President of Advanced Performance Materials, Chemours
Search every verified Gerardo Calderon interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2015 TEDx talk, Gerardo Calderón argued that social change is driven by engaged communities rather than individual heroes. Drawing on his experiences in El Salvador and Allentown, Pennsylvania, he described community-led actions such as a human chain demonstration in El Salvador and a "report card" campaign to hold the Allentown school board accountable. Calderón distinguished between "superheroes," who act alone and build dependence, and community organizers, who build connections and empower regular people. He stated that social change is intrinsically linked to social justice, which involves transforming how society distributes wealth, opportunity, and power. Calderón emphasized that frontline communities experiencing issues such as hunger and war often lack the political power to use available technology and resources to solve them. He encouraged audiences to use tools already familiar to their communities and to take ownership of social movements. He concluded that real people, not superheroes, are capable of transforming society.
“In my country since the very beginning in the family and in schools we are taught that if we want to see change, we have to get together with other people, build relationships and act as a family, act as a community. That's why we don't really feel the need of superheroes.”
“The problem with iconic figures in history like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi is that they are portrayed as icons almost as godness and we kind of relate them to superheroes, which is very dangerous because we don't really feel connected to these big social leaders and feel that we don't have their power to fost...”
“There is a huge difference among heroes, superheroes, and community power. Superheroes usually act alone, have hidden identities, and build dependence, while community organizers reach out to people, build connections, empower regular people, and foster real societal transformation.”
“Social change is intrinsically related to social justice, which is the way society delivers wealth, opportunity, and power among its members. Any sort of social change has to do with transforming society into a more equal and fair environment.”
“Food stamps are very good but they are not really fostering social change because they do not transform the economic structure that excludes people. They are just surface level and not social change, which has to do with social justice.”
“Ownership is a very key element in social movements. When communities own the activity, like in the human chain demonstration in El Salvador, they can affect decision-making structures that exclude people living in poverty.”
“We challenged the perception of unsafety in my hometown in El Salvador by organizing night runs. What started with four people grew to 200 runners in two months, transforming the city into a safer place with hundreds of people taking care of each other at night.”
“In Allentown, we used a community-designed report card to grade the school board, making public officials accountable to the taxpayers who put them in power. This approach empowered the community using tools already familiar to them.”
“We have the technology, knowledge, and resources to solve hunger, war, and crime, but frontline communities experiencing these issues lack the political power to use these resources effectively.”
“You are not superheroes; you are real people capable of transforming your own society.”
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Many of the large social movements ...
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