do you make of the current 20-somethings? The teens?

The youngest generation, the millennial generation, is the most progressive generation in recorded history—at least in terms of voting. Even before Obama, in 2006, 18 to 30-year-olds voted for Democrats and against Republicans by 22 points. In 2008, it was 34 points. We need to support them to keep that trend going. The millennials get it. They are the ones who are getting left with the consequences of an overextended empire, a casino economy and melting icebergs. They are our greatest hope. Over the coming decades, the progressive electorate can totally transform our politics. But right now they’re completely screwed with Depression-level joblessness. Our job as adults is to support them any way we can! ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6538/upski_grows_up_no_bombs_please