No One Does It Alone

I'm really proud of a brochure I just produced for my local Democratic Farm & Labor Party (DFL) organizing unit to encourage people to vote. It's at the printer and I will pick it up on Friday.

And this morning I thought about everyone who contributed to it.

Liz door-knocked in 2024 in our neighborhood to try to get out the vote because we have one of the lowest voter turnouts in the entire city. She found out that most people didn't think their vote made any difference and didn't think anything changed when new people came into office.

Two years later, I wrote the text based on those questions and tried to answer them. 

A committee contributed to it and helped edit it.

I went to my local Signal buy-nothing group with a wish for a graphic designer and KB raised their hand and created this beautiful thing from my work and the work of the committee. 

I'm managing the production with a local Black-owned union print shop.

But it's more than all those things that helped me do this. I volunteered for the DFL and had a terrible experience until I got in touch with another volunteer who mentored me. That got me to volunteer for more things which got me connected to people passionate about making the party better which in turn got me excited for that very thing. 

Recently, a man got up on a stage at a DFL event and included in his experience leading the defeat of an anti-same-sex-marriage constitutional amendment in Minnesota in 2011. Sure, he was the head of the organization. But he didn't do it alone. We did it. The collective we. We were there when it was debated in the house. We were there when it passed. We were there when the very first time a bunch of us got together right after to grieve the loss and commit to the next steps to be the first state to defeat a marriage amendment. We marched. All before there was an organization he was the head of. We phone banked. We fed volunteers. We distributed yard signs. We contributed load and loads and loads of money. We raised money. We talked to our neighbors and families. We held house parties. We created art and music to support the effort. And so much more.

And we were there at 1:30 in the morning the day after election day in 2011 when we were the first state to defeat such an amendment (after 31 states enshrined that bias in their constitutions). It was a beautiful celebration

What would happen if we all acknowledged all that brought us here when people praise us for our achievements? What if we understood that none of us do anything in a vacuum, that we're all connected to each other and profoundly dependent on each other? 

I'm so grateful for all who love me and influence me and challenge me and teach me and mentor me and are patient with me. May you have a community around you to do the same.