Citizen Brand

Consider this conference

I have registered to participate in The Annual Public Innovators Summit in August.  After you read what it's about, you might want to consider participating or know someone who should. It sounds like a great weekend of exchanging ideas with people from all over the country about how to create the kind of society that produces more Citizen Brands.

The Summit is being jointly sponsored by The Harwood Institute and Fast Company magazine.  What draws me to this summit is that it is based on the correct notion that we are a "nation in retreat from politics and public life."  Consider these core values that guide The Harwood Institute.

• We believe in the innate goodness of individuals and the possibility for change.

• We seek for people to imagine and act for the public good so that we can all do the unfinished work of our communities and the nation.

• Together, we must create the conditions for people to tap their potential to make a difference and join together to build a common future.

• Our aim is to ignite a sense of possibility and hope in America.

• We must create more advocates for public life.

Sounds like our kind of folks.

Plus the location won't be too bad a place to be in August.

Immigration and the Economy

If the immigration debate results in a tightening of the borders, some of us had better be prepared to take a second job as a farm worker.  If we don't, some American farmers will be out of business.  This is not a simple issue, yet some would have us believe it is.

The story in the link quotes fourth generation vegetable farmer Will Rosseau, pictured above.

"Illegal immigrants make up about 53 percent of the nation's roughly 1.8 million farmworkers, and cutting off the flow of willing workers — legal or not — to the fresh fruits and vegetables that need picking would spell the end for many farmers, Rousseau said.

"We know local folks won't take those jobs, at any price," said Rousseau, who hires up to 700 seasonal workers to harvest his crops in Phoenix."

In any stage of American history, immigrants from all over the world have made up the working class of this nation.  It is no different today.  The economy will not function with only account executives, vice presidents and CEO's.   Just ask Will Rosseau.

Meanwhile today, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of cities large and small to continue to make their voice heard.  And they deserve to be heard and treated with respect.  It's an election year and this editorial in the Dallas Morning News should be in every candidate's briefing book for the rest of the year.  Consider the close of the editorial:

"The U.S. Senate failed last week to reach a compromise on immigration reform, lengthening the odds of any progress on the issue before the November elections. If yesterday's march showed anything, it was a hunger to be heard and to be treated with dignity.  It's a message our political leaders would be wise to hear."

We are witnessing something this country has not seen in a long while.  History is being made before our eyes.  And let us not forget, each of us is in this country because of immigration. 

Immigration protest

There is a great back-story to Monday's protests in Los Angeles regarding the immigration debate raging away in the USA right now.  FastCompany.com tipped me off to it.  The story is how it is that 500,000 people knew where and when to go for the protest.  Half a million people learned primarily from two sources: radio and social networks.

I checked out Blogging.LA to learn more about the protest itself and the great thing about it was there were no arrests, no violence but lots of passion for this hot button issue.  The reason it is a hot button issue is because like so many other major issues of our day (social security; health care; poverty etc.), immigration has been ignored until it (and the other issues) reach some sort of crisis point and everyone rushes to judgment.  That is not the way good laws are made.  I believe we have a simple guidepost regarding the immigration issue in the US and that is the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.  "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free."  End of political comment.

I do want to return to the protest and how it was organized.  Half a million people in one city were mobilized via Spanish radio and via web based social networks.  In this election year, if I'm running a political campaign, I am paying a lot of attention to what happened in Los Angeles on Monday.  A candidate on the wrong side of a hot button issue might find themselves staring out at a half a million people who are not there to support him or her, but rather to remind the candidates who is their real boss.

And from a non-political communication point of view there are two take aways.  Radio still works and the new social networks are finding their voice.

Correction on Page 2

I don't think this is what Mark Warner had in mind when he sat down for an interview with the New York Times Magazine.

Mark Warner is a former Governor of Virginia and is likely going to run for President.  This photo graced the cover of the Times Magazine and frankly scared some people.  The Times ran a correction today saying there were some problems with the film and its processing that made Warner's jacket appear orange, among other things.  His jacket wasn't orange.  But the teeth are apparently his.  I don't think this "correction" will change anything.  Other takes on this political and photographic debacle can be found at CJR.

The unfortunate thing from Warner's perspective is that his photo has probably overshadowed the article in a publication that still carries a bit of weight.  From a political perspective, this is the kind of article you are looking for in these early stages to begin to help define you to a public who doesn't know you.  It's the kind of piece that you want to send out copies to loyal supporters and potential backers to demonstrate that you are building a national following.

My guess is the article reprints will have a different cover photo.