Why were the US based women of color led and focused initiatives largely missing?  My opinion is that there were several factors at play, each of which holds equal significance.  One is that the perception of AWID is that it is a white feminist led/dominated space. Two is that, in international forums, women of color in the global north and our issues are often invisible/ignored, even when we are present. Three is the reality of financial constraints for most women of color led organizations in the global north and the dearth of opportunities for sponsorship to participate, compared to those offered to our sistren from the global south.

With regard to points #2 and #3, one tough dynamic is the question of how much space should we be taking up?  With our relatively high rates of poverty, high disease burden, exposure to environmental hazards, etc we have much in common with our sisters in the global south as our struggles are similar. However, for many, the perception is that, generally speaking, compared to our sisters in the global south, we have more opportunities and freedoms. Thus there is a both a conscious and unconscious tendency to sideline our struggles in these global spaces. How do we address this?

1)      We need to identify more opportunities (not that it’s not already going on to some extent) to have exchanges with our sisters in the global south.

2)      We should start submitting abstracts, seeking funding, and presenting at some of these national conferences/gatherings to raise awareness of our struggles and use these as opportunities to build solidarity with our sisters in the global south.

3)      Our organizations need to register with the UN and gain ECOSOC status. Then we need to begin attending UN meetings in New York and view this as a space where we can use the UN system to try to US before a jury of its peers for the failure of the administration to address our concerns.

4)      We should seek opportunities to work in solidarity and joint action with our sisters in the global south to advocate for responsive domestic and foreign policy on behalf of ourselves and our sisters.

The good news is that I have lots of great video to share. Here at the Association of Women’s Rights in Development conference, all are abuzz about the US elections and folk have a lot to say so I’ll be uploading all when I’m back in the US on the 20th.  I have interviews of women from Cambodia, Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, India, Uruguay, and more. All are speaking of their views on the outcomes of the elections and what this means for the issues they care about specifically and world affairs generally.

From here my writings won’t be daily, but only as I have updates to share. I completed the final 10 hours of the drive from New Orleans on Friday, arrived home at 1:30am Friday night/Sat morn and then left at 6:30am for South Africa after unpacking, packing again, doing laundry, and catching a couple of winks. J  I arrived in Johannesburg at 10pm on Sunday.

I’ll be attending the Women Won’t Wait coalition planning meeting www.womenwontwait.org and the Association of Women’s Rights in Development meeting. www.awid.org. Between these two meetings I plan to get the perspective of many women from around the world on the elections, US foreign policy impact in their lives, and how they see our new administration impacting world affairs generally and women’s rights specifically.  So stay tuned here and the WOCU You Tube Channel!

Anyway, Barbara is a native of New Orleans. She survived Katrina and has since rebuilt in New Orleans. Barbara served as ED of St. Thomas Health Clinic, a model community run facility, for 12 years.  Appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin, Ms. Major recently served as Co-Chair of the Mayor of New Orleans’ Bring Back New Orleans Commission. She is a core trainer for The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. She is also a co-founder and Executive Vice President/community engagement specialist for Citizens United for Economic Equity, an organization founded by New Orleanians to ensure equitable African American community participation in the rebuilding of New Orleans

The two times I’ve met with Barbara I’ve emerged from our time together feeling enriched and inspired. I was so grateful for the opportunity to experience her again.  Please visit our WOCU Channel soon to watch the video interview of Barbara.  www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited  (I’m still working on the backlog of uploads but the connection speeds here are a bit challenging.)

(As a caveat, I’m thinking that positive comments about the confirmed next administration are allowed for this non-partisan blog spot for this campaign because I’m not lobbying for one candidate or another, I’m talking about our nation’s President-Elect, right?)

As I continued with my 12 hour journey there was a sense of community with almost everyone with whom I interacted. There was the African American woman at the rest stop coffee shop from whom I bought my biscotti. As she was processing my change, she glanced around quickly to make sure she was far enough from her colleague, leaned forward, and softly chanted, OBAMA! OBAMA!.  I smiled and nodded vigorously and softly replied, “Yes, we can!”  One tollbooth operator in Northern Florida was sporting a Caribbean style shirt and beaming smile. I asked him how he was doing and he replied in a Caribbean accent (maybe my native Jamaican, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.), “This is the day that the Lord hath made. I shall rejoice and be glad in Him!” and it was very clear, from his expression of affinity and joint celebration, to what he was referring. J Finally, at yet another tollbooth on the Florida turnpike a Latino brother greeted me and I asked him how he was doing.  He cheerily replied, “I’m good! Very, very good! Yes! We! Can!”

It has been wonderful day to experience such a keen since of unity within diversity.

Immediately after poll closing, I followed the Miami Workers Center folks back to their offices for their Election Watch Party which was lively indeed. On the street there were MWC volunteers celebrating and encouraging drivers on the streets by yelling and waving Obama signs.  The party itself was full of energy and eager anticipation. The large screen TV was tuned to CNN and all were watching avidly. At one point a little girl, who was around 6 years old, was watching the very early returns when Obama had about 5 electoral votes and McCain had 13. Her little face crumpled in horror and sadness and she wailed, “McCain is winning!!!”  Her parents had to surround her and explain what was going on and it took a long time to talk her out of the depths of her despair. Besides the anecdotal references of friends, this was a live demonstration of how consumed whole families have become by hope and investment in this election.

As the streets of Miami continued to liven up and the party wore on, I contemplated my 12 hour drive to New Orleans planned for the next day and decided to take myself back to my hotel.  I watched the returns as the tallies grew and continued with emails and video uploads until around 10:30pm. Next thing you know I woke up at 11:52pm and CNN was announcing that we were awaiting Obama to come out on stage at Grant Park to give his acceptance speech. I blearily looked at the screen and tried to assimilate what I was hearing and then my eyes went down the page to the electoral college tally, and I thought, “Whuh?”  Given that I slept through the big moment, eight minutes later my day technically ended as anticlimactically as it started, as I was still in a fog. 

Subsequently as the congratulatory and celebratory text messages and emails started coming in, literally from around the world (South Africa, India, Nepal, London to name a few) and I scrolled from channel to channel on TV, I finally fully woke up and understood, “Obama won?” to “Obama won! OBAMA WON!!!”  J

I’ll end here by sharing one of the more poignant messages I received at 1:37am from Sister Yaz in California in response to an update message I sent out about the road tour:

“This day, I find words so hard to articulate the excitement I feel, and the rescinding of a 50 year old pledge to not call myself an American. This night I claim the nation of my birth.

This night my 15 year old granddaughter said she will stop obstinately saying, “I seen”. This summer, I asked my 15 year old, (AP English student) granddaughter why she insists on saying ‘I seen’ despite writing ‘I have seen’? She said, because she refuses to allow America to demean every aspect of what affords her cultural comfort.  

My grown sons cried like babies, my ex-husband and I cried and remembered the sit-ins of the sixties where we were spat upon and had hot coffee poured on us for the sins of wanting to integrate a restaurant, or gain admittance to a labour union, or wanting to register voters. My 91 year old father trembles, saying he never thought he would live to see this kind of border crossing change in this country.

This day, I know we can change the fabric of violence in our homes and hearts too.

In peace and tenderness,”

Yaz

Before the interviews started, Heather Vega, an intern at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers(CIW), shared a bit of the background of the town and of the Coalition. Housing conditions are that most of the men live in trailers that sleep between 10 and 12 people.

Immokalee is an agricultural town which is built around the industries of tomatoes and citrus. Immokalee has a population of 20,000 during the off-season and 40,000 when tomatoes are harvested, between late Oct/Early Nov and May. . The population is primarily from Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti and is mostly male. (approximately 85-90%)

Some of the social issues that plague the community are poverty, alcoholism as well as domestic violence. In fact, according to Heather, on the previous Monday, a local shelter had led a march through town to protest the level of domestic violence. Another issue in the community is trafficking/forced labor that happens within the agricultural issue. To some extent there is also some concern about sex trade issues as there is a significant level of sex work that happens in the town.

