Jacob Blake and All of Us
Jacob Blake and All of Us
Days ago, a Black man named Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in the back, inches away from his children. He wasn’t arrested. He wasn’t tried by a jury of his peers and a judge didn’t sentence him, but the officers who shot him attempted to execute him.
Not long after, a young white boy was safely taken into custody without harm, after confirmation that he shot at and killed multiple people.
The differences in how Black people are treated isn’t lost on me. Ever. I think about it when I shop at Whole Foods. When my sons roam Seattle with their friends. When AJ picks up a package at the office or when Maria heads into a wealthy neighborhood for a meeting. When Wole runs an errand for us. There’s a reality that says that no matter how we conduct our lives, the chances of harm coming to us are higher than for others. We live with this understanding every day, and society reminds us like this just in case we forget.
So how do we continue to show up the way we do, to greet you all at events, build community, and show up positively? It’s because we know that the way to a better future is this one: through voting, helping others to vote, and through changing and promoting laws that better recognize the equal value of our lives.
Our.
Lives.
So get upset. Get angry. Then get to work. Because that’s what we do, and right now we, and our country, need you.
Keep on…
Charles
On Wisconsin: A Conversation with Dr. Lew Friedman
All of US - Florida Trip
I heard over and over that they felt ignored and forgotten - and they were frankly surprised we were walking their neighborhoods, talking to voters…
By: Bert Greenwood
My third CP fieldwork trip to Florida brought me to the communities of Hillsborough; underserved and nearly forgotten by political parties, these primarily Latinx neighborhoods were filled with folks who wanted to talk about issues. From Nando, the Iraq-war vet, to the Ramirez family from Puerto Rico, I heard over and over that they felt ignored and forgotten - and they were frankly surprised we were walking their neighborhoods, talking to voters.
Listening to them, I discovered that the same issues that trouble me, bother them. How will they pay for the healthcare they so urgently need? Who is a role model in politics for their grandchildren? Will we engage in another rush to war - a rush that will unfairly target their communities? I learned how selected and targeted voter suppression efforts had denied many folks the right to vote - and one young man told me that after voting in the 2018 election, nothing changed so he's never voting again. I came to realize that the easy and efficient ways of voting in the PNW are truly precious gifts - gifts that are restricted to many fellow Americans.
Long days of canvassing were supported by the team that waited back at our hotel at the end of each shift. We sat together and debriefed our day, and I often learned a new trick to connect with a voter from one of my teammates. Group dinners brought us together to laugh and celebrate. I enjoyed learning about my teammates - where they were born, what their hobbies and interests were, why they chose to spend a week in Florida with a group of 44 folks, knocking on doors in neighborhoods very unlike their own. I also enjoyed a quiet moment together, when feeling tired or discouraged, a friendly word bolstered my spirits. Our motto "we come for the work, we stay for the people" is true. The CP community is a remarkable family - and the people extends into our local partners and the neighborhoods we walk. Suddenly, the great experiment that is America becomes clear for me...we are all indeed in this together.
My Call To Action is best summed up by the parting words of Mr. Ramirez. An ex-military man, he served his country and raised his children with what he described as "good, Christian values." He quietly stated that he voted for Trump in 2016 and was registered as a Republican but he wanted to re-register as a Democrat and participate in the Florida Presidential Preference Primary. His reason? "Trump thinks the government belongs to him; he's wrong. The government belongs to us." He registered as a Democrat and the next day, we returned to register his wife and daughter. That's what makes my work with CP, our local partners and their communities important to me...it is US. All of US.
Notes From The Field - Charlotte North Carolina
It’s been an exhilarating, exhausting, inspiring week with Common Purpose in Charlotte, North Carolina. We partnered with You Can Vote, an organization that…
By: Susan Storer Clark
It’s been an exhilarating, exhausting, inspiring week with Common Purpose in Charlotte, North Carolina. We partnered with You Can Vote, an organization that “trains and mobilizes volunteers to register, educate, and empower all North Carolina citizens to successfully cast their ballot.”
