Amy Schur
Amy Schur started working for ACORN in Chicago in 1988. She went on to organize in Detroit for a few years, and then to build up California ACORN. She worked as California ACORN Director and ACORN’s National Campaign Director. Now, she is Campaign Director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), an ACORN successor organization. In this interview, Schur discusses both what she loved about ACORN and why she stayed for decades, as well as what she found challenging about the organization. Specifically, she describes a rigour and discipline that produced hard-working, successful organizers paired with a harsh, sometimes abusive work culture. She talks about racial, class and gender dynamics within ACORN, the role of direct action in their strategy, the challenges the organization ran into in its later years, and how disagreements she had with the head of ACORN resulted in her being let go. In her work at ACCE, Schur has worked hard to carry on what worked well at ACORN while leaving behind its flaws. At the end, she provides lessons for young organizers today. Schur explains that she’s observed young activists today demanding a level of perfection from social justice organizations and their leaders that prevents forward movement and, unintentionally, is tearing these desperately needed organizations apart. She’d like to see organizers today engage together strategically in direct action to campaign on the outside to challenge power structures, like corporations and elected officials.