People in the community who work on the farms have a fairly harsh existence. The work day starts finding the farm workers in parking lots at 4am awaiting buses from the tomato grower companies. The buses come and folks in the lots are selected (or not) and those selected take a drive that lasts up to two hours. Others return home and hope to be selected the next day.  The buses return in the evening at around 7am and less than eight hours later, folks are up again getting ready to go to the lot to hope for selection.  It leaves very little in the way of family life or any other existence besides working and sleeping.

 In 1993, workers on the Immokalee tomato farms started to convene and talk about the need to organize themselves. In 1996, CIW was established as a non-profit organization. www.ciw-online.org  CIW now has 4,000 members and 10 staff members. Since its inception Immokalee has been operating the “Campaign for Fair Food” which targeted Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Whole Foods, and more recently Chipotle and Subway. The campaign has 3 central demands: 1) Increase the amount that these companies pay for tomatoes to $.01 per pound. 2) Establish a code of conduct where the companies would sever the contracts of growers found guilty of abuses. 3) Ensure that CIW participates in the dialogue about policies and practices between purchasers and tomato companies.

CIW has also been engaged in dealing with the issue of modern day slavery.  In the past 10 years, the work of CIW has resulted in 7 convictions for trafficking.

After visiting Immokalee, Congressional Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont made the grim statement, “In Immokalee exploitation and poverty are the norm and slavery is the extreme.”

I asked Heather what kind of voter outreach was happening in Immokalee. She stated that the only voter outreach that has been done in Immokalee ever was occurring presently and being led by the Obama campaign.  I spoke to Jonathan next door who was operating the campaign out of the Lutheran Church and he confirmed that there had never been any voter outreach there and that he had found a situation of significant disenfranchisement of this community. His work was daunting but in the time there their office managed to register thousands of new voters. One woman was 96 years old and had never voted in her life after having witnessed a lynching of a person who tried to vote.  After multiple visits and reassurance they managed to convince this woman to register and vote early.

I had good conversations with Sylvia Perez, Nelly Rodriguez, and Heather Vega. Their comments can be found on the WOCU You Tube Channel, www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

In Hilton Head, South Carolina, I visited with Donna Williams, who was operating a phone banking initiative as part of the Obama campaign. Donna described being a part of the legacy from her grandmother who was part of the suffrage movement and who literally risked life and limb on behalf of the movement to secure the rights of women to vote. Throughout her life she has carried on the family tradition of activism and community involvement.

Both interviews can be found on the WOCU channel at www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

Between interactions with voters, Gail, one of the volunteers, gave me a bit of background on the community. She said that it is a working class area. She also stated that it was fairly racially segregated.  One illustration was a gentleman who came up and we offered him an “I’m A Woman of Color and I VOTE” button and said he could give it to his wife, whom he said was in line. Then, as he walked away, I said, “Well, I guess I can’t assume his wife is a woman of color”.  Her reply was, “In Harnett County, yes, you can.”

During my time there I was fortunate to be able to interview one of the women who came out to vote, Reverend Patricia Hurley, as well as Antoinette Fitzpatrick, a veteran activist who is serving with the Democratic Party. Videos of the interviewees can be found at www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

One interesting bit of drama that happened while I was there…there was a fellow who had been working hard from the time I arrived on going through the line, handing out voter guides and sample ballots to those waiting to vote.  Another person staffing the booth came back from an errand and found him in line handing out materials to everyone. She rebuked him saying that he should only be giving the materials to the black people in line! Well, this caused quite a stir indeed as most felt that yes, the materials should go to all but her feeling was that there is a clear racial divide which says that the white people are likely republican so why should time and materials be ‘wasted’ on them. Where as everyone else felt that a) there are white democrats, even in Harnett County and b) regardless, it looks bad for the Democratic Party and is bad for race relations in general for the outreach efforts to be viewed as discriminatory. A very interesting exchange.

Sadly, during the course of our time there (about 3 hours for me) there were many who went home because they didn’t have the time in their day or the time off of work to be in line for 3 hours.  I noted that of those that left, the majority (maybe 75%), were people of color. One African American fellow in a security guard’s outfit said, “Work starts in an hour and my boss won’t let me be late, even to vote.”

All three women gave insightful and riveting presentation of the dynamics of the lives of African American women, with a focus on the intersection of violence against women and HIV&AIDS. I concluded the panel with a brief presentation on the importance of coalition building to have a multi-faceted approach in addressing these complex dynamics, to maximize synergies, and achieve policy change.

I videotaped the presentations (except mine) and will upload them to the You Tube channel on www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

I’ve already uploaded interviews with Dr. Fairfax as well as Dr. Denise Davis Maye, who is also a professor at Alabama A&M as well as a farmer in rural Alabama. www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

Then I met Jaunese Harris of Prince Georges County for a lunch interview. Jaunese is a soror (sorority sister) of a WOCU member, Tricia Bent Goodley. Tricia recommended Jaunese as a good person to be interviewed because of her community activism.

Lunch with Jaunese was both a culinary treat (we ate at my favorite Thai spot) and a though provoking experience. I learned about Jaunese’s background as an IT professional who specializes in system security and works for the patents office in Alexandria, VA. Jaunese came to the Washington DC area from Petersburg VA to go to school and decided to stay.

Though she has no aspirations/ambitions for political office or a career in activism, she does believe that everyone has a role to play in making the political system work for them. She is a rare case of speaking from a position of comfort and commitment in terms of how the system has served her. However, Jaunese is committed to remaining involved to ensure that the system and its power wielders and decision maker are accountable to her and the needs of her community.

After lunch I had to go into downtown DC to pick up on of the 41 Million Strong roving video cameras so that I could upload Traci Griffith’s interview. Thus, I ended up leaving the city so late that it took me 4 hours to make the 2 hour journey to Philadelphia. I was due to meet Efia King, my next interviewee at 5pm but ended up meeting her at 8pm instead! Thank you to Efia for hanging in there to meet with me.

I had a great chat with Efia who is a 16 year old high school student who has become so inspired by the elections that she has gotten involved in doing voter outreach. She shared about issues that impact her and her community, as well as the importance of youth engagement. Please find her interview at www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited

Fortunately for me, from her sick bed Kris graciously recommended that I speak to Ashara Ekundayo, member of the Colorado Women’s Voters’ Circle initiative www.womensvotingcircles.com  and she shared Ashara’s number. I immediately called Ashara and was delighted by her flexibility and willingness to link up pretty much instantaneously because I needed to be in Colorado Springs to catch my flight  by 12:30pm and we spoke on the phone at around 10am. I was able to meet her by 11am in the historic Five Points area of Denver.

It is hard to put to words the vibrant spirit, character, and passion Ashara exuded as she spoke of the issues about which she cares– education and reproductive choice, her chosen path for civic engagement, and how she intertwines her culture work, her connection with youth and her justice lens. One really has to watch the footage of her interview to even begin to have a sense of Ashara.  Please visit the WOCU You Tube Channel to hear the wisdom and feel the energy. J www.youtube.com/womenofcolorunited  Also, please check out Ashara’s website at www.panafricanarts.org.

After starting the day a bit low, the Sisters of Fire Luncheon gave me the energy, strength and inspiration I needed to make the 9 hour journey to Las Vegas, arriving safely at about 11pm.

 Ms. Griffith graciously agreed to meet with me in her “humble” office prior to the start of her afternoon class.  Our meeting was brief, but meaningful.  She spoke of the rich culture of Vermont.  I must admit that I was skeptical that Vermont had any cultural offerings for people of color, but Ms. Griffith shared information related to the African refugee population clustered in certain parts of the region.  She offered contacts to link with that population as well as a number of upwardly mobile people of color who were making a difference in the community.  I was pleasantly surprised that Vermont had more to offer than delicious maple syrup and the finest apple orchards in the region. 

