RFS feel-good update (11/22): Happy Thanksgiving
We're grateful for you!
Hi all -
First: Happy Thanksgiving! Whether you’re celebrating safely with vaccinated friends and family or just home taking the day off and eating mac-n-cheese right out of the pot, I hope your week is good, restful, and everything you want it to be.
Second: Let’s talk about school boards. (As always.)
You absolutely must read this:
Back in the 1990s, leaders on the religious right began to realize that school boards wield an enormous amount of power — both in their control over students’ experiences, and in the way they can shape the debates that define other races on the ballot. So the Christian Coalition led a campaign to elect as many social conservatives onto school boards as they could.
Today, the right is turning its attention back to school boards, and the consequences for progressives and students across the country could be dire. … By mobilizing conservative candidates to run for school elections — and encouraging their base to disrupt public meetings — Republicans are building a strong organizational structure to help them fight culture wars on the ground and seize power from the bottom up.
The entire op-ed is worth reading. If you need more on school boards, The Daily from the NYTimes went long and did TWO episodes on school board fights, specifically focusing on PA. You can listen to part one and part two while you’re cooking. (I especially found part two fascinating; they dig deep into what the GOP strategy is around school board races and how they plan on expanding into the future.)
“The question of who sits on a school board has become a question of which version of America will prevail.”
Meanwhile, the school board fights are taking a new twist, as parents and the GOP are protesting mental health initiatives like suicide prevention programs, mental health coordinators, and social emotional learning. Kids will be seriously harmed (or even die) because of shit like this.
All of that’s to say: This is why Run for Something is focusing on school board elections in depth this year and next (and beyond) — we have to fight to win.
Last week’s verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial was both deeply disappointing and ultimately unsurprising. The judge in the trial was elected and re-elected for nearly ~40 years, often running unopposed. Electing people to judicial roles — and many other legal positions like DA and sheriff — who care about holding folks accountable really really matters, and we have to do it year-round.
In better, more cheery good-news updates from across the RFS community:
A huge win!! Dr. Aditi Bussells won her runoff for Columbia City Council and made history. We love to see it.
The next generation of advocates for America’s farmers are Black women, like GA state senator Kim Jackson: “It’s easy to define people by stereotypes, but a new wave of lawmakers is defying them – and bringing equity as a result.
In Stone Mountain, Georgia, for example, Confederate symbols, Confederate street signs, and a giant Confederate carving loom over a community that today is largely Black and aiming for diversity. The city, like so many where we live, defies easy definitions.
So does its most prominent resident.
State Sen. Kim Jackson is a farmer, a priest, a podcaster, and, as of this year, an elected official.”
Delmarina Lopez will become the first person of color to serve on the Chicopee City Council in Massachusetts. Making history matters.
NY assemblywoman Amanda Septimo is arguing for Good Cause legislation, which would help millions of tenants in non-rent stabilized housing from facing egregious rent hikes and predatory landlords.
Burhan Azeem - the youngest candidate who won a seat on the Cambridge City Council this year - is ready to tackle housing policy because it’s personal for him.
Sacramento City Unified School District Trustee Chinua Rhodes is taking on an additional job as director of community engagement for the city, further plugging him in with the people he represents.
RFS has got a whole family in office in Arizona: Mexican-American Jewish sisters Alma (in the state legislature) and Counseulo Hernandez (on the Sunnyside school board in Tucson) are leading the charge in what new leadership in the state looks like.
New Minneapolis city councilmembers — including RFS alum Jason Chavez (who represents the district where George Floyd was murdered) and Aisha Chugtai — are ready to bring real police accountability to the city.
RFS alum Pierina Sánchez, Amanda Farías, and Marjorie Velazquez all took over for male predecessors, bringing a new class of progressive Latina leadership to the Bronx.
RFS alum in Colorado, including Sen. Julie Gonzales and Reps. Lindsay Daugherty, Yadira Caraveo, Iman Jodeh, and Dylan Roberts made incredible progress for immigrants in the state.
Mayor-elect Justin Bibb of Cleveland joined Crooked Media’s What a Day to talk about his successful campaign.
PA Reps. Nikil Saval and Rick Krajewski are fighting to fix the criminal justice system and end mass incarceration: “When any criminal offense bill comes to a vote in committee or on the floor, we will ask ourselves the following:
Does this bill:
Duplicate existing crimes and penalties?
Increase prison sentences?
Reduce resources available for incarcerated people to finish their sentences or be eligible for parole?
Add conditions to parole or otherwise increase the chances that someone will violate their parole?
Institute a mandatory minimum sentence or mandatory consecutive sentences?
This is a matter of human rights, of economic and fiscal responsibility, of public health, and of equity and justice. Our constituents sent us to Harrisburg to be part of the work of fixing a broken system, not upholding and expanding its cruelties. If a bill fails any of the conditions of our litmus test, we will vote no."
In related watching: I joined the Medhi Hasan show to talk about the gerontocracy and why it matters to elect more young people into leadership. (Fast forward to the final 15 minutes or so to watch the interview.)
In related reading: How Wisconsin Republicans are trying to rig the state’s elections by controlling election administration itself. This is why our work to elect city and county election administrators is mission-critical.
This week on the Run for Something podcast: In around 1300 counties across the country, we still elect coroners. Run for Something has worked with a handful of them over the years -- Sophia Garcia-Jackson of Chester County, PA, is our first winner! We talk about how she got into the line of work, what a coroner actually does, the story she tells at cocktail parties, and why it matters to have competent people handling non-natural death investigations.
Run for Something is hiring!! We’re looking for a political director, comms director, a southern regional director, and a community manager. Spread the word!
Thank you for making all this possible. We’re so grateful to you, especially on Thanksgiving but really, all the time.
- Amanda