We registered 310 people to vote in our time in Charlotte. We also talked to them about how to vote in the upcoming primary and general elections. Because of the work we did, We Can Vote not only reached its goal for all of February but is 160 registrations ahead on their goal for March.
That’s the kind of work I want to do. It’s the reason I joined Common Purpose. I want to do this kind of work because my religious faith impels me to do so.
My denomination has no creed, but it does have seven principles. The first one is that we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being (boldface mine). The fifth one says that we believe in the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. To me, that means that every citizen has a right to vote, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, poverty, or previous condition of incarceration.
Because the right to vote is under threat in so many places in our country, I decided this is the work I want to do, for this election cycle and probably for many years to come.
I didn’t know anybody in our group of eighteen before I came to Charlotte. My flight got canceled, so I missed the whole first day of getting to know people. I was a little afraid that I would be out of the loop and playing catch-up the whole time.
I needn’t have worried. I got a quick orientation from our team captain Jordan Goldwarg and from Zion Lemelle, the regional director for We Can Vote. Soon I was with my team out on a sidewalk, asking people if they were registered where they currently live.
On my first day there I realized that people who will travel on their own time and their own dime to do this work are likely to be interesting, engaging people. That’s because they all were. It was a very accomplished group: teachers, doctors, nurses, former political staffers, people who had built projects and programs to benefit their community. Because we were working together on something we cared about, it was easy to build camaraderie.
There’s a lot at stake for North Carolina in the 2020 elections. Their election districts were recently redrawn, in obedience to a court order to fix obvious gerrymandering. There’s a vulnerable Democratic governor up for re-election, as well as a vulnerable Republican senator. Charlotte’s current Republican member of Congress won a narrow victory in 2018 and is considered vulnerable this year.
The citizens of North Carolina—all the citizens of North Carolina—have a right to determine the future of their state. I think that, in some small way, I have helped. Some people who should be able to vote, will be able to vote, because of what I did. And that makes me happy.
The Adventures of Team Texas
The Common Purpose team of Seattle volunteers spent five days (January 24-28) in Texas working on the special election campaign of Dr. Eliz Markowitz.
By: Russ Daggatt & Gemma Valdez Daggatt
The Common Purpose team of Seattle volunteers spent five days (January 24-28) in Texas working on the special election campaign of Dr. Eliz Markowitz. This was the race for Texas state representative in District 28 in the Southwestern Houston suburbs (primarily Fort Bend County), to fill the seat of a Republican incumbent who resigned in September.
Why bother with a special election for state representative in Texas (besides the fact that the weather is a lot better there than Seattle in January)?
No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994, but Beto O’Rourke came within 2.6% of beating Ted Cruz in 2018. In the process, he garnered 200,000 more votes than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Also in 2018, two long-time Republican Congressmen lost and Democrats picked up 12 seats in the 150 member State House of Representatives. The writing is on the wall - Texas is turning purple!
The stakes are high for 2020. The census and subsequent redistricting will reshape state governments and Congressional districts across the country for the next decade. In Texas, an estimated 200,000 Latinx voters will become registered every year over the next decade. Texas is already a majority minority and Latinx voters could overtake non-Hispanic whites as soon as next year. Democrats currently have 66 seats in the State House and need to flip nine to take control. (That, in turn, would help ensure a (more) fair redistricting, and more electoral gains in the future.)
Dr. Eliz (as she is known) got the most votes last November, but no candidate got a majority, requiring this runoff election. She was the sole Democrat with 39% of the vote. Her Republican opponent got 28%, and other Republicans split 30%. In other words, Republicans got roughly 60% of the vote. So we had to change the composition of the electorate to win it. This special election was the only race on the ballot, so turnout would be the key to victory. That was a big challenge – special elections have notoriously poor turnout. And this had been considered a safe Republican district. But picking it up would be seen as a harbinger for November, when the entire State House (and the state’s 38 electoral votes) will be on the ballot.
