Revolutionaries:
I am writing this evening to ask you to consider attending tomorrow’s Citizen’s Committee For Justice meeting.
Due to work requirements, I will personally be unable to attend. However, the folks who have organized this meeting are many of the same folks that we see, know, serve, and visit with every Saturday in St. Louis. They have asked us personally to have a presence at their big day.
The meeting is being held TUESDAY, JANUARY 5TH at 1:30 p.m. in Room 306 of the Central Branch of the St. Louis Public Library, which is located in the heart of downtown St. Louis at 1301 Olive St. If you’ve been on our homeless outreach before, this is the same library in front of which we conduct our weekly care pack distribution.
I don’t know a great deal about this meeting. I know they’re anticipating several St. Louis city officials to be in attendance, and I know they intent to talk about maltreatments and social injustices suffered by the downtown homeless community. And I know there have indeed been maltreatments and injustices.
I am confident this will be a constructive meeting.
But, most of all…I am absolutely thrilled because this is a beautiful example of someone getting out there and DOING SOMETHING with the hopes of making a better world and a better tomorrow.
Will tomorrow’s meeting end homelessness or even make a dent in the injustices suffered by the “least of these”? No, I’m sure it will not.
But neither is us not going to do anything. We’re already not doing anything. If we keep that up, nothing will happen.
When we formed the Dirty Roots Revolution and started our Homeless Outreach, we made a lot of mistakes. We fumbled a lot. We made fools of ourselves a lot. And then we got better. We learned. We kept trying. We’re still learning and we’re still trying.
When people tell me they have a dream, I tell them to GO DO IT! It WILL be messy and you will make mistakes. Count on it. But if you’re already not doing something, isn’t fumbling your way through your best efforts better?
These people have unified. They’ve come together. They’re trying.
They’re DOING SOMETHING.
I wish I could be there. Unfortunately, I was very ill before the holidays and am in debt to the “sick day bank”. I simply cannot leave work.
But I am begging you to attend this meeting. Maybe it’ll go badly and you’ll wish you hadn’t made the drive. That’s certainly a possibility. But, maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe you’ll be inspired. Maybe, just maybe…you’ll be part of a historic occasion!
If you are off work…if you are a stay-at-home mom…if you are a student on break and are near St. Louis…if you are a college student and are out of class in time to get to this meeting, PLEASE GO.
Wear your Dirty Roots Revolution T-shirts and hoodies, so our homeless brothers and sisters know who you are and know that we turned out. But the day isn’t about us. It’s about THEM. It’s about their effort and what they’re doing to try and make a difference for themselves, their friends, their families…their community. if anyone asks you about the DRR and/or wants info, please direct them to me and/or our website and/or our Facebook page (www.DirtyRootsRevolution.com).
If you cannot attend this meeting, please at least keep the event and everyone in attendance (on both sides of the issue) in your thoughts and prayers around 1:30 p.m.
For planning purposes, I would not assume the meeting would last much more than an hour. However, I’m also sure if you needed to duck out at any given time, it would be perfectly fine. The Dirty Roots Revolution will NOT be providing any kind of a ride system to this event, unfortunately. Anyone interested in attending is responsible for their own transportation to St. Louis.
If you have any question, or need directions, feel free to email me at info@dirtyrootsrevolution.com. You can also call Jay W. who is an organizing member of the Citizen’s Committee For Justice at 314.750.6840.
IF YOU DO GO TO THIS MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE DIRTY ROOTS REVOLUTION AND LET US KNOW HOW THINGS WENT AND WHAT HAPPENED, ETC.
Thanks for your consideration,
Ryan Mifflin
Director
Dirty Roots Revolution
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