Cook forum: What makes a good citizen?

COOK—“If I can get my students to understand citizenship,” said Vermilion Community College instructor, historian and political scientist Pam Brunfelt, “I’ve got them for the rest of their lives.”

And that was the point of a public forum on citizen engagement held last week at the Cook Community Center. It was hosted by the groups Citizens for Civic Engagement and Northern Progressives and prompted broad discussion on the question of what makes a good citizen.

Brunfelt was one of five panelists for the event, and she described an experience that has stuck with her for many years, “I was with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and we were at Leech Lake Indian Reservation. They had a high voter turn-out; we went to learn more and one of the Elders said, “We love this land. We love this country. We vote.”

“There is no counter to that,” she said. “It’s one of the easiest actions we can take and it’s shocking how few people vote. Politics is the work of the people. It’s a two-sided coin. Civic engagement means we do our work. We march. We protest and tell the elected officials to do their job. We don’t have to be deferential with them. We don’t have to bow and scrape.”

Panelist Steven B. Johnson, a Virginia city councilor had his own take on the question. “Even as I am an elected official, and a teacher, I’ve always been engaged and volunteered and I have seen the importance of volunteering and it is absolutely the most important thing we can do,” he said. In answering the question, Johnson reflected on his own political experience and civic engagement and came up with the word PROUD, to describe his ethos. “Patient. Respectful. Observant. Understanding. Determined. When people come in fired up about something, for them it may seem life and death. But the act of listening, asking questions and trying to work on their issues, this is what I think of. That is why I was elected.”

Rev. Frank Davis pondered the question with a twist, “What would the role of civic engagement in the faith community without politics look like?” He spoke of his community, congregation, and a time “many years ago when athletes were being recruited for our community colleges. Many of the athletes were African American and some were unhappy about it,” he said. He and others at his church were motivated to not let fear and uncertainty cloud the community. “We moved for a series of steps for integration: we had host families that got to know the new student athletes, helping them get to know the community, we held a Thanksgiving dinner and we invited them into our congregation,” he said. “I remember feeling very overwhelmed thinking that people were reaching out to each other, in openness in hospitality.” He also reflected on another time, “back when skateboarding was cool, the church parking lot and ramp was a good place for local teens to gather, except that it ruined the flower beds.” The congregation turned a problem into an opportunity. “We reached out to the skateboarders and the YMCA. We formed Skate Jam and found a space for a skate park.” He spoke on community support program through Range Mental Health Center. “We thought there ought to be more options for those clients, so we created a bakery. The ladies from the church would bake cookies with the clients. The proceeds poured back into recreation.” He closed, “In most every faith community we are called to treat others like you want to be treated. That’s the guiding principal.”

Vermilion Country School Student Council President Jeff Mattson addressed the question by talking about his civic role at school as student council president and in the community. “We have a 100-percent voting rate at our school.” He added, “Local election voting is important, but if you really want to make a change, go to meetings. If I go to a Bois Forte Tribal Government meeting, they will listen to me. I give my voice to all of them, not just one. Our elected officials, our government, should combine knowledge and understanding with the will of the people.”

Community Organizer Kathy McQuillan answered the question through meaningful actions remembered from her childhood into adulthood. “Civic engagement is rooted in our core values and our values represent a lifelong process,” she said. “I have a memory of my mom organizing the first Earth Day clean-up for our neighborhood. My mom just did it, organized it. She thought it mattered. And I remember my mom’s dad, who immigrated from Greece and how proud he was of his U.S. citizenship and hanging up the flag. I have memory of going to school; we were taught, as kids to respect others differences, not judge each other. Respect and take care of each other.” She continued, “Kennedy said to ask not what your country can do, but ask what you can do for your country- that resonates with me. To stand up for what you believe in, and stand up for the underdog, those early messages carried on in my family. I have to be grateful to my parents in those early little actions that made big statements to me in civic action.” As a young adult, early actions included marching in front of the student union with a group, the Human Rights Vision, which had a plan to have somebody run for every office. “I was drafted to run for city council in my ward. I was 19. It planted a seed, to check out marches, to gain an understanding of social change. I came to discover the I/we balance. If the people are not doing their work, it is a systemic issue. We have an amazing system that gives us the opportunity to engage in our government.”

The audience was given an opportunity to participate through questions and discussion.

One attendee asked, “Money has undue influence in what our elected officials do. That tells me there is a lot of influence out there negating people’s efforts. What can be done?” Pam Brunfelt responded, “People think freedom and liberty are interchangeable, but they’re not. We have freedom to think as you want, not to act as you want. We have the rule of law which restrains freedom of action,” she said.

When discussion turned to youth involvement, Mattson responded that he felt civically and politically engaged because he was invited to take part. “We need to go into the school and engage them more. Invite them,” he said. Johnson added, “We have to engage kids all the time, we need a generational redistribution of wisdom.” He added, “We need to go to their world and meet face to face.”

Brunfelt said, “We don’t talk about the common good anymore. We have to get to where we balance the needs of the citizenry. The Preamble of the Constitution, the most radical document ever written, begins “We the People” - that means we own it.”