 Ms. Griffith stated that her students are energized about the political process and have done some advocacy work in the area with an emphasis on bordering New Hampshire .  She spoke of Vermont ’s small town dynamics and that some political leaders have routine town hall meetings where citizens have an opportunity to voice their concerns.  Ms. Griffith feels this is what is missing from most political machines: the ability to connect with the constituents on a personal level. 

Traci Griffith remains connected to her community and network of legal and political people of color who are passionate about preserving the values near and dear to most Americans.  She spoke fondly about the great time she had at the recent Congressional Black Caucus sessions in Washington, DC and that simply attending this annual event renews her spirit and motivation to continue the fight.  Traci Griffith is amongst the modest group of educated, professional African-American women who have not lost sight of the struggles that many people of color experience on a daily basis.  She ops to use her professional and social network as well as her role in the lives of young students as weapons in the plight of oppression.  This warrior will not be stifled. 

Click below to view Traci’s interview:

We were trained by an energetic young man named Kijani who did a great job of getting us ready to go out and educate community members on the ballot measures.  I was paired with him on the role play and he complimented me on being “a quick study” which I found inordinately gratifying. J I’m so easy.  Footage of our training (specifically a role play between Vivian and Abel) can be found on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

For canvassing I was paired with Vivian of APEN and we were given our marching orders to visit 200+ voters in the surrounding community. Vivian unwisely entrusted me with navigating with the map, but we somehow made it through our list.

Early on one sad observation that jumped out of us was the succession of foreclosed homes on the streets we were canvassing.  There was one short dead-end block where out of the 9 homes on the block, 6 were foreclosed.  I also grimly noted two homes where there were notices on the door from the water company informing residents of the number to call to get their water reconnected.  I was later told by one of the Just Cause advocates that the banks are actually working with the utility companies  and the cut off of utilities is one of the tactics used to get people out of their homes when they are being foreclosed.

The first home I visited, I was a bit intimidated going up the walk because there was music playing and much revelry going on in side. I felt quite intimidated about interrupting to talk about propositions! Anyway I knocked on the door nonetheless and a young man came to the door. He was all tatted up with a variety of tattoos all over his arms, neck, and bare chest. Distracting to say the least!  So I launched into my impassioned talk about the Propositions and he was very engaged in the discussion, and then some of the other young men started to crowd in the doorway. He ardently agreed to vote no on Props 6 and 9 and yes on Measure VV. I asked him to make sure everyone else in the household did the same. Much to my delight, as I walked away I heard the young gentleman giving his own twist in explaining the Propositions to the other occupants of the house. I honestly thought I was going to start weeping (yes, I’m an easy touch) at the power of grassroots approaches to spreading the word and educating folks about the policies that will affected communities. I looked at that young man and thought about how many in our society fear would fear him or at least dismiss him as not having anything to contribute and then listened to his passion as he was empowered with information to share with his peers. So inspiring.

At another home we visited there was a young man who stated that he was not eligible to vote because he was “a felon” but he stated that he was 8 month clean and would have his charges discharged in 80 days.  Meanwhile he wanted to volunteer as he was very inspired by the content of Propositions 6 and 9 and wanted to use his comparative advantage in being able to reach the ex-offender population in a way that works effectively with them and educate his peers to make policies and society works better for them.  This fellow’s sister, who is a registered voter, asked me if I had any more of my “I’m a Woman of Color and I VOTE” buttons. I said no, but gave her mind. She was excited and proudly stated that she would wear it every day so that the people at work and on the BART (public transportation system in Oakland and San Francisco) can see it.

An elderly woman actually approached me in a low income apartment complex and asked what I was doing. When I explained about the propositions she launched into a passionate monologue about how they are taking the money to build bigger prisons and put “our babies in there and never let them out” when what they need to be doing is giving kids a better education so they have the opportunities they need to keep them out of trouble.

I interviewed Amber and Jennifer, who talked about the work of APEN, the issues encountered by the Chinese Community, and the importance of increasing API civic engagement. Those interviews can be found on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

Over dinner, I also interviewed Darlena, who was originally born in India, but now lives in Berkeley.  She talked as a layperson about her participation in civic engagement and the issues that drive her involvement.

On the way to Oakland I was listening to public radio. There was a woman from Oakland talking about Proposition 8 which is on the ballot and proposes to overturn the California Supreme Court Ruling that found that discrimination based on sexual orientation was unconstitutional.  Ms. Anderson was married right after the recent legislation passed allowing for same sex unions. Her wedding was officiated by Mayor Ron Dellums and witnessed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee. She spoke about how she and her partner of many years had lived through the civil rights era she, as an African American woman, had to fight just to have her very humanity acknowledged so that she can achieve equal rights. Now, regarding Proposition 8, she is fighting another battle to be able to be afforded the same rights in being in a loving committed relationship with a same sex partner as persons in heterosexual relationships.

I also heard on the radio and saw on TV several times a commercial where “a Massachusetts couple”  talked about how their child had been taught about same sex marriages. On the TV commercial, they show the couple holding a book that says, “King and King” and depicts two men on the front cover. They couples testimony ends with them saying in outrage and lamentation, “Our son is in second grade!!” This is how they are spinning Proposition 8. In the commercials they are saying that Proposition 8 is about teaching children about “homosexuality” in schools.

Good thing is that contrary to the situation in Arizona with well financed anti-same sex marriage as well as amply financed campaigns to perpetuate predatory lending, I learned that California has a well financed opposition to those who want to ban equal rights for same sex couples.  Each side of the argument has raised $60 million dollars.

Otherwise, it was a beautiful drive and I arrived in Oakland safely.

Of their many programs, I was especially enthused to learn of their Young Women’s Leadership (a.k.a “Yellow”) program which engages high school students in civic participation. As they are looking for a project for 2009, it was suggested that they may be able to work with WOCU on a violence against women and/or HIV&AIDS related initiative, which was exciting. Learn more about their programs by listening to the interview where their programs are described on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

I interviewed Tanzila Ahmed and Usma Men about their own motivation for being involved in this work as well as their overviews of the work of OCAPICA including information on their outreach materials and methods, as well data that they have collected and analyzed on the effectiveness of their approach.  I was also fortunate to be able to observe OCAPICA’s multilingual phone banking. As a clear illustration of the importance of the work of OCAPICA, while I was there one of the high school student volunteers from Vietnam was on the phone for a long time with an 83 year old gentleman who had a mailer on voting in front of him and didn’t know what to do with it. He said it was telling him to pay $30 to vote.  Tanzila helped out with the student’s conversation and they determined that it was likely that the document wasn’t his mail-in ballot as he seemed to think and instead was likely a utility bill with a courtesy reminder to vote enclosed. So they helped him through actually determining how to get his ballot and vote.  Footage of the interviews as well as the exchange with the elderly voter can be found on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

Re the subject line of this post, one of the innovative programs of OCAPICA is their MOTIVATE Program with youth. Through this program they had a contest to design a t-shirt for their campaign. One creative Vietnamese youth came up with a design that had a bear going to a polling station with her/his ballot in hand. As the official turned her/him away, they showed the bear going off in the distance and then showed a person walking up. The slogan on the shirt is “Bears Can’t Vote, But You Should!” and it’s written in English and Vietnamese. When I was there the shipment of t-shirts arrived to the excitement of all who were present. You can see the t-shirt in the footage on the You Tube Channel.

After my time at OCAPICA, I went to a late dinner with Jasmine Burnett of the Black AIDS Institute. In an interview she shared her perspectives on issues that are important to her as a woman of color, as well as on the importance of civic participation. Her interview is posted on the You Tube Channel.

Meeting with Alejandro and Armando was good as they described the basic work of Mi Familia Vota. I appreciated one aspect in particular where Alejandro spoke of an 83 year old woman who was homebound and discovered through canvassing. When she expressed enthusiasm for the work but was skeptical about what her role could be in promoting civic participation, they said there is still much she could do. In the end, they organized for a local TV station to come and feature her voice in calling on her community to get involved and vote!  That was a warming story which illustrates that we all can and should have a role.

