Dominant Culture

There many problems that can be attributed to the dominant culture's inability or unwillingness to share in an exchange of ideas, or in the reciprocal benefits of mutual cooperation with other cultures and other members of society that do not enjoy equal status of privilege.
Many of the issues are created when too much separation exists between the established norms which are built up through habitual decrees of those at the top of the power structure and blindly followed by those at the bottom simply because "that's the way we were told to do it, because that's the way it has always been done".
It is in this way that the dominant culture also suffers because it becomes mired down in the mud of their own complacency and further serves as the catalyst to their own struggles with deleterious class conflicts.
In a corporate environment, for example, the executives and members of upper management may believe that the punitive approach to demands on productivity may yield the most measurable benefits. However, it can often be seen that the demoralizing effects of the Machiavellian leadership style is followed by a decrease in the quality of overall performance, a strain on the sense of loyalty within an organization, and instability ultimately among the inner circles of leadership.
I just watched the President's (Trump's) address to both houses of congress. Rarely has there been such an example of what can happen when the sheer magnitude of financial and celebrity power, in a culture that reveres both, meets the methods by which to seize the ultimate power of government.
Within his inner circle, no one would ever dare to tell him to think more carefully about a decision that he makes impulsively. And outside of his circle the message is controlled, sanitized, repackaged, or outright omitted if it is deemed to be ill-suited for his unstable sensibilities.
Creating a more level playing field, or "equalizing power differentials", as is suggested in (Weil, Reisch, & Ohmer, p. 43, 2013), could prevent a lot of suffering among his administration and, more importantly, throughout the whole country. Indeed, by allowing dissenting voices to be heard and for more two-way communications within his organization he could be persuaded to try to be more empathetic towards some of the groups that he has vilified and therefore less fear and hopelessness among those same groups. 

Weil, M., Reisch, M., & Ohmer, M. (2013). The Handbook of Community Practice. 2nd Edition.

We are the soil

Ron Finely's TED talk about LA Green Ground's mission to bring the community benefits of urban gardening to South Central LA in California reminded me of my own observations living in a similar neighborhood in Long Beach Ca., also in LA county.
One of the first things that I noticed while living there was the lack of actual grocery stores with natural foods and fresh produce; only corner convenience stores with canned goods, pickled everything, and plenty of soda and candy which was often well past the expiration date on the labels.
I also noticed, and even participated in, several graffiti projects which were very much created in a "guerilla style" ambush of an unsuspecting wall under a bridge or on the side of an abandoned warehouse.
When Finely was describing the act of gardening in the community as an artistic expression similar to graffiti, I felt like I could relate to the spirit of what it is that he uses to energize other members of the neighborhood to join in and take ownership of their part of the righteous project.
It is that sense of ownership and pride in a work that literally bears fruit that unquestionably comes from their connection to the group effort and their vested interest in seeing it through to fruition.
When Finely says "when kids grow kale; kids eat kale" is quite true. I remember teaching simple cooking skills to a young person who I had a parental relationship with and I would watch him eat the things that he had cooked himself which he would have left cold on a plate if I had made the same thing for him. The difference is the fact that he had created it himself. He faced the challenge, suffered the frustration, and eventually saw his efforts pay off. The kids in South Central LA probably had a similar experience with their urban gardens.
Another powerful image in the TED talk was when Finely says "we are the soil". It is more than a metaphor when one considers what soil is and how it serves to produce fruits, vegetables, and other plants and flowers. Importantly, soil is distinct from dirt because fecund soil has rich nutrients which must be added from an outside source in an urban environment. The young people of a community like South Central, or Long Beach Ca. also flourish when they are given nutrients of both the literal variety, as well as the more ecological nutrients that comes from being involved in such a healthy and bountiful project as gardening in LA.

We Are the Soil

Ron Finely's TED talk about LA Green Ground's mission to bring the community benefits of urban gardening to South Central LA in California reminded me of my own observations living in a similar neighborhood in Long Beach Ca., also in LA county.
One of the first things that I noticed while living there was the lack of actual grocery stores with natural foods and fresh produce; only corner convenience stores with canned goods, pickled everything, and plenty of soda and candy which was often well past the expiration date on the labels.
I also noticed, and even participated in, several graffiti projects which were very much created in a "guerilla style" ambush of an unsuspecting wall under a bridge or on the side of an abandoned warehouse.
When Finely was describing the act of gardening in the community as an artistic expression similar to graffiti, I felt like I could relate to the spirit of what it is that he uses to energize other members of the neighborhood to join in and take ownership of their part of the righteous project.
It is that sense of ownership and pride in a work that literally bears fruit that unquestionably comes from their connection to the group effort and their vested interest in seeing it through to fruition.
When Finely says "when kids grow kale; kids eat kale" is quite true. I remember teaching simple cooking skills to a young person who I had a parental relationship with and I would watch him eat the things that he had cooked himself which he would have left cold on a plate if I had made the same thing for him. The difference is the fact that he had created it himself. He faced the challenge, suffered the frustration, and eventually saw his efforts pay off. The kids in South Central LA probably had a similar experience with their urban gardens.
Another powerful image in the TED talk was when Finely says "we are the soil". It is more than a metaphor when one considers what soil is and how it serves to produce fruits, vegetables, and other plants and flowers. Importantly, soil is distinct from dirt because fecund soil has rich nutrients which must be added from an outside source in an urban environment. The young people of a community like South Central, or Long Beach Ca. also flourish when they are given nutrients of both the literal variety, as well as the more ecological nutrients that comes from being involved in such a healthy and bountiful project as gardening in LA.