Our Revolution's Job: Transforming the Country

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

25 April 17

unday afternoon, as Bernie Sanders was touring mostly red states with newly elected DNC chairman Tom Perez, hundreds of groups held meetings all over the country to launch new chapters in the next phase of Bernie’s new group, “Our Revolution.”

Our Revolution now has over 1,000 local groups throughout the country. Many of the groups have been successful already in their efforts to transform the Democratic Parties in their states. Nebraska, for example, is led by Our Revolution board member Jane Kleeb, who founded Bold Nebraska, a progressive political group that spearheaded landowner resistance to the Keystone Pipeline in Nebraska. Jane was the first Our Revolution member to be elected state chair.

According to Michigan Live:

Kelly Collison, who started the Michigan for Bernie Sanders Facebook page in 2015 and was a key player in his grassroots campaign, was elected the party’s Progressive Caucus Chair.

“As a Progressive and member of the Michigan Democratic Party, I believe we should be a party that finds strength in change, diversity, and inclusion,” she said in a statement posted on the Michigan for Revolution page. “I believe our party needs a change from the ground up and I’m ready to work for that change.”

In Colorado, Morgan Carrol won the state chair race with 90% of the vote after being endorsed by Our Revolution. In Washington State, Tina Podlodowski unseated a four-term incumbent state chair with the backing of supporters of Bernie Sanders. There are other examples throughout the country, and some states are still in the process of reorganizing.

The biggest prize, California, has a state party chair election in May. Our Revolution is backing Kimberly Ellis, a San Francisco-area party activist who runs Emerge California, a group that trains Democratic women to run for office. Back in January, Our Revolution led a massive effort to turn supporters out in California’s district level caucuses. Our Revolution claims they won at least 650 seats of the 1,120 available. Those delegates will vote in May on the new party chair.

On Sunday national leaders of Our Revolution met in Maryland and live-streamed a presentation to local groups meeting throughout the country. The event, billed as the “State of the Revolution,” opened with the group’s executive director, Shannon Jackson, thanking everyone for staying active in Our Revolution.

The first speaker gave an overview of how Our Revolution has evolved in Maryland. The president of UNITE HERE local 7 Hospitality Workers Union in Baltimore, Roxie Herbekian, laid out the vision of the Maryland chapter of Our Revolution. Herbekian, who was a Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention, described a vision for Maryland “where children don’t go to bed hungry and get a free public education, including college. A state of Maryland where African-American men don’t have to fear being in the hands of law enforcement, where women earn dollar for dollar the same amount as their male counterparts. A state of Maryland where immigrants are valued for their contributions to our communities and not demonized and ripped away from their families.” She described a Maryland where laws protect our environment for future generations and where the wealth is not concentrated in the hands of the few and where there are real living wage jobs.

Herbekian then explained the structure of the state organization before the chair of the National Board, Larry Cohen, gave a national overview. Cohen, the former national president of the Communications Workers of America, introduced the national board of directors, four of whom spoke during the program. The board includes former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb, and actress and environmental leader Shailene Woodley.

After introducing the board, Cohen laid out a national vision, one where we don’t just play defense opposing Trump, but where we fight for change that we believe in. Cohen said he used to be a car guy and that we are “looking through the windshield, not the rearview mirror.”

Cohen said that hundreds of local groups were tuning into the live stream, ranging from 15 people in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to big groups is Sarasota, Florida. Cohen described the job of the national Our Revolution staff. He said their number one priority is to support local groups. Larry said there were three main areas of focus for local groups. First, issues: local groups can take the lead on organizing around issues that improve their communities and not wait for leadership from a dysfunctional government in Washington. Second, he described electoral work, supporting candidates and ballot measures. While the national office will endorse candidates, they envision a process where the local groups lead in that process. Our Revolution will be recruiting and training candidates all over the country for all levels of government. Third, Cohen described party building, not just in the Democratic Party but also outside the party. Our Revolution will work to transform the party from the inside and the outside in every county in America.

The job of firing up the crowd and viewers went to former Ohio State senator Nina Turner. Turner opposed calling herself a “Mother Jones kind of girl. Mother Jones once said she would pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living, and this is how this black girl magic rolls at all times.” Turner said they understand that Our Revolution can not be run from Washington. She described a process where endorsements will come from the local communities, where the groups are closer to the issues and the candidates. A true grassroots structure, not just in name only.

Turner reminded us that this is our moment. “The darkness we are feeling right now is not a tomb, baby, it is a womb. We have to push and breathe, we have to protest and plan, and we have to persevere. We can’t just be out there protesting. Protesting is a beautiful thing, but we need some folks on the planning side, and that is where Our Revolution comes in, because we need to win elections so that we are pushing political policy. We are going to push and breathe, baby. We will protest, and we will plan, and we will persevere.”

Assemblyman Mike Connolly took the stage as an example of a candidate who ran a progressive campaign and defeated longterm incumbents. “No money Mike,” as he was nicknamed in 2012 during his first campaign, ran as an independent and lost, while getting 26% of the vote. In 2016 he ran for the Democratic nomination and beat the incumbent, who had been serving since 1993.

Next came the first Latina woman elected to the State Assembly in Nevada, Lucy Flores, who described her rise from a troubled family. She talked about her probation officer, the first person to believe in her and give her the guidance she needed to turn her life around. Flores went to law school after being introduced to the system as a troubled youth. Flores was elected two years after she first got involved in politics in 2008. Flores’s rise shows that anyone can get involved and make a difference in their community.

Our Revolution is also taking a leadership role in the sanctuary movement. Staff member Basilisa Alonso spoke about the group’s sanctuary program, making the connections between sanctuary for immigrants and other issues. “We can’t have true sanctuary when African Americans are mistreated by the police; we can’t have sanctuary when the government is seizing Native American land; we can’t have sanctuary when the rights of the LGBTQ community are violated; and we can’t have true sanctuary when the people who need healthcare the most are denied access.”

Former NAACP president Ben Jealous wrapped things up. “Let us be clear; this is not just about defense. This is about offense. The best defense, the best resistance, is a powerful offense. We are here to pass the $15 an hour minimum wage from coast to coast; we are here to pass Medicare for all from coast to coast; we are here to end mass incarceration from coast to coast, and to root out corruption and to pass public financing of campaigns from coast to coast. This is what Bernie Sanders meant when he said “not me, us.” To start your own Our Revolution chapter, or to find one in your area, go to www.ourrevolution.com.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott moved to Des Moines in 2015 to cover the Iowa Caucus.

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