The Idea of Creating Good Ruckus
by Morgan Scribner
“We shouldn’t rest on laurels ever because until that just Montgomery County is achieved, and every single person can say without a shadow of a doubt that they are living with full dignity, then we gotta keep creating a ruckus.”
Ogechi Akalegbere migrated from Nigeria with her parents when she was an infant. The family first landed in New Jersey but soon found their way to Montgomery County, Maryland. Growing up as a cradle Catholic, Ogechi’s church allowed her to serve her local community in various ways. “I’ve always had a service mindset and a passion for service, [and] my first exposure to Action in Montgomery (AIM) was actually in high school…my church was one of the founding members of AIM, but I didn’t know anything about [the organization aside from the fact that it was a] community group in high school.”
Ogechi’s passion for organizing began as a high school student when she realized that some of her peers would be unable to attend college due to their immigration status. While at church, she learned that the community would begin mobilizing for the Maryland Dream Act, which would exempt undocumented students from paying non-resident tuition at all public colleges and universities in Maryland. Before this church announcement, Ogechi had not put much thought into this inequality because her family legally migrated to the United States. Recognizing her privilege at this moment, Ogechi sought to go beyond providing direct service to those in need.
While completing a service project to register community members to vote in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Ogechi discovered a new social ill. Unlike affluent areas around Pittsburg, the Hill District lacked essential resources such as access to a grocery store. Moreover, several parts of this community were neglected, particularly in the lower-income and minority-serving areas. During this service project, Ogechi encountered a gentleman who told her she was wasting her time. Taken aback by his statement, Ogechi responded with a ‘why?’, and the gentleman explained that he was formerly incarcerated and could not vote. Ogechi had only been privy to the inability to vote in the United States for undocumented immigrants. Still, she had not previously considered the inequities formerly incarcerated individuals experience once they re-enter society.
As several questions continued percolating Ogechi’s mind, she could not fathom why certain people could not experience liberty simply because of their race, immigration status, or former incarceration. From this point forward, she continued to question the happenings in the world around her, recognize the patterns of injustice, and actively engage in finding solutions. Shortly after that, a force led Ogechi back to AIM. AIM mobilizes around serval critical issues facing Montgomery County residents, from racial, environmental, and housing, to educational justice. Ogechi is primarily excited about the work focusing on climate justice because she’s starting to understand how issues continue to overlap. After all, “you can’t just isolate one issue from the other. Everything is connected,” Ogechi notes.
Currently, Ogechi works as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry at her church, which allows her to work with young people. She says the young people she interacts with “desire for hope” and seek meaningful relationships beyond surface-level conversations. More importantly, they recognize that service affects lives and “pushes the needle toward equity.”
“Service, especially in high school, helped me become more knowledgeable of who I was. So leading into organizing also helped me become knowledgeable of who I’m called to be. It also allowed me to think about the power structures systematically. And that’s kind of how I think about issues in general. That’s how my brain works. So, I get to use that bit of my brain and skill set on multiple issues simultaneously.”
Ogechi has also offered her time and talents in a new way as Board Director with AIM. “This summer I have had the honor to use and increase my skills in communications. Getting to witness and share the power of stories through a new lens has re-ignited my passion for relational organizing. As we move forward as an organization I’m excited that I have a role on the Board of Directors to lend my voice, my experience, and uplift the voices of others in the margins of our county.”
