The Work Didn't End on Election Day
by Meghan Lynch '18, M.P.P. '21
Chair, Legislative Concerns, Graduate Student Association
On the day after Election Day, I felt exhausted. I had followed the election closely and participated actively in what had felt like the longest campaign season I had experienced. I struggled to process all that was happening:the messiness of democracy playing out on a 24-hour news cycle, on top of the long overdue reckoning on racial justice and the global pandemic.
But what struck me most about that anything-but-ordinary Wednesday morning was a conversation I had with my neighbor about the events of the night before. For her, it had been like any other night, but with her favorite TV programming replaced election results coverage. I asked her what she thought of all of it, and she noted that while she had gone out to vote the day before, it had been no big deal: “the sun was still going to rise the next morning.” Life would go on.
Initially I was impressed by her untroubled perspective. But in the days since, I’ve been thinking about her remark and the other versions of it I have heard from friends, neighbors, and loved ones. What strikes me is that they share the assumption that politics--or at least the need for them to participate--begins and ends on Election Day. I think that perspective misses both our power and our responsibility between elections.
Voting is not and has never been enough. Is there an area in your neighborhood that could use a stop sign? Do you need a sidewalk to connect your community to the next one over? A thriving democracy takes time, commitment, and perseverance. I keep thinking of the work of a local group of Baltimore residents who over the years organized to prevent CSX trains from carrying volatile crude oil through their backyards. It was because they connected with their community members, organized, and pulled together that they were able to work with local government to bring about change/advocate for the safety of their community.
There is still a lot to process after the election and the coming weeks will be difficult. But if you need a reminder that the work is not over, let this be it. Our duty as members of a community and as participants in a democracy is to keep working to bring about the changes we want to see.
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by Meghan Lynch '18, M.P.P. '21 Chair, Legislative Concerns, Graduate Student Association On the day after Election Day, I felt exhausted. I had followed the election closely and participated...
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Mon, 23 Nov 2020 09:10:36 -0500
We Have Each Other
by Kate Drabinski
Senior Lecturer, Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies
Director, WILL+ Program
I love voting. My mom took my twin sister and me to the polls with her every time, and sometimes even let us poke the hole in the ballot. We voted in our elementary school gym where there was always a bake sale going on, and we always got a treat. Cemented in my body and mind is the knowledge that I have to vote, and voting day, no matter how it goes, will always come with a little treat. This year, it was pizza and mini Snickers bars, and a whole lot of TV.
What I have learned from 27 years of voting, though, is that it is just one tiny little part of what it means for me to be an engaged citizen. Our representative democracy means that whomever we elect, the chances they’re going to share my values are really tiny. Elected officials represent huge swaths of a diverse population with diverse needs, demands, and priorities. I can count on zero hands how many times I’ve felt like my whole self was at the political table due to my vote. If I really want to build the world I want, I have to do that building outside the voting booth, even as what I do in the booth can make a real difference.
This November, the importance of organizing beyond the vote has become even clearer to me. We elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but I know that doesn’t mean they are coming to save us. I look out at a world where one in three families with children is food insecure, where unemployment rates are high—and even those with jobs often don’t make enough money to make ends meet, and where a global pandemic is raging through the nation with nary a hint of aid or leadership at the national level. So, I voted, and I’m glad for the results, but I know that the results will not change the lives of people in my community any time soon.
In the wake of the pandemic I am increasingly drawn to the work of people organizing mutual aid projects. Mutual aid means coming together and sharing resources—skills, food, emotional support, etc.—with each other. It means that we organize to save ourselves at the same time we organize to challenge the state and its structures that produce the very precarity that threatens so many of us.
I voted, gave myself a treat, and am doubling down on my efforts to use the resources I have to support the communities I am in and that I actively build—in my city, my neighborhood, and in my classrooms. All we have is each other, and that is what is getting me through a rough 2020, and it will be my balm through the challenges ahead.
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by Kate Drabinski Senior Lecturer, Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies Director, WILL+ Program I love voting. My mom took my twin sister and me to the polls with her every time, and...
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election2020
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Wed, 18 Nov 2020 14:44:47 -0500
The Sun through Dark Clouds: Optimism in a Challenging Time
by Candace Dodson-Reed, '96
Chief of Staff
Executive Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion
Office of the President
Like many of you in the UMBC community, I am watching the post-election situation with a deep hope that our democratic institutions and calmer heads will carry us through this transition period. It is often said that democracy can be messy and I am truly hopeful that this is one of those messy times that we’ll get through sooner than later.
It is stressful enough to live through the most important election in our lifetime, but we are also living through a once in a century public health crisis that continues to sweep through our country. And as some in our country mourn and protest the murders of Black people due to senseless police brutality and mistreatment of people of color, we continue to reckon with the undeniable truth of systemic racism.
It is a lot to handle. And it is important to acknowledge that. Yet, it is at times like this that we look to our UMBC community to share and be heard, and to find common ground where we can.
I am generally an optimistic person, but this year has tested my brighter nature. The missed family gatherings (including my parent’s 50th anniversary celebration), birthday parties, and time with my family and friends have taken a toll, but I know that these are temporary losses. What has affected me more deeply, because I know it reaches beyond the lifespan of this global health crisis, is the trauma of witnessing continued racial injustice, the loss of so many lives, and my sadness at seeing our country so divided. I am fully vested in everything that is happening and want to do my part while also feeling fatigued by the conflict and chaos I see on my computer and TV screen and cell phone for hours each day.
But even during these challenging times, my optimism somehow finds its way to the surface and I find myself looking for opportunities and solutions to the big challenges that we’re grappling with--like I’m looking for the sun that cracks through the dark skies after a summer thunderstorm. So, I want to share some of the reasons for my optimism and why I remain hopeful.
I remain hopeful because I interact with students, faculty, and staff members who are committed to addressing injustices and solving this country’s big problems.
I remain hopeful because I watch young people of all races, religions, political beliefs, identities, and cultures stand up for what’s right.
I remain hopeful because I watch dedicated scientists work with haste to deliver a safe vaccine.
I remain hopeful because I hear Dr. Hrabowski and Dr. Rous talk about “demonstrating the moral leadership necessary to unite our nation in true pursuit of both liberty and justice for all.”
I remain hopeful because I see our democracy grinding away towards certifying a true and fair election. And then because I think about how many young people in our UMBC community and beyond exercised their right and voted.
I remain hopeful because I talked with my daughter, a college junior, who after standing in line for two hours in 38 degree weather to vote in Pennsylvania said, "We're ready to do our part too, mom.”
I was recently reading an excerpt from President Barack Obama’s new book, “A Promised Land”. He says, “In [a] world—of global supply chains, instantaneous capital transfers, social media, transnational terrorist networks, climate change, mass migration, and ever-increasing complexity—we will learn to live together, cooperate with one another, and recognize the dignity of others, or we will perish.”
I’m committed to doing my part—for my daughter and her future, for our democracy, and for all of you.
And so I encourage you to continue to raise your voices against injustice, continue to stand for the truth and what is right, continue to work on real solutions in collaborative ways with others in our campus community and beyond, and continue to make time to listen to each other.
Let’s strive to live in a world where we can celebrate what makes us unique while acknowledging our similarities. As my favorite poet and activist, the esteemed Dr. Maya Angelou said in her poem, Human Family, “I note the obvious differences in the human family…[but] we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
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by Candace Dodson-Reed, '96 Chief of Staff Executive Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion Office of the President Like many of you in the UMBC community, I am watching the post-election...
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election2020
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