Armando specifically spoke about his work on engaging youth through having started a handball club through the generosity of a community member who built a handball court for this purpose and provides funding for the teams activities, including traveling.  During the course of this discussion I asked about women who are involved in the handball club. In a humorous response they pointed out how the handball is “hard” and how the girls have to be careful of their nails. J  The conversation ended soon after. J

Then I went out with Gina and Carla and we canvassed a neighborhood and apartment complex and informed residents about early voting options, including the mail-in voting option, and also got residents to complete a commitment card. In addition they shared about a “Payday Loan Reform Proposition” which, in actuality is a bit of legislation being advanced by predatory lenders that contrary to actually proposing real reform, suggests lowering the rates from 400% to 397%, according to Gina. What activists are demanding is a lowering to 38%.

The team was able to help out one woman who didn’t know how to do mail-in voting and Carla and Gina were able to provide her the forms which she and her mother filled out for them to mail in order for them to get their packages.

We also encountered a fellow, “Alex” who said he votes yearly. He pressed us to declare our candidate preferences which we didn’t do. He then stated that he’s a registered Democrat but hasn’t voted democrat since Kennedy and Johnson.  He said the reason he hadn’t voted Democrat was because of the abortion issue.  After some time and quite a bit of religious fervor, Gina finally said that she believes that women should have the right to make their own choices. Of course this doomed us to another 15 minutes of moralizing. J  Comments included, “If someone came along with a gun and decided to shoot and kill us all while we stand here innocently, is that right? It’s the same with abortion. Those babies are innocent and they never have a chance.”  In my observer status I didn’t feel like I could say anything, Carla was new to the work, and Gina certainly tried to assert herself but was also conscious of the rules around non-partisanship. At one point in the conversation “Alex” stated with reference to Gina’s comment re women’s right to choose, “Women are weak” to which I was finally forced to say, “Well, now we are DEFINITELY treading a slippery slope” to which he backpedaled a bit saying, “I didn’t mean it like that” to which I gave him a look that said, “Like what?” but then desisted from saying anything further.  When it was finally over and “Alex” invited us to come back around Christmas when his tangerines would be ready for harvest to get a few baskets full.  When we were out of earshot Gina said, “Wow….I could tell you were about to explode.” And we all laughed. As we were debriefing I shared about my earlier exchange around the handball club and said that “Alex”, Armando and Alejandro could maybe start a machismo club. J Gina said they get into a lot of those kinds of conversations.  To see video of Carla and Gina in action and talking about their work, visit the WOCU You Tube Channel. In her interview Gina stated that if Latinas don’t vote, the system won’t work for them because elected officials won’t see themselves as accountable to them.

When we got back to the office I did an interview with Abigail about Mi Familia Vota and what brings her to this work. This interview is available in English and Spanish on the WOCU You Tube channel.

The folks at Mi Familia Vota recommended that I speak to Adorian, an amazing student activist they had encountered and fortunately I was able to find her between classes and willing to talk! So I met her near the library at Arizona State University and we sat on a bench and talked. She had an interesting history of having been born in Anchorage, Alaska to an African American mother and a Japanese American father.  She moved to Arizona when she was four years old. She is the founder and President of the student multicultural association, MOSAIC. Having experienced life with a constant challenge and blessing of blending cultures and endeavoring to integrate, Adorian has considerable sensitivity around cross-cultural issues and thus felt a calling to be engaged with the work of Mi Familia Vota.  In her interview, which can be found on the WOCU web channel, she describes her path and her volunteer work with Mi Familia Vota, as well as some of the issues that she considers to be important to her and her community.

In the course of Adorian’s interview she mentioned that, as a corrections officer, she works under the office of Sheriff Arapaio. I had learned earlier, during my many conversations with Arizonians, that Sherriff is a fairly controversial figure due to his aggressive approach to law enforcement in general and curbing undocumented immigration particularly. Some of his tactics include forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, sleep in tents, and eat green food.  He is also being accused of racial profiling and lengthy detaining of people while their status is verified. As the elections approach he has a significantly comfortable lead over his opponent but immigrants rights advocates fear what a win will mean for their constituents.

For the remainder of the day I made the drive to L.A. which as complicated by the fact that in the middle of the trip, for about an hour, I was completely fighting nodding off slightly afraid to pull off to the side of the road. I did pull off at one point just to be responsible in terms of not risking the safety of others, but I was so nervous I couldn’t nap. Fortunately I got my second wind through sheer force of will and managed to revive myself for the rest of the journey. J  So all is well here in my hotel room in L.A.

Anyway, that evening, I was supposed to meet with two women (African American and Latina) who had traveled from California to Get Out the Vote in Arizona and whom I was going to shadow while they did their door knocking as part of SEIU for Obama’s GOTV campaign. I arrived at the appointed address, called both of their cell phones, texted both of them, and called both of their cell phones again another few times.  After an hour I never heard from them, which was very disappointing. I was also a bit worried about them because it was pitch black in this community in which they were supposed to be canvassing and I had just gotten confirmation an hour earlier that they were waiting for me. I left a message with the folks at SEIU about what happened.  Then I gave up and drove to Phoenix. I just hope they are okay.

Another word to the wise, in terms of matching ability to activity, if you have any type of dog related phobias, canvassing is not the avenue of civic engagement for you. J

When we returned to the Tom Udall office to report on our canvassing and return materials, I interviewed Caren Howard, who was originally from Maryland but ended up working for the Tom Udall campaign as an organizer. She tells her story on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

After interviewing Caren I departed for the 7+hour drive to Tucson.

Ana also shared with me about a canvassing project they do on the weekends which focuses on engaging non-voting youth both so that they influence their family members to vote, as well as to appeal to them early so that they subsequently become voting community members.  More on this can be found on the WOCU You Tube Channel.

I realized today that I should set aside my fears that I’m developing narcolepsy and come to terms with the fact that I returned from Guatemala sick and besides that I’m a bit exhausted from the intensity of being on the road. J So I’m taking it a bit easy on myself. J

I also got a great ticket to Denver for $175, even though I’m leaving tomorrow!

As I was working on materials for the website, I was trying to fill in voter participation stats for Native American/American Indian women and spent a good hour and a half chasing in conclusive ribbons of hope by trolling countless websites and documents. Finally, recognizing the limitations of relying on the web for everything as I tend to do, I decided to go to the source and called Native Vote www.nativevote.org and spoke with Loren Birdrattler. I needed to speak with the folks at Native Vote anyway to get a blurb from them for our website featuring the civic engagement work of communities of color and also wanted to touch base with them about our Western States visits. What a gift to find him and his desk and willing to talk!  He proceeded to tell me that, sad to say, the reason I wasn’t finding the information on Native American/American Indian women is because it’s not available! The census doesn’t collect this information because “the population is too small” even though the Native vote accounts for 3-20% of voters in various western states! Loren Birdrattler was also gracious enough to send me a document which is a guide on protocol for outsiders entering Indian nations as preparation for my upcoming visits in the western states. Thank you, Loren!

As the day draws to a close I have no voice.  Since around 4pm my voice began to fade to such an extent that my own mother didn’t understand what I was saying when I called her. She thought I was crying!  Anyway, I hope it becomes properly operational again tomorrow as I head to Denver.

Because I have a sticker on my laptop with our campaign slogan “I’m a Woman of Color and I VOTE” I end up getting into a lot of conversations about the elections. One fellow from North Carolina happened to be in the lobby of our hotel and began to also comment on the elections. His preference was clear, he assumed mine was the same, and then he proceeded to extol vigorously about he was confounded by how the nation can even consider any alternative. J

Today we said farewell to our Nicaraguan sisters who are returning home to unknown circumstances. We are keeping in touch with them to hear what happens and what support they may need from us.  I’ll send out an action alert via the WOCU listserv and will also mention in subsequent blogging, as needed.

