(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



For Equity, Justice, and Respect Don't Just Vote. Organize! [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-08

“For the last election, I helped get people to the polls and encouraged them to vote for Democrats.

Now, there's not much to show for it. So, a lot of folks think voting is a waste of time.” So said a neighbor when I knocked on his door with another member of Community Voices Heard, I to talk about a campaign to address the housing affordability crisis in my gentrifying community, Beacon, NY. He appeared to refer to the elections of both our Democratic mayor and President Biden.

"Well," we replied, "Maybe we're electing the wrong Democrats. Anyway, none of them get anything done unless we organize to put pressure on them." We asked him to sign a petition to get our town to take advantage of the New State Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which would establish rent stabilization, and to join us at our next organizing meeting.

Our mayor and the president have no primary challengers in the coming election cycle. Will voters show up or stay home?

I regularly get fundraising emails from the Democratic National Committee and Joe Biden. The gist of the pitch is a list of accomplishments and a plea to vote to "help me finish the job."

Of course, I know that this is an election to defend democracy and basic human rights against a Republican-led onslaught. However, if reelecting Democrats depends on reminders of accomplishments that people aren’t feeling, we are all in trouble.

Cuing me about what got done doesn’t inspire without day-to-day lived change for the better. Neither does avoidance victories over what could have been worse. Too many of us continue to live with the precarity of being a paycheck away from a missed rent or mortgage payment and losing our home. Too many tenants in my town are afraid to demand routine maintenance from negligent landlords. Too many of us spend countless hours in fruitless navigation of our byzantine non-system healthcare system to deal with our own or our loved one's illnesses. The too many of us list is too long to recount.

The Infrastructure and Jobs Act was a significant victory on many fronts, but it still falls far short of what is needed to address the insecurity that is tearing us apart. But here’s the thing: While its passage was a triumph of organized citizen pressure, its considerable limitations are the result of not enough citizen pressure. The same thing is true in my town. Passage of a local law to protect tenants from arbitrary eviction was the result of local organizing, the latter over the sole no vote by our Democratic mayor. Our mayor often points out that Beacon has more affordable housing than other communities. That’s cold comfort to those who need it but can’t access it. We need to do far more to address pervasive and escalating housing insecurity. That will only happen with more citizen pressure.

Here are my two takeaways from the conversation at the door:

1) For elected leaders who care about equity and human rights: Don't tell people what you've accomplished. Ask people about their needs and concerns. Listen for whether it's connected to what you think you've accomplished. If not, be honest. Tell them that nothing gets done by politicians without organized pressure from citizens separate and apart from election campaigns, even for you.

2) For the rest of us who live with the daily insecurity of living in America in 2023: Your vote matters. So does joining election campaigns for politicians who prioritize human needs over profit. However, both are very far from sufficient to secure equity and human rights. Do more: Join local and state groups fighting for housing, healthcare, education, nutrition, environmental safety and sustainability, and justice that meets everyone's needs without exception. If you can't find the group and issue that moves you, start one.

Arthur H. Camins is a lifelong educator. He writes about education and social justice. He works part-time with curriculum developers at UC Berkeley as an assessment specialist. He has taught and been an administrator in New York City, Massachusetts, and Louisville, Kentucky. The ideas expressed in this article are his alone.

Follow him:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/arthurcamins

Substack: https://arthurhcamins.substack.com/

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/8/2174020/-For-Equity-Justice-and-Respect-Don-t-Just-Vote-Organize

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/