Sunday November 1 – Detroit Airport
Article with Photos
Awaiting my flight to Spain, after 3 days of canvassing in Detroit for Abdul-El-Sayed, my phone pings an alert that his rival in the Democratic primary Hailey Stevens has gone over to the dark side! A democrat in the final straits now espousing support for Mike Rogers, Abdul’s Republican opponent for a critical Senate seat. It’s kind of unbelievable until you understand the amount of money AIPAC, a group supporting Israel, has funneled into this campaign – Hailey was asking Abdul to denounce an ad critical of Israel by a more progressive party, which he already had denounced! In the primary election, Hailey received over 30 million from AIPAC along with support from other what many can only be summarized as anti-progressive, islamaphobic forces. We all wonder what she is being paid now and by who exactly.
Yesterday, a large group of us Common Power* volunteers, were listening with a mainly African American neighborhood group to Abdul and some of the local democrats at a rally in Pontiac, Detroit. The atmosphere was intense and joyous as we all rang out Abdul’s refrain:
Money Out of Politics
Money In Your Pocket
Medicare for All
with many Amens and cheers in between
….
Abdul (center – arms crossed) and local African American politicians and pastors
Detroit is a majority black population with a large Middle Eastern community, and historically there has been some tensions between these communities but you wouldn’t have thought that was the case yesterday at this event, where BBQ was being served to as many folks that could get through the long lines and cheerful crowds, some folks showing up in fancy dress for Halloween. We also all sang Abdul ‘Happy Birthday’ as he entered along with many dignitaries of the local area and a black senator from Maryland who had flown out to help the campaign.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks talked about losing her mother recently and receiving a call from Abdul. This wasn’t a call to enlist her help as one of the few black senators in the US government, but a call to offer condolences. The senator said that she was planning to come and campaign with him but he told her to stay home with her family at this sad time However she didn’t listen to him! and introduced him to the crowd with grace and appreciation.
One of the challenges of Abdul’s campaign which wants to be focused on these core issues of economics and health, is the way the media and characters such as Stevens, Rogers and Trump himself have diverted attention to issues of race and religion. Last night one of our younger volunteers from the black community who is a resident in Detroit was showing us racially inflammatory texts that she was being showered with by a group calling themselves “Democrats for Russia” Apparently the pursuit of the black community by Russian propaganda has reached new heights.
And now we have to deal with this, a betrayal within the party itself which could easily cause Abdul to lose his seat and consequently the opportunity to gain the Senate back and slow the chaos and corruption of Trump down.
Up to this moment it was looking pretty good for Abdul. Voters that I met who supported him tended to be wildly enthusiastic and on the younger side, although one volunteer met an older gentleman who was voting democrat down the line and had enlisted his entire 68 person family to vote with him. I met an Albanian elder whose whole family had voted Dem and was disturbed how this area of Detroit, (Macomb – a suburb of Detroit) had changed from majority democrat to republican. There is also a strong Albanian community in this cosmopolitan city and environs, which we encountered at the doors and also in some of the restaurants there. This devoted democrat thrust his fist across at his neighbor’s house and shouted “How he can be a union man and be with Rogers is crazy!” He also said that with this influx of the red vote, there had been more big trucks parading the streets at the weekends – with guns and flags on them – in an attempt to intimidate.
Among these voters were both polite and not so polite Republican voters – one man almost sprayed me with the hose that he was washing his car with after I intimated that there was a younger voter in the household that might be interested in my information! I did have a surprisingly pleasant conversation with a lady who made it clear that she was of a different persuasion and when I gently probed as to why Rogers appealed to her, she said the usual Fox News punch lines about communists taking over, the border, and the gender bender arguments. We did agree that it was important that the young take their vote seriously, and she was proud of her grandson voting for the first time. On the point of leaving without having persuaded her of anything, she did thank me in a genuine way for coming from so far away to help with the election even if it wasn’t to pursue her semi fascist agenda!
We saw few yard signs in what seemed like a relatively quiet locale, and several voters said that they had stopped putting up signs to avoid some kind of retaliation. We didn’t find many takers for our Abdul for Senate signs for sure. However one of the volunteers, a wonderful brave Seattle lady who has done multiple canvassing trips, stood on a corner with signs and in fancy dress and heard both toots of support and shouts of derision. It is a very, very purple state as the organizers of this campaign kept telling us and our job was to scrape the barrel of voters that hadn’t quite made it to the polling station or ballot box.
