Getting to the Roots; or, Everything I Need to Know About Radical Social Change I Learned in My Garden

radical:—of, relating to, or proceeding from a root;—designed to remove the root of a disease or all diseased tissue;—far-reaching or thorough.

I no longer remember who introduced me to radical feminism in the 1970s. I do recall hearing on many occasions that “radical” meant “to the root,” and that unlike liberal feminism, radical feminism wanted to get beyond the surface “to the root” of women’s oppression. A radical mastectomy, for instance, was sometimes referred to by way of explanation; like a cancer, the disease of patriarchy was to be utterly eradicated, down to its very roots. Engage, deeply.

This distinction between radical and reformist efforts resonates with many progressive movements historically, and the references to “roots” are common. Civil rights advocates, for example, claimed, “Radical means getting to the root causes of society’s injustices and working for root-level, fundamental change. Radicalism is an honored tradition in Black political history” (Black Radical Congress 1997). Contrasts are made at the organizational level, too. In the environmental movement, the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy are in the “reform” column, while Earth First! and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are listed among the “radicals” (Wehr 2007).

This etymological image of radical politics getting-to-the-roots is useful for thinking about how and why to engage in work for political change. First, to haul plants out by the roots is to destroy them, leaving nothing behind. Certainly patriarchy, racism, and imperialism are corrupt systems causing enormous injuries and injustices, and warranting elimination. A second way in which the analogy between political and plant roots applies is that plant roots are complex systems, reaching out in multiple directions. Radicals in diverse movements argue that heterosexism, patriarchy, and racism are also systems that reach out and affect wildly diverse practices and institutions. Third, the metaphor also works insofar as roots are generally underground, hidden, and protected. Systems of domination must to some extent use covert strategies and mask their atrocities in order to survive, whether by calling oppression “natural” and claiming it benefits “the community,” or actually making protesters “disappear.” Further, many forces that sustain inequalities are dispersed and invisible, hard to get at, and self-protecting. This is why, for example, feminism speaks about “unconscious” sexism, and antiracist activists refer to “internalized” oppression.

The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our mindsas smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airbornemicrobes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchasein our bloodstreams.

—Maya Angelou

Roots as a metaphor, then, provide a powerful picture of political reality, while the idea of uprooting offers an intuitively convincing portrayal of political change. Its appeal is substantial.

Years after becoming involved with radical social movements and theories, I became an avid organic gardener. I have pulled up more than my share of plants and tried to extract them at the root level, either to kill or kindly transplant them. As I was yanking weeds one day, it occurred to me that “uprooting” is not so singular a thing—gardeners in fact use a range of tools, tactics, and techniques to uproot plants because plants possess varying root systems and because factors such as age, weather, season, and location influence which tools and tactics will work best and be least laborious. Pausing among the vegetable beds, I thought about how the same seemed obviously true of radical politics—we require multiple strategies for change that match the ways various practices are held in place in different locations and that adapt to external conditions.

Having begun this line of inquiry, I had to dig deeper (it is next to impossible for a gardener to call it a day). If the analogy between eliminating oppressive social systems and removing undesired plants is really to be of maximum use, the political version of uprooting could benefit from refinement. Analogies are potentially powerful cognitive tools, helping us transfer knowledge from one subject to another and making less visible features or implications more prominent. The...