My day ended with inspiring interviews with two of the Petateras, Cristobal and Alejandra, both of whom are Chicanas (Mexican) and live in the United States. I was fortunate to hear their impassioned perspectives on the elections.  Alejandra spoke of issues of environmental justice and talked about the need for civic engagement in various ways, including being involved in public office such as the city council. Cristal spoke about the need for immigration reform, increased economic opportunities (including funding for artist initiatives) and also her desire to see an end to the war. Return here to see the video from these interviews.

We ended the day and our time at the Americas Social Forum with another march. This time, the women gathered at the women’s tent, got ourselves organized, and then marched through the grounds with our usual chants from the first day, ending by taking over the stage of the day’s closing ceremony on the main stage.  Marchers had signs from the Women Won’t Wait Campaign reading “Las Mujeres No Esperamos. Acabemos Violencia Contra Mujeres y VIH/SIDA YA!” (Women Won’t Wait. End Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS NOW!) On the main stage women continued the justice chant as well as shared some musical performances. Then, the Feminist Manifesto, which had been compiled from contributions of many, was read to the throng of Social Forum participants.  It was in Spanish, so I picked up words and phrases here and there that I understood “sexual and reproductive rights,” “racism”, “against the war”, “violence against women,” “HIV&AIDS” “capitalism”, “patriarchy” etc. However, I promise to get an electronic copy of the manifesto and post it for all to read.

That evening as I enjoyed a rare moment online, on my homepage (New York Times) I was greeted with the image of the leaders of the G7 countries who were attending the IMF meetings and met to discuss how to work together to address the global financial crisis.  As I sat there staring at the photos of these 6 white men and one white woman, multiple thoughts were swirling in my head simultaneously. One, that it reminded me of a similarly demographically constructed image I had seen just a couple of weeks ago as US leaders gathered in the oval office of the White House (remarked upon by WOCU Member Tonya Perry and quoted in our road tour press release) to discuss the bailout of major US corporations. I thought of how the US situation is a microcosm of a larger dynamic where people of color/nations of color bear the brunt of bad policies and practices via climate change and the resulting disasters and other ramifications, the food crisis, global poverty, contagion (health related pandemics) and now the global financial crisis, all of which are very much interconnected. Whereas for many of the peers of the folks in the pictures, the economic downturn may mean taking one less family vacation, downsizing from a Hummer to an Accord paying a higher interest rate on the home that they own, for disproportionately many people and nations of color, the ramifications are much more severe. Whether it is the African American man with the family of five who just last week killed himself and his family because he couldn’t bear to go on anymore after having lost his job and was unable to care for his family, whether it’s the thousands who died in the 2004 Tsunami or the hundreds who dies in Hurricane Katrina, the millions who are dying of preventable diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, HIV&AIDS, and TB, or it’s the hundreds who are slowly dying bit by bit every day from being exposed to poisonous toxins every day in the western United States. These are the people who are not represented, but are instead subject to the determinations made by those in the pictures, in their small meetings, whose lives (and this is a bit of a generalization, I know) are scarcely touched by the realities of the throngs who suffer under their myopic decision making. It overwhelms me, fills me with despair, but also strengthens me to keep linking arms and continue weaving.

Jill is from San Antonio and is with the Southwest Worker’s Union working in economic and environmental justice.  Jihan is with the Indigenous Environmental Network in Fort Defiance Arizona.

Chelsea is from Arizona and is Navajo.  The Black Mesa where she resides has a land base that is larger than Rhode Island and the land touches both Navajo and Hopi reservations. In the 70s, the US government relocated hundreds of indigenous people because they wanted the land they inhabited. Chelsea’s father had 100 horses, 100 sheep, and 100 cows and was forced to leave his land and all of his possessions.  He was given money to build a house elsewhere. However, even that was problematic because in their new community some were given money and others weren’t, which resulted in resentment and divisions amongst the community members.  Yet another of many examples of government policies and practices driving wedges in communities.

Chelsea also spoke of the work that many on the reservations do in the coal and uranium mines. Many of the men who work in the uranium mines contaminate their families with radiation they bring home from the work sites.

Kandy, who is from a North Dakota reservation, shared her experience in having cancer at the age of 20, which is all too common in her community.  She spoke of the toxic emissions from the factories to which the high rates of cancer are attributed. Kandy also spoke of the contamination of water from oil refineries, gasification plants, etc. and she shared the resulting damaging effects of these industries on the health of the community members. Additionally, many of the men on the reservation take jobs on the oil rigs as they are enticed by high pay of $25/hour compared to minimum wage work for unskilled labor. However, the oil rig positions offer no health or other benefits. Given the negative health impacts of working on oil rigs, the combination of having no health benefits to deal with the effects of contact with toxins, is literally a deadly one.

She also spoke of how tar sands are taken from the land of native people in Canada and piped to the land of native people North Dakota to be refined and then the energy is shipped off to be used elsewhere.  This extractive abuse of native lands is a pattern that is repeated time and time again.  People come in with damaging practices and their extractive industries take from the land, and then they return with waste to be dumped in landfills. All of this occurs disproportionately in communities of color including indigenous lands.

Kandy also noted that there is enough wind (ie clean energy) in North Dakota to power the entire United States.  However, people are unwilling to change their practices and systems of profit to utilize this natural resource which would be a safe and clean alternative to currently expensive, toxic and climate damaging methods of producing energy.  She noted that neither Presidential candidate has been bold enough to propose a dramatic shift in energy sources to truly clean energy.

One participant, from the Third World Coalition shared some of the intergenerational work that is taking place in communities of color in the US.  He observed that technology is taking us from our roots and our relationship with the earth even in very basic ways such as how kids are staying indoors more instead of experiencing nature and playing outside. 

He also spoke of the need to shift how we live and the perception of well-being because one of the damaging aspects of society is the quest for the poor to live like the rich and what “the rich” is emulating are negative practices that are being perpetuated. With the US as the icon of “rich” which, for better or worse, others are trying to replicate, we are setting a very poor example indeed.

According to the workshop organizers, there are simple things we can do to improve the environment,   like reduce waste generation and recycle, as well as engaging in more involved approaches like nonviolent direct action, driving a hybrid vehicle, etc. For more information on steps we can take, one can visit www.ienearth.org or www.climatechallenge.org

At the conclusion of the session I had the great fortune to interview the four presenters as part of the 41 Million Strong Campaign. To my great delight, all were involved in galvanizing civic participation in their communities, so they had rich perspectives to share, both on why civic engagement is critical as well as on how they have participated in encouraging civic participation. To hear what they have to say, please return to this space to look for the video upload.

As part of my role in the “Observatorio” (a process by which Las Petateras were gathering views from folks attending the conference on how feminist/women’s rights issues perspectives were included) I interviewed Kim, a woman who was from Grandbeat, Connecticut, but who has been working for almost 2 years in El Salvador. Our conversation ran the gambit but I’ll try to summarize here because her observations and perspective were important.

Kim went to a session organized by Allianza Nacionale Communidades Latino Americanas y Caribenas where they were examining the 2008 elections and speculating on its impact on immigration policy.  They spoke about how, between the Republicans and the Democrats, there was not much difference in their platforms because neither party is bold enough to put forth an agenda for progressive immigration reform. The reforms that are on the table focus on increasing border control, surveillance, and increasing funding for detention.  The proposed “guest worker program” cannot be characterize as progress because it would result in a situation where workers would have no rights to unionize or organize. 

The session talked about the importance of the Latino bloc of voters.  They provided statistics saying that 70% of Latinos are citizens and spoke of how by 2030 1/3 of the population will be Latino. They also spoke of the healthy fear of this specter by the dominant population.  Currently there are 26 million Latinos living in the United States, which totals about 15% of the population. 18.2 million Latinos are of voting age. 12 million are registered to vote and it is estimated that 10 million will vote.    Particularly in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Florida, Latinos are a critical voting bloc that could swing the vote as many Latinos are neither particularly right, nor left, in their politics.