Our Youngest Volunteer! And our oldest volunteer – 84 year old Jim…
A Benghazi couple with a little one came all the way from Texas just for the weekend to support Abdul. They said that they felt Tallarico in Texas had enough support but were worried about Abdul’s campaign. A very impressive effort for this young family and it paid off at the first door apparently where this couple when they were being trained by a more experienced canvasser how to start the conversation. Immediately the women recognized each others backgrounds and started talking in their own particular Arabic language.
One of the joys of working with this group Common Power* is the emphasis on education and the youth. There was a large cohort of young folks, of diverse ethnic backgrounds who were educated in their academy which connects 100s of young people to each other and their shared US history. When we go out in cars to canvas, our organizers tried to create some variety in our groups with Gen Z mixed with mainly an older white population. These young people come with – usually - next to no money and work extremely hard on the turfs, help us aged ones with our tech challenged fingers and share with frankness the outright racism that some of them experienced at the doors. The pic below is a group of them that came to say goodbye and give me a little card of appreciation – I was moved to tears and hope some of them come and visit one day at the farm.
On our 2nd day we had a lecture from a representative of the local historical society that explained the last 100 years of Detroit history and this helped explain many of the divides that we witnessed on the doors between neighbors and even within households where opinions sometimes varied greatly. In our debriefs in the evenings, emphasis was put on how part of this process is us all sharing our wisdoms and experiences and that we are not just here for one election but for the long haul. I managed just 2 campaigns this year but many of these folks had literally hopped from one campaign to the other across the country and brought fascinating stories about how the election and politics were shifting across the country.
Many campaigners went forth in costume on 10/31
Will it be a big enough shift? We have been so disappointed before with the polls and expectations around anecdotes of weary Trump voters. We are all extremely worried by the rage that lies beneath the surface and the lengths this corrupt government (can we even call it that?!) goes to keep their lies alive. I genuinely did meet folks in Bakersfield CA my first campaign for a possible House seat, that were over this corruption and craziness and early voting indicates that more than usual are coming out at the midterms.
In Bakersfield, the district we were in had, in terms of registered voters, a Democratic majority, with the larger Latino population being 65% of the total). However, normally this population do not come out to vote much. With the gerry-mandering, an area that usually goes Republican, could go Democratic for the US House of Representatives, with a young candidate, Randy Villegas giving the do nothing, big money supported Republican Valadao a run for his money. Many of the campaigns have been encouraging early voting in this population who have been devastated and angered by the continual ICE operations in the area and it is also one of the poorest in the whole country.
Common Power like many of the other organizations that are helping in this election send people to places where help is needed. They are particularly proud of going to areas that no one else goes to and working hand in hand with the local campaigns. And they have forged a very strong relationship with the Adul El- Sayed campaign having been in Detroit already on many occasions. There is a mantra that they use: “We have to be 100% with 70% certainty” and with this slogan they send us out into neighborhoods.
You never know quite what to expect. Many times no one answers the door, but then we write a little personal note and leave it with the literature. Sometimes the person who opens the door is not happy to see you at all! And then now and then a magic moment occurs when someone learns about an election that the rest of their lives had not given much space to and at least that person shifts! It amazes me how many campaigners say that they are introverts at heart and that this door knocking does not come naturally but they somehow overcome their timidity because of their compulsion to do something that we know actually has impact, and their wish to be in good company, and to not despair.
Right now, as my delayed flight boards to Barcelona, I and all of us have to be 100% comfortable with 70% certainty about what will happen on Tuesday and the hereafter.
This is a message from Kira who is campaigning and supporting the election in Bakersfield:
My hope lies in the future of these remarkable young folk!
A NOTE from Kira, our yoga friend, to her friends about her door to door experience in Bakersfield – it says it all.
Friends. You are incredibly important. This is hard. I need my team.
Quite depressing. Some good days. Moments. Rewarding. Mostly hard.
I'm on my own as usual.
Do 50 to 60 houses a day.
Over 1/2 not home or dont answer their door.
I maybe talk to 10.
I maybe influence 5.
One day it was 20. Great day. With the campesinos.
So. Hard work.
I'm good at it.
My Spanish huge asset.
Still. Lot of doors closed in my face.
My feet hurt!!! I wish I had a bike!
I am making a difference. 1 vote at a time.
Sometimes I have very meaningful and poignant conversations.
The young people are changing.
That is hope.
Dolores Huerta comes from Bakersfield. She died a few days ago.
I say to.people her words:
El Pueblo unido
Jamas sera vencido
The people united
Will never be divided
I believe that.
Thanks for being there.