One thing I’ve been startled by, over and over, during this campaign process, is how few people actually show up to decision-making forums. Often, less than fifty. And, frankly, it is mostly older white folks (and mostly men) whom I’m seeing in a lot of these places. They are generally nice people, but I keep wondering what would happen if fifty working-class / queer / POC / disabled / women showed up to each and every one of these – the Democratic party meeting, the school board referendum meeting, etc.
We tend to turn out for issue-based events (immigration, Planned Parenthood, Pride marches, some of us for Black Lives Matter), but not for general politics, whether local or higher-level.
And OF COURSE, the reason many don’t is because if you’re already marginalized, you’re often already scrambling just to survive, and you just don’t have the time / spoons it takes to even figure out which meetings are the important ones, much less get yourself there. I do get that.
But for those of us who have the time and the resources to show up — we could change the narrative. I honestly believe we could change the world.