Answering the Call
I have so much clarity now.
I've struggled with what to write on this blog for months.
I started this blog as an outlet for my grief. Now, it's nearly nine years later. Grief is never gone, but it's not the forefront of my life anymore.
There are days when I experience something and I think, "I should write about that." But then life gets in the way and I don't write. And then I feel bad, like I'm not prioritizing myself and not staying true to the reason I started this blog.
Over the past few weeks, I've realized that this blog has another purpose. It's to talk out loud about things that otherwise stay buried. Grief is one. Activism is another.
I've written about activism on this blog before, usually after a major event, such as the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas or the Insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th. But it hasn't been a primary theme.
For the next 98 days, I will be talking about activism, political action, and democracy.
On July 23rd, the group Win With Black Women hosted a call to support presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. They expected 1,000 Black women to join the call. 44,000 women joined the call and the group had to call Zoom for additional technical support. In 3 hours, the group raised $1.5 million for Harris.
The group White Women: Answer the Call met on July 28th. Nearly 200,000 white women joined the call and the meeting crashed several times due to the sheer volume. The number of participants broke a world record. The group raised $8.5 million (and counting).
On July 29th, White Dudes for Harris met via YouTube. More than 180,000 men joined the call. They raised almost $4 million.
I haven't felt this energized in a long time. Probably since I worked on Barack Obama's campaign back in 2008.
It's no longer just about casting a vote to defeat Trump. I'm excited FOR HER.
In 2016, only 2% of Black women voted for Trump.
In 2016, 47% of white women voted for Trump. In 2020, it was 53%.
In 2016, 62% of white men voted for Trump.
(Source: Pew Research)
White women make up 41% of the electorate, while Black women make up 6%. As activist Glennon Doyle said during the Anser the Call gathering, "It's time for us to stop freeloading on [Black women's] labor in protecting democracy and time for us to carry our weight."
At the White Dudes for Harris gathering, Governor Roy Harris said, "If white men vote 1-2% more for Democrats than they normally do, we will win this race."
Doyle also said, "If we learned anything from 2016, it's that silent support is not support. Solidarity without risk is not solidarity. What if every bit of trust and credibility and social capital we have each built up was saved for THIS MOMENT?"
98 days until the election.
Anna Burgess Yang