A Northwest Sider’s election reflections

By Ryeshia Farmer

Following a collective three plus years I've worked on electoral and democracy campaigns, I knew this year’s elections would be as high-impact as they were high-stakes. The most important roles I felt to play were holding my community in compassion and supporting folks’ analysis around multi-tactical strategies toward change. Now that November 5 is behind us, I'd like to offer reflections and a path forward.

The presidential election results felt inevitable to me, and I knew that the work of empowering people to build with their neighbors, find their villages, and seek political homes would remain no matter the results. When I woke up to the news on November 6, I immediately remembered a conversation with my friend in her home office a few months prior. I was frustrated with so much stake placed in governmental offices that have not worked for Black and other oppressed folks and felt this meant not enough energy was left to place in communities building together. My friend cautioned that rhetoric surrounding this election had no room for this reality and that the most important thing was to rally all of us behind supporting the Vice President, who appeared to many to be our best chance at saving our futures. I wondered where this strategy would leave us in 2028’s same context of a world power that does all it can to minimize us and still would even under a Harris/Walz presidency. I urged my friend that at all times, including the timeline leading up to November 5 and continuing on November 6, everyone needed to be talking about and working in locally organized communities.

Despite these feelings — and recognizing electoral participation as a piece of a broader strategy that can inform, empower, protect, defend, and bring about accountability when organized well, I managed the African American Roundtable (AART)'s Transformative Democracy Campaign on Milwaukee's far Northwest Side. AART defines Transformative Democracy as building a shared idea of how we make decisions together through voting, attending community meetings or otherwise engaging with our neighbors, volunteering in processes that involve decision-making, and more! To build, AART partnered with Black Futures Lab to educate our folks at a LiberateMKEVoter's Game Time, attempted outreach by the thousands, and even took on a Get Out The Vote effort with our partners at the Hmong American Women's Association.

After all of this, I was not surprised by the presidential election results, and actually found myself in moments of frustration with the disbelief of those around me. I had to repeatedly work to ground myself in compassion for my people and acknowledge that for those fighting for progress and liberation, re-electing an oppressive, divisive, fear-mongering, and unaccountable bigot to our country's highest office can leave folks feeling disappointed, discouraged, deterred, and even defeated. So when I had a call with my leadership coach on November 6, I was not surprised to learn that she was in a mode of offering anxiety and emotional regulation support to her people. 

To support my ability to remain compassionate, develop a clear sense of Milwaukee's collective resilience, and honor folks’ very real feelings, I felt called to check-in with any democracy-invested comrades I could think of. In this process, a former 9th Aldermanic District candidate brought me some solace in our shared feelings. They shared that they were “saddened by the way people are so disconnected not only from each other, but from reality.” Nonetheless, they said they were “doing well” which helped me understand that not all hope was lost by this election's results.

Anita Johnson, a revered champion in democracy work and neighbor, shared that her team at Souls to the Polls worked hard, giving out 25,000 pieces of educational literature, canvassing neighbors who are typically not engaged at all, and receiving personal calls from strangers with questions for the first time in her many years of this work. She doesn't proclaim her way is the best way to achieve a more liberated world, but feels there’s a missing link between what her team did and what was needed. What can we do in addition to and after elections to support our path to freedom?

Chuck Butler, one of AART’s canvass program participants and volunteers,  said, “When this country does what it does, [he takes] comfort knowing that we can find community and that community is going to fight for its right to exist and flourish.” In like fashion, Marlo Thomas, a Northwest Side resident and new AART member, says the elections gave her a wake up call that many can learn from, and she's seeking God for guidance on how to prepare for the incoming administration. Ms. Marlo said “We got to get to work and step it up,” and she plans to do so by building good relationships with like-minded people, strengthening current relationships, and either starting a new business or growing her current one while helping others to do the same. Marlo advises that “we must NOT give up” and recommends that people work to reduce or eliminate debt, that business owners try to secure grants and other necessary capital before inauguration day, and that everyone ties up any loose ends possible.

In that spirit, I remain steadfast in my work to organize residents to rebuild a once again thriving Northwest Side. With the election of Russell Goodwin to State Assembly District 12, residents continuing to get acclimated to the leadership of alderpersons Larresa Taylor and Lamonte Westmoreland in their first full terms, and even the recent elections of Dora Drake to WI State Senator, and Tammy Baldwin to the United States Senator (representing Wisconsin), Northwest Siders have a number of more immediate elected offices to engage with. Additionally, Ms. Anita acknowledged that folks engaged in elections could engage with their representatives’ offices via phone calls/complaints, seek knowledge about how political make-up of the U.S. House of Representatives impacts the president's power, and could prepare for next year's judicial elections at the supreme court and local levels, noting that the local ones are likely to most impact our lives.
As I began, democracy work, building with neighbors, and seeking political homes should happen simultaneously. This is, because we have to find strength to persist toward the world we envision in uncertain times like this one, and we only do this through community.So I encourage anyone seeking next steps from the 2024 elections to pursue this work alongside their prep for the next elections. The African American Roundtable's membership program for Black Milwaukeeans is truly a wonderful place to connect, learn, and get involved. Chuck said “Black people NEED to organize, and that’s why [he’s] grateful to be associated with grassroots orgs like AART, genuinely.”