Boomer Guide to Political Activism

One of the key components of the American Majority curriculum is our activist training seminar.  In it, we focus on teaching people how to be an effective advocate for issues they care about.  If we are going to see real change occur in our city halls, courthouses, and state capitols, we must realize the benefits of coordinated effort along with a strategic plan.  A great example of such an endeavor can be found in the earliest annals of Oklahoma history.

Recently, while perusing books at our local library in Tulsa, I happened upon a book entitled Progressive Oklahoma: The Making of a New Kind of State by Danney Goble.  Not being a native of this fine state, I am always looking for opportunities to learn about its history.  Ever since I picked it up, I have been fascinated by the events Goble describes.

During the late 1870s and early 1880s, industrial opportunists (chiefly railroad interests and land speculators) began to set their sights on settling the boundless prairie which made up the Unassigned Lands in Oklahoma Territory.  Not content to wait for the federal government to release the lands, these “Boomers” gathered together in formal associations to force the issue.  In newspaper articles and other publications, the Boomers claimed that the government had a moral obligation to release the land to the public.  They augmented their claims by making illegal sojourns into the territory.  Certain of arrest, the Boomers used these expeditions as a way of gaining publicity for their cause and challenging the government’s claim on the lands in court.  Goble writes, “At a minimum, the invasions and certain arrests would dramatize the Boomers’ position, attract public sympathy, maintain otherwise flagging spirits, and force the government to some resolution.”

Eventually, the repeated excursions captured the attention of the government and policy began to change.  In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed, which moved most Native American tribes from the reservation system to land allotments.  While the Oklahoma tribes were exempt from this act, many began to read the writing on the wall.  In 1889, both the Creeks and Seminoles sold the U.S. government all claims they had in the Unassigned Lands.  This opened the door to the Land Run in April 1889.

The policy change regarding the Unassigned Lands most certainly would not have happened if not for the organized efforts of the Boomer groups.  Formed for a singular purpose, they never lost sight of what they were working toward.  Goble writes, “Meeting impediments and delays, Boomers were necessarily activists, unwilling to accept routine, postpone action, and trust their affairs to the distant workings of impersonal institutions.  It was their way not merely to face the issue; Boomers would force it.”   [emphasis mine]

How can these lessons be applied in today’s political climate?  I am not advocating breaking the law to prove a point like the Boomers did.  I am advocating using all of the tools we have available today to strategically put an issue in the public’s eye.  We must stop using one-pronged advances which might get the issue noticed today, but do not serve to really advance the cause.  Groups must be organized and must coordinate not only within themselves, but with other like-minded entities to see change occur.  The Boomers saw their efforts realized by always staying true to their ultimate goal and they never strayed from their original purpose.  In order realize broad influence, the message must be broadcasted using new media methods such as Facebook and Twitter, in addition to traditional media outlets such as newspapers and radio.  Finally, each of the aforementioned tactics must be married to a consistent lobbying effort which keeps the issue at the center of the political discussion.