MANTRA: “Give light and people will find the way.”

Ella Baker’s vision of power was rooted in a belief in the people.  All the people.  Instead of a top-down leadership structure, she believed that power came from the bottom up because oppressed people have access to our own visions of freedom and dignity. Her motto was “Give light and people will find the way.”   So during the Civil Rights movement she didn’t support privileged men to serve as “spokesmen” for the movement.  She believed that true leadership reminded the people of their own power.  This is why she supported the young people in the Civil Rights movement to create their own organization the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and nurtured the relationships between rural Black folks and students who came from around the United States to support the freedom movement. Without those relationships the wide reaching impacts of the Civil Rights movement could not have been achieved.  As we repeat Ella Baker’s words know that all that is asked of you is to bring your light to the situations in your life and our movements.  You don’t need to control the outcome. Give light.  People will find the way.