Otherwise, we spoke of how for Kim, the Americas Social Forum is a continuation of her learning about the region and the impact of US foreign policy and practices here. She spoke specifically massacres that had occurred in El Salvador and elsewhere as a result of US intervention. As an example, she described her first hand experience accompanying a community in El Salvador.  On the anniversary of one of the massacres, they exhumed the bodies of 22 people and had the funeral those loved ones never had, decades later.  Approximately 75,000 people died during that massacre and most people in the United States have no idea of what travesty their tax dollars were funding.  Kim spoke of how much she learned not only about what’s happening abroad but that her experience overseas opened her eyes to what is happening right Northern Connecticut in communities of color as the patterns of systematic oppression are so similar, as are the results. She realized how blind and insulated members of the white middle class can be from the rest of reality and is committed to doing her part to bring about enlightenment and change, if only in Grandbeat!  I very much appreciated the opportunity to chat with Kim and we plan to keep in touch.

Las Petateras ended the day with a reception hosted by the United States Social Forum organizers. www.2007ussf.orgFolks were there from the Grassroots Global Justice Delegation including Project South, Domestic Workers United, and others.  I distributed “I’m a Woman of Color and I VOTE” buttons which, to my delight, were received with eagerness.  After a long day, we didn’t stay long, but I did have the fortune of a good chat with a woman from the Audre Lorde Project on LGBTQQI rights for women of color www.alp.org and I look forward to following up with her.

In this group discussion, we focused on how to build linkages between justice work in the US (so the title was a bit of a misnomer, but again, this it’s all about interpretation) and in the global south. There was acknowledgement of existing linkages through the immigrant communities, as well as through organizations who have intentionally built relationships through exchanges and joint work.  Thanks to the presence of AFSC, there was discussion about work which particularly occurs in communities of color given common experiences of communities of color in the US and nations of color globally. There was also discussion of how those of us in the belly of the beast have a role to play in exerting whatever influence we have in shifting US domestic and foreign policies and advancing a justice agenda.  We had a bit of discussion as well about the pros and cons of single issue organizing.

In the afternoon, the Petateras had another truth telling circle. A vast diversity of women shared experiences once again. As happens more often than not when we share our stories, there was an abundance of tears. One sister and her friend told the heartbreaking tale of the disappearance of their fathers on the basis of their social justice work. They each wore around their necks pictures of their fathers and spoke of the trauma and loss experienced by their families and especially lamented the loss of their youth and the care free days they are supposed to be experiencing as young adults. Instead their existence is shrouded in fear and grief. What struck me is that I had dined at the neighboring table at a café with these women just the day before. As we chatted and commiserated about slow service, there was no indication of the layers and depth of pain they were managing behind the smiles and the rolling of eyes over our delayed lunch. It just shows what many of us carry that is not apparent until we have the opportunity to share our stories. 

Through the truth circle women shared stories of violence, stories of denied sexual and reproductive rights, stories of maternal mortality and HIV&AIDS, and stories of struggles around LGBTQQI rights, among others.  Again, these stories were parallel to the struggles of my sisters in the US (high infant and maternal mortality rates within communities of color, HIV&AIDS is the leading cause of mortality for black women, high rates of street violence and domestic violence in our communities, etc)

I did a radio interview today to speak both about the 41 Million Strong Campaign and to share reflections on the Americas Social Forum. The interview was on Radio Feminista–FIRE (Feminist Radio International Endeavor) www.fire.or.cr with Maria Suarez, famously fierce feminist who is originally from Puerto Rico, but has lived in Costa Rica for the past 28 years.  Preceding me on the radio show was Jocelyn Gill Campbell of Domestic Workers United, www.domesticworkersunited.org  a US based union for nannies, housekeepers, and other domestic workers.  I was inspired by the account of these women who have come together to organize for their right to fair labor standards and respect for their profession.

Later in the day we had a conversation that was structured similarly to the Truth Circles of which WOCU sister Mehret often speaks.  Women from El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cuba, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Honduras, the United States, and elsewhere came together to share experiences and struggles. We gathered, not with any preconceived expectations of “measurable outcomes”. We convened instead to share, hear other perspectives, receive compassion and support, and to plan the seeds for some, and fertilize the blooms of other, linkages of struggles.

I shared about Women of Color United and how we came together around the intersection of violence against women and HIV&AIDS globally, but also how those pandemics are intersectional with so many dynamics that we find ourselves also working on issues of economic justice, racial justice, sexual and reproductive rights, housing rights, environmental justice, disability rights, and a variety of concerns. I shared the challenge of organizing across racial, ethnic, and indigenous groups in the US, as well as across borders and that one aim of our time here as WOCU is to deepen our links with our global sistren, particularly as so many WOCU members have roots in the Americas region.

As an illustration of some of the challenges of movement building that we also experience at home, during a lengthy period of this shared space, there was open tension and animosity between several women from Nicaragua. Some of the women who stated that they were feminists were pro-government and spoke in defense of the government, stating that the regime supports women and does not persecute feminists as was alleged. Several of these women had spent up to 40 years fighting as part of the Sandinistas. Some women stated that they were also feminists and spoke of infringement and denial of their rights and stated that their very lives and wellbeing have been threatened under the current regime.   It was a very tough discussion and was illustrative of the fact that though there is much more that unites us in our struggles for women’s rights, there are a plethora of intersectional issues, including political allegiances and other principled stances, that act as significant and historical divisions that can impede a linked walk and joining of forces to agitate for women’s rights.

When I met up with the Petateras again later in the day they were in the women’s tent dancing in a conga line. After refusing several entreaties to join in, I couldn’t deny the invitation of an elder woman who was a Guellirerra (female in the armed struggle) in the Guatemalan war for 23 years. My albeit pacifist self still felt a deep sense of respect and honor for this woman who had sacrificed so much for freedom and social justice, and yet was still there feeling the joy of the dance.

Together we ‘weave’ our perspectives, experiences, and strategies for social change and we seek to be weavers/connectors of other groups and people in our respective spheres into collective spaces of dialogue, sharing, joint processes, and linked progress towards justice.

At this political moment in the United States, it is a critical time for me to be at the Americas Social Forum weaving the voices here into the political discourse at home.  Most know the old adage, “When the United States of America sneezes, the world gets a cold”. With the historical and current deeds as well as the geopolitical position of the US being what they are, my being here and engaging in exchanges with the Petateras and the thousands of others who are here united towards lifting issues of regional and global significance, is key.

This engagement yields an important set of perspectives for the 41 Million Strong Campaign, which seeks to amplify the voices of those who while greatly impacted by US policies, are traditionally invisible/voiceless in the development of those policies.

So, rewinding a bit, yesterday morning I started off at 8:30am at the Bible Way Ministries Church!  At Bible Way, an African American church in South East Atlanta, a family (not so coincidentally named Patterson) with the encouragement and support of political firebrand Pastor Monte Norwood, set up a table and conducted voter registration outreach with congregants.  Their approach was simple. A table, a bowl of candy, and a stack of registration forms. As congregants passed the table, Jack (my brother) or Tara Patterson (my sister-in-law) asked if they were registered and offered the opportunity for them to register at the table. 

While I was there a young woman, who had just turned 18, took advantage of the table to register as a new voter. Another woman was a newly established Georgia resident who had just moved from South Carolina. So she took advantage of the conveniently located Patterson Voter Registration table to register as well. 

We just encouraged all others who passed to be sure to vote. Many stated that they had already taken advantage of Georgia’s Early Voting!

Other women came by the table and provided their viewpoints on civic participation and the importance of all voices and votes being counted.  Check out their comments in the “Views from the Campaign Trail” section.

N.B. Word to the wise, do not set up your table under a beehive. My sister-in-law was stung by a bee L in the midst of her noble efforts (fortunately it was only slight as it didn’t fully get to embed itself before she felt the sensation and brushed it off.) I spared you all some rather comically wild footage of me holding the video camera while being chased by a bee all around the table! (I have a bit of a bee phobia).