That’s where Common Purpose’s Team Texas comes in.
We arrived on the Thursday night before the election. We awoke Friday to hear that a major, deadly chemical explosion had happened earlier that morning only a few miles away from our canvassing areas. It killed two employees, destroyed the factory and damaged dozens of surrounding homes, breaking windows and doors a half-mile away. (This follows at least five major chemical incidents in the area in the last year. Infamous for its lack of land-use regulation, the Houston area is home to more than 2,500 chemical facilities, with a major chemical incident on average every six weeks.)
This provided a concrete example of the kinds of real world issues at stake.
We canvassed in an area called Cinco Ranch. Turns out, this was the area hardest hit during Hurricane Harvey. The hurricane dumped more than 50” of rain and was called “the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in United States history,” by the National Weather Service. Cinco Ranch and surrounding areas were in the Army Corps of Engineers’ “flood pool” to protect Downtown Houston and were inundated with an average of over 4’ of flood water. When the water receded, thousands of homeowners returned to ravaged houses. Only 30% of the homeowners stayed to rebuild. The rest sold their gutted homes at well below pre-storm prices. These were among the people we met canvassing.
Fort Bend County is the most diverse in the country. It comes closer than any other county to having an equal division among the nation’s four major ethnic communities — Asian, Black, Latinx and White residents. We encountered a large number of immigrants from Vietnam, India, Africa, Latin American and elsewhere around the world. (At first, it seemed that there were few native-born Whites in the area. Then we figured out that we were hitting homes that had already been screened as likely Democratic voters. It was not a random sample.)
On Friday morning, our Seattle group met up at a coffee shop with Max, our field director. Our team was given our assignments and worked to get voters out for the last day of early voting. (For some inexplicable reason, there was no early voting over the weekend – when it would be most convenient for the working people who comprised most of those we were targeting.) On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we gathered together with about 100 other volunteers at a local home to get the routes we would cover each day. There, we were greeted by our cheerleader-in-chief, Beto (at least among this group, he had attained single name status – like Prince, Sting or Madonna). He had made this race his top priority since ending his White House bid in November. He also joined the larger group for dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday night.
Team Texas
With Beto
Here are a few random highlights from our experiences:
• One lady said she hadn’t had time to Early Vote since she was too busy getting ready for the Chinese/Vietnamese New Year’s celebration. But even though she was busy, she ran back into the house to get her Voter Registration card to show us. We left her with a plan to vote on Election Day. About a half block away, we heard her calling out. She had run back home to pack us a box of freshly-made egg rolls, offering both her vegetarian and meat options – delicious!
• A group of 5-7 year olds playing in a cul-de-sac asked us, “What’s voting?” When told them it was how grownups decided which one of them should make the big decisions, they said, “Oh that’s what our mom does! She’ll be happy to hear about this!”
• One middle aged African American man said, “The fact that you made the effort to come to my door to ask for my vote has persuaded me. I’ll get out and vote.” We asked, “Your wife, too?” “Absolutely,” he replied.
• Some of our group asked this gentleman for directions. He was so excited to tell his story about meeting Beto!
• At one home, a 19-year old answered the door. He was not the person on our canvas list, but he was happy to find out there was an election, and who he should vote for, since it was his first time eligible.
• A group of teenagers resoundingly replied, “We’re IN!
• “Be Safe!” A number of our team got this advice when leaving “Likely” houses in conservative neighborhoods. After a particularly unfriendly house, one of the neighbors greeted us saying, ”Thank you, we’ve already voted. God bless you! This is a terrible neighborhood to doorbell, but you’ll be OK three doors down.”
• Even when some people had been canvassed multiple times, they told us they appreciated it, since it must be very important that we would visit them that many times!
• We canvassed the first three days in clear skies, but over Sunday night that changed to unhealthy air quality levels. (Despite progress, Houston air quality is still among the worst in the nation. Yet another reason to elect Democrats!) That took a couple members of our crew who were particularly sensitive to air quality out of commission on Monday.
