Organic Intellectuals
DreamCity -- “From the Streets to the Stage”
A Movement of Organic Intelligence by Organic Intellectuals
By: John Muller
Intelligence is a trait that one acquires over their life. The acquisition period is continuous and lifelong. Non-traditional applications of intellect are second nature to those who possess what is known as organic intelligence.
We are innately intellectuals, in that we all have intellectual and rational faculties (knowing how to breathe upon birth), but not all men have the social function of intellectuals. Contemporary intellectuals are not simply those that possess the ability to look cute and talk pretty tantamount to not much more than recycled rhetoric and hyped hyperbole. Instead, organic intellectuals must be directors and organizers of constructing our society from the ground up and in doing so produce an empowering edict of cultural hegemony infused with a legitimacy founded on means of ideological apparatuses such as education and the media.
Intelligence is not exclusively a personal and internalized characteristic, as your environment dictates your worldview. Your worldview is what you know, what you see, what you think and how you respond and adapt. Smarts can be learned. The value of intelligence is inherently based in what one, or a group of individuals, do with their intelligence. Ideas are nothing without being implemented. A million ideas without fervent action amount to nothing.
Intelligence that is accumulated without experience is worthless. The most valuable instrument of self-education is to learn what cannot be taught. Education is the fuel of America’s engine. Self-education is renewable and unbounded by conventional and institutional limitations.
Formal education is the method in which we earn legitimacy with the world at large. However, there are many worlds within, and each world ordains legitimacy differently. Legitimacy that is earned in the community is valued differently than legitimacy that is earned in traditionally formal settings. Formal legitimacy must not be adversarial to community legitimacy. The collective interests and abilities of the community must not be ignored, although this is becoming more and more manifest. We can see this played out in our society when “Arm-chair” intellectuals implement an idea or ideas that are not in touch with those of the community being served. The costs (i.e. government waste) and burden to our communities as a result of this phenomenon is omnipresent. In formal circles of power and influence, the articulation of moral purpose is rewarded and recognized, while the effective execution of practical good is often never achieved or ignored.
Our communities are, have been, and will continue to suffer injustices and inadequate access to basic opportunity if outside intellectuals are allowed to uniformly impose their ideas upon us. It is exigent that emerging intellectuals are products of the community. There is a necessity that is not unfamiliar, for our communities to cultivate and support intellectuals that embody the collective angst and ambition of our communities. These intellectuals are informally educated as a result of their experiences and investment in their communities. These intellectuals come up through the ranks and their development is not only personal, but public, as they distinguish themselves as the embodiment and manifested voice of their communities’ forgotten elements. These intellectuals do not serve a social function as intellectuals, instead, they are organizers and directors of their communities’ interests.
These intellectuals represent what is known as organic intelligence. Intellectuals of the streets. These intellectuals are entrepreneurs who progressively advance the interests and outside image of their communities. The entrepreneur epitomizes a higher level of social elaboration that is characterized by a directive and technical capacity. The organic intellectual is results oriented and community driven. To deliver their desired impact on society at large and the communities which they exemplify, these intellectuals must have an acumen that transcends any insular community. These intellectuals must influence through activity and initiative those who have the economic means of production to advance their communities’ interest. By doing this, organic intellectuals not only earn legitimacy, but are viewed and regarded as the most legitimate byproducts of their communities.
We can no longer passively ignore the social entrepreneurs who are working day in and day out to improve their communities, schools, and own lives for the standard short-sighted sound bite mouthed from a member of the city’s old guard. As individuals and organizers of the communities’ interests we must go beyond the obligatory rhetoric if we are to invoke the next generation of American leaders. I do not need to remind you that the necessary condition for organic intellectuals is society.
The livelihood of our communities and the younger generation intrinsically rests in the hands of these organic intellectuals. It is imperative that they are recognized, embraced, and supported by the communities in which they are found. We must amplify these organic intellectuals and their accomplishments so as they amplify others which in turn has a domino effect. The cultivation and development of these organic intellectuals is the steadfast avidity and toil of DreamCity.
The Honorable Garland Vincent and Honorable Joan Romaine celebrate their achievements at the 11th Annual DC LEARNs Literacy Awards