Where Does Activism Begin?
Grammy the Crazy Fan Girl
By Julie Freestone
Ever since Donald Trump was elected, there seem to be more protests and demonstrations than I remember in my lifetime of 72 years. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, we are bracing for two potentially violent events.
The tragedy in Charlottesville recently — the clash between Ku Klux Klan members, Neo Nazis and other hate group, and peaceful protestors that led to the death of activist Heather Heyer — has focused the country’s attention on who those people are carrying signs and chanting. And it’s made me think about the value of activism and how people get motivated to march and speak out.
Activism Counts
California’s junior Senator Kamala Harris wrote after the Republicans’ effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed: “A democracy yields to the voices of the people. And last night, the people spoke — your calls, your letters, and your courage made the difference in defeating the GOP health care plan. I couldn’t be more proud of the work this community put in to defend health care for tens of millions of Americans. There was never a day where you weren’t elevating the voices of those with the most to lose.”
Her message and the experience of a young friend of mine has made me think about where the passion to fight back, speak up and march, starts.
Grammy and Lizzy go to Washington, D.C.
Lizzy Claire Peck lives in rural Nevada. She’s 10 years old and her brother Scotty is eight. Lizzy’s mom is a special education elementary school teacher. Her father works for the county and her grandmother Janet is a retired second grade teacher. Janet lives about 30 minutes from Lizzy. She sees Lizzy and Scotty usually two days a week when she volunteers in their school and spends the night.
Lizzy was invited by her father’s fiancée Jen (the parents have been divorced for several years) to participate in a trip to Washington, D.C. to tell their elected officials how important clean air and clean water is to them. Moms’ Clean Air Force and Earth Justice were sponsoring the trip. Jen is active in the Nevada Clean Energy project.
Grammy Janet wasn’t originally on the invite list but Lizzy says she begged Jen to include her. “I knew she’d love it.” Jen agreed, knowing how politically active Janet had gotten recently.
Commenting on her reaction to being invited, Lizzy said, “I knew I was going to Washington, D.C. to speak to people most people never get to talk to. My grandma was doing it for the first time at 72. I’m doing it at 10!”
Janet, who gets teary when she talks about the experience, said the idea of going with her granddaughter, who is a big part of her life, was astonishing.
Telling their stories
The goal was for families to tell their stories to their elected officials and Lizzy, Janet and Jen went with Jen’s three young boys along with dozens of others. They were all prepped on how to talk to the elected officials.
When it was her turn, Lizzy talked about how concerned her family was about Lake Tahoe. “We noticed the water had risen a few feet. We are scared,” is what she told them, adding, “We were talking about climate change.” One of the boys talked about the importance of clean air; his younger brother has asthma.
The family visited freshman Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Congressman Ruben Kihuen — a favorite of Lizzy’s. “He said he’d rather talk to me than any professional lobbyist.” The group asked what the politicians were willing to do and Kihuen was honest. He said, “Given the current political situation in Washington, there’s very little we can do. But I don’t quit making noise and talking about things that are Important.”
Describing her grandmother’s interaction with Senator Cortez Masto, Lizzy said, “She was like some crazy fan girl. Like I would be if I met (singer) Taylor Swift.” Janet said she was merely thanking Cortez Mastow for her strong support for issues important to Janet and her family.
I asked Lizzy if she was planning to report on her visit when she went back to school and she was emphatic about why she would. “I hope the kids will tell their parents and maybe they’ll support it (advocacy for clean air and water).
An Afterword
When I showed this essay to Janet and Lizzy, Janet wrote, “One day after Lizzy went back to school her teacher asked each of the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. Lizzy said she wanted to be a lobbyist. The teacher was astounded…never before had one of her fifth graders said this is what they wanted to be. The other kids in the class didn’t even know what a lobbyist was, so Mrs. McKuen…and Lizzy!…explained it to them. It’s really fun to be a granny!”
Julie Freestone and Rudi Raab are the authors of Stumbling Stone, a novel based on their true life stories about an activist Jewish reporter who meets a German-born American cop and their quest to learn more about his family and their role in World War II.
