What’s Next in Mississippi

In the past two years, I have watched a grassroots progressive movement rising in ruby-red Mississippi. Although Mike Espy will not serve Mississippi in the Senate, his candidacy provided a cause around which a new generation of liberal and progressive organizers have mobilized. In the following paragraphs, I discuss my own impressions of the new wave of liberal and progressive activists in Mississippi and then provide some ideas about the way forward based on my experience.

On November 9, 2016, I walked into my 9am class at the University of Mississippi and made eye contact with a friend. Donald Trump had been elected President of the United States. My teacher, a graduate student from Tanzania, asked that we all say something that we appreciated about our classmates. It was a hard day. I looked at my peers, wondering how they could act so normal when our country had gone so wrong. Someone asked if I was okay and I wanted to say “No. Of course I’m not okay. And I don’t know how you are.” But instead I said “It’s just not a good day.” I remember looking at them with mistrust, trying to discern who they may have voted for. We all have stories from November 9, 2016. But, before long, some Mississippians began to convert anger and sadness about the state of our country into energy and a passion that has fueled an awakening among left-leaning Mississippians. The 2016 election of Donald Trump activated a new generation of political activists and organizers. Attending organizing trainings, organizing marches and putting on town halls, Mississippians discovered a progressive community that many did not realize existed.

Since the initial flurry of activity, Mississippi’s political novices have learned how to turn their energy into power for their communities. We gathered around kitchen tables, sat in coffee shops, and shot ideas back and forth in group messages. We started to strategize. Folks began building infrastructure in places that haven’t seen significant progressive organizing in recent memory. Women’s lunch groups transformed into drivers of social change. Young people founded new organizations to promote civic engagement. Progressives started to slowly but surely come out into the open and find themselves in good company. Not every organization originating in 2016’s post-election energy have remained viable. But those that did not succeed provide lessons to new organizers and activists.

Those organizations have facilitated skills-building for political neophytes. Hundreds of liberal and progressive Mississippians have knocked on thousands of doors to talk to voters. Hundreds more have now phone banked. Across the state, activists have learned to use software to identify voters, cut turfs, and generate walklists. In much of the country, these may seem like small victories. But in a state that rarely sees competitive Democratic candidates at the statewide level, empowering liberal and progressive citizens through best practices could have a decisive impact going forward. In the past two years, we in Mississippi have learned a lot.

New groups, both formal and informal, have contributed to community-based coalitions that cross long-standing divisions. In Oxford, home of the University of Mississippi, college students have stood beside professors and native Oxonians to knock on doors in neighborhoods we would have no reason to enter otherwise and register voters. Race remains a deep dividing line in Mississippi, but some communities have managed to bring black and white Mississippians together to get out the vote and take part in voter registration efforts. In engaging with our neighbors, we have learned about the problems that inspire passion in our communities.

The 2018 midterms election cycle catalyzed new connections between groups working across the state. With David Baria running an unapologetically progressive campaign and Mike Espy highlighting Mississippi’s potential to elect a Democrat who emphasizes bread-and-butter, quality of life issues, we started getting to know others change-makers trying send Mississippi Democrats to Washington. Organizers operating in different counties and disparate communities are now able to compare notes like never before, learning from our successes and our mistakes.

In upcoming local and statewide elections, a new generation of organizers will take charge of managing campaigns, volunteering as front-line volunteers, and running for office. Bringing with them the experience and networks built in the past two years, those organizers could help support down ballot candidates and build the Democratic bench. Even when we don’t win, running viable campaigns based on issues will provide an alternative to Republican incumbents and elicit conversation about the issues to hold politicians accountable to the people they ought to represent.

There is still ample work to be done. In order to sustain the progress of the past two years, liberal and progressive leaders in Mississippi need to learn from our mistakes and capitalize upon our successes. Based on my own experience organizing in Mississippi, I have seven ideas that I believe grassroots leaders ought to keep in mind as they move forward.

1. Generational gaps run deep in many communities across Mississippi. Every year, promising young people leave Mississippi. Often, fatigue with Mississippi’s politics pushes young progressives to make homes elsewhere. In college towns like Oxford and Starkville, progressive students can feel isolated. Building progressive communities in college communities requires deliberate outreach on campuses and empowering students to build strong organizations on campus that interact with community organizations. Mississippi boasts a rich history of community organizing that is exemplified by the Civil Rights Movement. Young people should listen carefully and learn from people who have been organizing in Mississippi for decades. The human element of organizing, which relies on trust-building and identifying shared interest, is not likely to change any time soon. Regardless of age, liberal and progressive Mississippians should realize that as circumstances change, we can explore new strategies without forgetting the essentials. Young folks can bring new tools to the table, offering tech savvy that can combine best practices with new technology and generate professional communications and marketing material in places where candidates and local party structures could use a tune-up.
2. Grassroots leaders need to keep the new liberal and progressive activist base engaged without wearing out committed volunteers. That means deliberately planning opportunities for like-minded Mississippians to socialize with one another, even when there isn’t an election around the corner. That means building genuine relationships with people instead of calling them up every time you need something.
3. Traditional Democratic leaders need to empower new leaders and embrace new strategies for mobilization. We need to give passionate, driven people the tools they need to multiply their impact and put down roots in their communities. True empowerment means making ourselves obsolete wherever possible and offering support without pretending we know what works best for someone else. Grassroots organizers should be organizing themselves out of the job by sharing experiences and teaching skills.
4. We need to plant seeds for new efforts in places where they haven’t previously existed and cultivate fledgling groups that are unsure of where to go next. In some of the hubs of political activity on the left, we should be making trips to visit our friends in other counties, inviting them to our meetings, and talking about how they can find a model that may work in their communities.
5. Bold, empathetic leaders need to keep coming forward to run for office and offer new narratives about Mississippi and its future. The 2018 midterms ushered a talented, committed group of new legislators into Congress. In Mississippi, we should learn from their strategies.
6. Keeping the door open to everyone at your meetings is not enough to achieve inclusion. Inclusion takes hard work to proactively reach out to people in your community who have historically been excluded and disempowered. To build inclusive coalitions, people who have power need to lift up people who don’t have power. In some cases, that means giving up some control. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
7. Aspiring organizers can find an array of resources in print and online. Some of the works that have been most inspiring to me are Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, Run for Something by Amanda Litman, and Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. For more academically minded organizers looking for research-backed, data-based strategies, I recommend The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenburg and Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout by Donald Green and Alan Gerber. Please special order copies at your local bookstore. Additionally, many nonprofits and state parties have published material on how to mobilize the electorate and organize your community.