On Election Day, the remaining members of the group divided up between poll greeting, flyer drops, and phone banking. One of the poll greeters had an African American woman recognize her. “You came to my door! That’s why I’m here!”
Most of the group flew back to Seattle together on Tuesday night right around the time the polls were closing. We got the results when we landed. Alas, they were not what we had hoped for. Dr. Eliz came up short, with 41% of the vote.
Only about 20% of registered voters turned out – high for a special election, but low compared with a general election. While the outcome was disappointing, these two candidates will meet up again in November. And state Democrats note that there are another dozen seats or more in the state legislature higher on their target list for the Fall when turnout should be considerably better. It’s all just part of a long term effort to turn Texas Blue.
And for Team Texas, it was an adventure!
Takeaways From The Iowa Caucuses
Before the caucus results meltdown, before the sliver’s-difference in first and second place between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, a group of Common Purpose volunteers and supporters traveled to Iowa for six days to see the Democratic Party presidential candidates.
By: David Domke
Before the caucus results meltdown, before the sliver’s-difference in first and second place between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, a group of Common Purpose volunteers and supporters traveled to Iowa for six days to see the Democratic Party presidential candidates. From Jan 28 through caucus morning of Feb 3, we traveled around the very-flat state of Iowa, seeing and listening to and meeting candidates, interacting with Iowans, and talking to journalists from all over the world. It was an incredible experience.
Here are three main takeaways:
All of the Democratic candidates are terrific patriots. They are all smart, are working their butts off, and have a vision for an America that is light years better than Donald Trump. Anyone of the Democrats will be a huge improvement.
It’s an incredible privilege to see the candidates campaigning in person, to see them interact with voters, answer questions, joke and get serious, and make their pitches. To see the candidates in person is far more robust of an experience than anything we ever experience in Seattle or get through media coverage. It’s something all Americans should have a chance to experience.
Our Common Purpose community is amazing. We had so much fun and learned so much from one another. We all want a progressive world, but we nonetheless have differing perspectives on the candidates and issues and how best to move forward from the current national nightmare. Going as a team is great.
Here are five Iowa-focused episodes from our podcast, “With Common Purpose,” that capture some of our experiences and thoughts about Iowa, the Democratic candidates, our democracy, and the work of Common Purpose.
Being Positive: Offsetting Our Climate Impact
Today, we’re taking the first step in making our impacts net-positive, politically and environmentally, by purchasing carbon offsets for all of our teams’ flights…
Our biggest impact on national elections happens because we fly to the states that play the largest roles. We make a positive impact on progressive politics, and a negative impact on our climate as our teams fly across the country.
Today, we’re taking the first step in making our impacts net-positive, politically and environmentally, by purchasing carbon offsets for all of our teams’ flights and in-state travel from here on starting with our work in 2018.
We chose Cool Effect, an organization that partners with companies and orgs like Salesforce and Audubon, to purchase offsets from and to invest in specific projects in the US. Launched at the 2015 Paris COP (birth of the Paris Climate Agreement), Cool Effect provides us with a reputable calculator of our impact and meaningful projects to choose from. As much as possible, we’re looking to focus our offsets on projects in the US as this is where the bulk of our impacts are.
Below is more information on our two projects we’re supporting. Each project is independently verified, and periodic reports can be downloaded on the project page. Click through below to view the full details of each project at Cool Effect.
Native American Methane Capture
COLORADO: The Southern Ute Tribe has learned how to capture leaking mountain gas and redirect it into energy.
Old Growth Forests
ALASKA: This project ensures the survival of old growth forest trees, providing a safe home for animals and clean air for Earth.
We’re committed to making a positive impact on our country through civic action, and from here out we’ll do so while taking responsibility for the impact we make on our planet. The work you do while traveling with Common Purpose is and will continue to be carbon neutral.
To learn more about carbon pollution and how you can offset your own impact during your daily life, head here.
