The thing have noticed about "movement people" is that none of us seem to have strayed very far from the values, convictions, and commitment that led us to our social action involvement 40 years ago. Whether we have stayed in the community action, political, public policy, advocacy

arena, pursued teaching or other service professions, or responded to issues and problems in the communities in which we have simply lived and worked, most of us have remained on the side of the angels, doing our best to lead socially responsible, effective lives, to make the world a safer place for the children. This is a space for conversations about where we are now, and where we can--and need to--go from here.

To some of us, this means considering the meaning of what we did then, what was accomplished, what we learned from it, how that led us to here and now, and what that tells us about possibilities for the future. Some of us draw our perspectives from other places and experiences. It took all of us, from the astonishing spectrum of realities we represented, to accomplish the impossible of 40 years ago. It will take all of us now.

While the landscape has changed radically from that extraordinary time, the needs and goals which prompted us to action then have not substantially changed. We might argue over the extent to which lasting, positive change has occurred, and/or the nature of that change (who, us?)--but I cannot imagine anyone disagreeing that at best, the outcomes of that monumental effort have been incomplete. I will even go out on a limb here and assert that we need each other now in many of the same ways we needed each other then. And so does our national community.

--DLouis Jan/00