At 11:30am, I embarked on my journey home.  Since all will tell you I’m the slowest driver they know, I didn’t arrive home until 1am.  I was met by the intrepid Alecia McGregor who very graciously made the trek from Washington DC to Burtonsville MD in a rented Zip Car, no less, at 1:30am.  We finished up all of our final details discussion before our respective journeys and I passed off a bag of “I’m a Woman of Color and I VOTE” buttons and stickers and then saw Alecia off at 2am. After packing, organizing stuff, and catching a 45 minute nap, I left for the airport at 4am bound for the America’s Social Forum.

Remember how I lost my debit card on Thursday? Well, when I went to buy a salad in the Atlanta airport (ironically after driving for 13.5 hours from Atlanta the night before, my flight to Guatemala was routed through Atlanta) the one and only credit card I had with me was declined! Since the salad was already made at this point I gave up my $7 and the change I had at the bottom of my purse to make this purchase. Since my flight was leaving moments later I fled for the flight and boarded the plane with the frightening knowledge of being penniless (not that the $7 would have gotten me very far) and now also without a lick of credit. All I could think was, ‘What if my pick-up isn’t there at the airport?”, as happens SO often with international travel! Long story short, the pick up wasn’t there, but fortunately some of my fellow delegation members were there. So I rode to the hotel with them.

Later, here in Guatemala via Skype I called my visa company and found out that because of the uncharacteristic surge in activity on my credit card (due to my total reliance on the visa after the loss of my debit card) they had frozen it! I got it unfrozen and even got a pin number so that I can withdraw cash.  So all is well now and I should be fine until I can get back home and get my debit card. J

I started the day’s activities with a presentation to a Human Behavior I class at the Social Work School at Alabama A&M University, a historically black university. I gave a summary of my path from being a social work student to being a social justice activist, including a synopsis of the 41 Million Strong Campaign.

After the class a group of three students, Maya, Lorraine, and Sparkle, agreed to sit down with me and share their views on civic participation, how well represented they feel they are in the political system and processes, and on what issues matter to them as they visit the polls and choose their elected officials.  (Links to the video of the discussion will be added soon….it’s taking a long time to upload all of the footage.) 

After the class and interviews, I joined Sister Tonya as she shed her university hat and donned the yoke of campaigner and civic activist! 

I accompanied Tonya to the Appeal Beauty Salon where, as part of the Register ‘N Style: The Future is NOW Campaign, she drops off blank voter registration forms and picks up completed ones. The Register ‘N Style Campaign focuses on voter engagement through beauty parlors and barber shops in Huntsville.

The beauty salon owner we visited, Lois Faye Jones, sat with Tonya and passionately shared about her voter registration outreach, about what civic participation means to her, and about the issues that matter to her. (Interview video coming soon.)

I ended the day by driving back to Atlanta in preparation for tomorrow’s round of church outreach that I plan to cover in the morning before heading home.

Afterwards, I drove to Huntsville, Alabama where, I have several events lined up, thanks to the impromptu stewardship of my pending visit by a dear friend, colleague, and WOCU member, Tonya Perry, Social Work Professor at Alabama A&M University.

During that westward drive I experienced another phenomenal accomplishment of the day.  After extensive and copious inquiring and cajoling, a bright star came to the fore in the form of WOCU Member Alecia McGregor of Metro Teen AIDS who, on just a few days’ notice, has valiantly agreed to take the lead on the road tour next week while I’m in Guatemala! Not only that, but she has also identified Torkwase, a culture worker from Philadelphia who has also agreed to be on board. Together they will visit Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Fantastic! Thank you, Sisters! 

Between the connections in Alabama, the Sisters Song bounty, and the commitment from roadsters Alecia and Torkwase, this has been a stellar day!

Fortunately, I ended the day with some excellent leads for activities for the coming days, so I have a resurgence of optimism and enthusiasm for the road ahead.

Midstream life intervened and I ended up making a sharp left turn somewhere in Tennessee and going to Atlanta instead. J 

Well, tomorrow is another day and I trust I’ll regroup and go from there.

Volunteer Directing Ohio Residents to Early Absentee Voting

Ohio–that red state, blue state, who knew state–was another intense battleground visited on our GOTV tour.  We saw a lot of Get Out the Vote activities in Columbus and talked with several local activists.  It was one of those places in the U.S. that I had never ever been to, and just sort of imagined as a vast prairie in between the two coasts.  As ignorant as it sounds, I was surprised to see real legitimate buildings and a downtown area bustling with people.  Well maybe “bustling” is an exaggeration, but I did see a few pedestrians here and there. 

Anyway.

During our roughly 25 hours in town, we caught a lot of action.  First, we hit up the Early Absentee Polling Place taking place at Veterans Memorial Auditorium downtown on Broad St.  There were plenty of campaigners outside in the parking lot, and during the hour we spent there we spoke with several women of color who were showing up early to get their vote in. 

One woman wanted to vote early as she knew she would be on vacation on Nov. 4th.  Others showed up to make sure that their vote counted. 

Here are some highlights from the conversations we had with women of color who showed up to vote early:

A Registered Republican Woman Speaks on the Use of Tokenism and on the Economy

Hadn’t Voted in 11 Years and is Now Voting Because she Feels Empowered to Speak Out and Also Wants to Set an Example for Her Daughters

Political Activist Voices her View that “Women of Color Were Scapegoated in these Elections.”

In addition to engaging women at the polling place, Torkwase and I interviewed three local women health professionals working toward health care of communities of color in Columbus.  Angela Billingslead and Dana Scarlett of Project HIP spoke with us about the need for increased funding of HIV prevention programs in the United States and for the need for in-your-face prevention messages. Having recently returned from Botswana and South Africa where prevention campaign messages were ubiquitous, Ms. Billingslead expressed that it is a shame that in the US, the campaign message is nowhere to be found.

Ms. Scarlett, who has been HIV positive for 20 years, and finds it empowering to work in the field and encourages others with HIV to overcome STIGMA, and to come out with her status.  She voiced that she grew up with hustlers, pimps, and drug addicts and does not regret it, because the exposure to that side of life is invaluable to understanding what scores of others are experiencing around the country.  Politicians never come into certain communities, she explained, and have no idea what the other side is facing.  This is why they need to hear our voices!!!

Another incredible woman interviewed was Suban Egal, a Somali-American woman who works with Tuberculosis patients within the local Department of Health, and views health as a human right.  She helped to shed some light on the Somali immigrant community in the Columbus, the second-largest Somali population in the US.  And also told us about her active role in encouraging Somali-Americans who are citizens to become civically involved.  Her exasperation with the common view held by many Somalis that they are “just lucky to be here” motivated her to urge members of the community to register to vote, every evening of Ramadan at her local mosque.  Even though some felt the mosque wasn’t the proper forum for such secular discourse, she was determined to encourage other Somali Americans to exercise their political voice.   

Also, DEMONSTRATING OUR PHENOMENALLY GOOD FORTUNE, we happend to catch a campaign rally, and got to see presidential hopeful Barack Obama, speak in front of a crowd of hundreds in the middle of the workday, in Genoa park.  It was exciting, to say the least, to see him in person. 

One thing that’s important to note, that a work colleague of mine brought to my attention, is that NO CAMPAIGN PARAPHERNALIA IS ALLOWED AT POLLING PLACES IN MANY STATES.  Please keep that in mind!  Keep your Sarah Palin and Joe Biden T-shirts at home people, or else you will risk being disenfranchised.  With the pins you can just take them off before you vote–with T-shirts you face the catch 22 of disenfranchisement on one hand, indecent exposure on the other.  Not a good situation. 

Driving along Interstate 70, away from the city, I noticed an almost even mix of lawn signs boasting support for the democratic president/vp team and the republican candidates.  Although a lot of citizens came out in support of Obama a Friday afternoon, there seemed to be a pretty thick tension in between the two sides. 