Florida: Final Update
We just completed a 21-day push to register returning citizens formerly incarcerated in Florida. Over three weeks, 30 CPers led by Amy Sommers…
7262 doors
327 voters registered
183 returning citizens registered
It’s July 1, and in the next 16 months we in Common Purpose are going to do all we can to right our capsized democracy. We will fight and push and work and work and work to register voters, mobilize voters, raise and contribute funds, educate and be educated, expand the communities being served and heard and amplified, and strengthen our ties with one another. It’s common purpose time, small C, small P.
We just completed a 21-day push to register returning citizens formerly incarcerated in Florida. Over three weeks, 30 CPers led by Amy Sommers, Maria Abando, Jordan Goldwarg, Bert Greenwood, and Dan Roach, and in partnership with Florida folks, knocked on 7262 doors and either talked with or left materials at almost all of them. In this work, we registered or updated 327 voters – of which 183 were returning citizens, and set in potential motion countless other ripples of impact. This is the essential, hard, hot, tiring, draining, exhausting work of democracy. Real change comes only with real sacrifice, real cost, and real risk. The new poll-tax law adopted by Florida Republicans was scheduled to go into effect today, but I am hopeful that it will get thrown out in the courts as in conflict with the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution. Regardless, we will be back in Florida in future months.
An Update On Our Florida Effort
A message from one of our Florida Team Leads, Jordan Goldwarg(who is also our North Carolina team Captain). Amy Sommers, Maria Abando, Bert Greenwood and Dan Roach are also leads for this Florida effort.
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Hi all,
It was another epic day for team Florida, with 844 doors knocked and 23 voters registered, of whom 17 were returning citizens.
Here are some of the stories from the team that stuck with me:
Marcia, who arrived early in the afternoon and immediately got to work in the field, was able to convince a reluctant man to register to vote when he thought about his kids and the example he was going to set for them. When he finally decided to register, he yelled back to his kids, "Your dad is going to vote!" When Marcia asked if there was anyone else in the house who would like to register, he motioned to his kids and said, "There will be."
AJ knocked on the door of a gentleman who was cooking and said that he wanted to register, but that he was in the middle of cooking and didn't want his food to burn, especially since he was getting ready to leave for work. But he asked her to leave a form with him and come back later in the day to pick it up, and sure enough, he had it ready when AJ returned.
And I want to offer special thanks to Diane and Joanne, who have done a great job of taking photos and getting stories from folks they are registering. Here are some from today:
"Sheila is affiliated with the Friendship Ministry Church. When we asked if we might have a space in the shade outside to talk to churchgoers after services, she said, 'You will come inside where we have air conditioning! Just tell us what you need for table and chairs and we will be ready.' She expounded on the importance of civic rights for all of their parishioners and welcomed us to return this Sunday for the June 30 deadline and future Sundays as needed."
"This is Troy, owner of two barber shops. He welcomed us, took fliers and sent us to his other barber shop. He cares deeply about this issue as he was arrested and went to trial but was acquitted. He wants to be part of the positive change in community."
"This is Mr. and Mrs. Hannah. Mrs Hannah opened the door wearing her fine white dress and pearls. When I commented on how lovely she looked, she told me she just came from a funeral. She then listened to my question about registration and said she was all set but not her husband, Herman. She invited me in. I learned Herman had never voted in his 70 years. He filled out the form while his wife picked up the phone to call her son and tell him to get over to her house as 'Miss Diane' is here signing up your father!' Her son didn't come but she and I chatted about all the benefits of voting. After Herman signed I reminded him this was because of his wife, her gift to him to let me come in. We laughed at the idea of an annual debate over political issues to cast a vote each year. When I asked if I might take a picture, Mrs Herman sweetly went over to where her husband sat and joined him. The seriousness of hard times preventing this basic right before was made light as Herman tried not to wince as she sat in his lap waiting for me to snap a picture."