I was a little unsettled as I left the state though.  As I crossed a railroad track close to the Ohio/Michigan border, I saw that someone had scribbled a disturbing message in HUGE LETTERS on one of the train cars: “ISLAM SUCKS.” 

Yikes.

I am officially 24 hours into the 41 Million Strong Campaign road tour.  Before I left DC, I had no idea what to anticipate on the trip, nor had I ever been involved in anything like this before.  Still, I can’t really explain what compelled me to, at a moment’s notice, put in for all my remaining vacation days to be a part of this movement. The one thing I do know is that women of color have a keen sense of their own needs, and need a platform for their voices to be heard by those who inhabit the formal institutions of political decision-making.  And as a woman of color myself, I have a stake in carving out that space.       

Yesterday, I left the DC area and headed down to the Hampton Roads/Tidewater region of Virginia. This area has been a fiery battleground of political activity for the past few months and, no doubt, will continue to be hot leading up to the November election.

Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns are spending profusely on television ads and other campaign activities in the region. This is also quite a diverse area—with a busy Naval base, a rich African American history, and individuals and families of all shades and political leanings.

In fact, the port of Norfolk was the port from which most Southern African Americans departed to cross the ocean to Liberia, in the Marcus Garvey era.  Continuing in the tradition of moving towards liberation, there seems to be many women’s groups who are organizing around this election.

Last night I attended an event held by Women for Obama in Virgina Beach. Because yesterday was the last day to register to vote, I was told that earlier that day there were a number of Get out the Vote activities. I’m disappointed that I made it into town too late to catch the action, but without a doubt, I felt the enthusiasm at the event last night. I also got a chance to speak with the founder of Black Women for Obama in the Tidewater region, who is actively engaged with many other women’s networks in the area and has been active herself in the non-profit, HIV/AIDS prevention field.

Today, I visited the campus of Old Dominion University where I did some outreach to young women of color.  A young woman named Mya, who plans to work in the anti-Domestic Violence field told me about her passion to stay involved in the political process and why she votes.  Her voice can be heard here:

Tonight, I am heading to a debate watching party in Philadelphia! And with that, I gotta hit the road again before rush hour renders me immobile.

Stay tuned.

Our whistle stop in Pittsburgh couldn’t have been more encouraging.  Early this morning, I picked up Torkwase Dyson, our videographer/photographer extraordinaire, from her place in Philadelphia (not without getting lost a few times), and we headed up to Pittsburgh with a purpose.

The founder of New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Choice, an extraordinary individual by the name of La’Tasha Mayes, convened a group of women leaders in the community to dialogue with us on the topic of our trip: women of color and civic participation.

Needless to say, we were among a group of extremely activist women, each of whom, are civically involved in different ways, and firmly believe in the importance of political participation.  One attendee voiced her firm belief that it is the responsibility of women of color working at the grassroot to bring their issues to the forefront.

She stated that “We should have the passion and wherewithal to bring our issues to the forefront of their table.”  This was followed by a discussion that reinforced the notion that grassroots organizers, who care about the issues that concern themselves and those immediately connected to them, should candidly approach representatives to advocate on their behalf.

Further, attendees believed that even once one step in a series of changes is made, organizers must persevere, continuing to put necessary pressure on representatives, to ensure that the appropriate next steps are taken to adequately address the problem.  In other words, don’t ease the pressure until the problem is truly solved.

In terms of specific political issues, the community leaders at the table had a lot to say.  Not surprisingly, healthcare was one of the first issues mentioned.  Roxanne Banks-Williams, of the League of Young Voters, asserted her frustration with the fact that yearly ob/gyn appointments are often denied to women with basic health insurance packages as it is considered “preventive” care.

Unemployment and the Environment were also issues of concern in Pittsburgh.  Tony, a co-founder of New Voices for Reproductive Choice, stated that she is “tired of seeing men of color standing around with nothing to do,” during the day.

Further, she explained that the August Wilson center being built in Pittsburgh has almost no men of color, and certainly no women of color, employed at the site.  She would like to see more people of color included in these projects.  Support for systematically connecting unemployed people of color in urban cities to Green jobs was also expressed.  This innovative and timely approach to addressing urban poverty can be read about in Van Jones’ The Green Economy.

There was also an expressed frustration with the presence of violence in communities of color in the U.S. and with the continued use of warfare/military might as a means to assert political control over countries abroad.

One woman voiced her support of Barack Obama as a presidential candidate, but noted that although his platform addresses her concerns with many of the inequities and socioeconomic ills taking place domestically, she is frustrated with his unwillingness to deviate from the status quo role of the U.S. as a bully in the geopolitical realm.

She believed that if more women and men of color were given a central place at the table, a less violent and less imperialistic foreign policy would pervade.

To say the least, we learned a lot from the women we spoke with in Western Pennsylvania today.  I go to sleep anticipating what the women of Columbus, OH will share with us tomorrow.

WOCU is implementing the 41 Million Strong Campaign, a strictly non-partisan project that does not endorse candidates for public office. The 41 Million Strong Campaign is a national voter mobilization and education initiative designed to mobilize women of color to vote in the 2008 Elections and inform candidates and voters about issues disproportionately impacting women of color in the U.S. and globally.

For a map of the tour, check out the WOCU pictorial tour map here.

Follow the Women Of Color United GOTV Tour Schedule around the country.  We hope to see you on the tour.  For a detailed calendar of dates, please check out the Women Of Color United GOTV Calendar.

View Larger Map

The Tour will head to the following cities:

October 1 Nashville, TN
October 2 New Orleans, LA
October 3 Atlanta, GA
October 4 Atlanta, GA
October 5 Raleigh-Durham, NC
October 6 Washington DC
October 7 Richmond, VA
October 8 Pittsburgh, PA
October 9 Pittsburgh, PA
October 10 Detroit, MI
October 11 Chicago, IL
October 12 Green Bay/Milwaukee
October 13 Louisville/Indianapolis
October 14 Travel Day to Washington, DC
October 15 Travel Day to Denver
October 16 Denver
October 17 DRIVING
October 18 Albuquerque, NM
October 19 DRIVING
October 20 Phoenix, AR
October 21 DRIVING
October 22 Los Angeles/San Diego
October 23 DRIVING
October 24 San Francisco, CA
October 25 Oakland
October 26 DRIVING
October 27 Las Vegas, NV
October 28 RETURN to DENVER
October 29 Travel Day to DC/Baltimore, MD
October 30 Philadelphia/Delaware
October 31 Philadelphia/Leave for Florida
November 1 Charlotte, NC
November 2 Charleston, SC
November 3 Gainesville/Fort Myers, FL
November 4 Miami, FL

Get Out The Vote Tour Launches In Oxford, Mississippi

Jacqui Patterson, WOCU Organizer launched the 41 Million Strong Road Tour in Oxford, MS during the Campaign to End AIDS–Stand Against AIDS caravan tour and strategy meeting last week.

WOCU announced the launch of the 30 day tour around the country to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) in the swing states across the country.

Last week, caravans traveled different routes across the country to Mississippi to demand that our next President, John McCain or Barack Obama, develop a national plan to end the HIV & AIDS epidemic.which has claimed almost a million lives domestically.

Infection rates are on the rise and life-saving care and treatment aren’t available to everyone who needs them. The Stand Against AIDS campaign demands accountability from our country’s elected, religious, civic, and social leaders to take a stand against homophobia, stigma, discrimination, and ignorance. Together we must also demand accountability from ourselves to reengage to the urgency of saving our communities and protecting those who are marginalized and underrepresetnted.

WOCU was proud to launch its campaign with our allies in the struggle last week in Oxford. The road tour is being conducted in partnership with the Women of Color Resource Center (www.coloredgirls.org) and is supported by  funding from the Mitchell Kapor Foundation (www.mkf.org).