"Here's a different kind of story. I met this man in front of an auto body shop and he told me he had never voted. He said he had not committed crimes to block him, but never cared, it never matters. We talked for a bit and he eventually said, 'I think I have it'. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out card and paper after paper until he found his voter registration card. We talked about the wage hike amendment and Andrew Gillum's loss by 130K votes. And on... he looked me in the eye and thanked me politely for my time and promised me he would vote. It was humbling..."
The stories go on and on. All part of the drama of building a more perfect union.
As for me, I am heading back to Seattle tomorrow, but I will pass the baton to Bert Greenwood before I do, so look for more updates from her! Thank you, Bert, for being here.
Before I sign off, here is one final photo, again courtesy of Diane, of the outside of one of Troy's barber shops:
All the best,
Jordan
An Urgent Note About Florida Action: 6/10/2019 - 6/30/2019
ASK: Join the on-the-ground Florida effort taking place June 10th - June 30th as we race towards a July 1st deadline to register as many Floridians who’ve recently had their voting rights restored before a law takes effect making it much more difficult for many of them. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/3EPeUSeWyKDessdA8
We have an opportunity, a defining chance to make a difference. We are writing to ask us as a community to step forward and act.
Here’s the situation: Last year, one of our most-important outcomes was that we worked to pass Amendment 4 in Florida, which restores voting rights to people formerly incarcerated for felony offenses. Since January 1 thousands of returning citizens have been regaining the right to vote, but the Republican-controlled legislature in Florida just passed a new law that will require all formerly incarcerated folks to ALSO pay all court costs/fines before they can regain the right to vote. It’s a spot-on horrible act of voter suppression. We as an org are all-in to fight these actions. The bad news is that when the law goes into effect July 1 it will become very, very difficult for hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated citizens with significant court costs/fines to ever regain their right to vote.
But we have a month until the law takes effect.
Our Florida partners, working with the Florida Rights and Restoration Coalition, have sent us a red-alert bulletin asking us to come and do voter-registration work before July 1. (see a snippet of one of their emails at the end of this message.) Their lawyers believe that everyone registered to vote before July 1 will *not be subject to the new must-pay-all-fees voter suppression law.* Our partners are identifying all of these returning citizens, building a voter-registration strategy that incorporates these citizens but does not uncomfortably target them, and they tell us they need every person possible to do the work. NOW. NOW. NOW.
On Friday we told our partners that we will do *everything possible* to mobilize Common Purpose volunteers to come to Florida from June 10 through June 30. Specifically, we will work in Pinellas County, which is the Tampa area, where there are at least 1600 returning citizens who are eligible to be registered to vote. We will have at least one Common Purpose leader there for every one of those dates who will be our point persons, so that every CP volunteer coming from Seattle will know where to go, with CP LEADERS making sure we are fully integrated with our partner organizations and working in the CP way to support them.
If there is any way you can be on the ground in Pinellas County between June 10 and June 30, this is a defining chance to make a difference. It’s as concrete of an action in the service of a just and inclusive democracy as we can offer. We can truly change people’s lives. And – although this is not the primary motivation for us to do this – we have every reason to believe that the progressive longterm effects on elections, including the 2020 presidency, will be real.
To pull this off may require changing plans, missing events, spending dollars that are un-planned and be a real stretch. We will need to walk through ambiguity and uncertainty as we build this on the fly. But our work in 2018 and our already-happening mobilization for 2019-20 assure us that we can do this. And indeed, this is why we do this work. Our Common Purpose leadership is fully mobilized, and we are asking you to join us. If you can’t go, please consider recruiting someone you know who might be interested, and paying their costs.
As a sign of our commitment, we will provide reimbursement costs of up to $500 for any person who signs up, if you wish.
If you are open to doing this, please sign up to join our Florida team right now. Here’s the Florida team page signup:
https://forms.gle/3EPeUSeWyKDessdA8
If we can address questions, please let us know at hello@cpnow.org.
Let’s go. Democracy is a verb. We need to risk and sacrifice if we’re going to bring about real change.
The CP leadership team