The Riveters Reminisce and Refuel
Hi, everyone. It’s us — Buffy and Sally, your hosts of The Riveters Podcast.
As you obviously know (from being such loyal listeners!), we’re currently between seasons — but we couldn’t let this week go by without saying something, well, riveting.
Today is the last day we’ll wake up with Barack Obama as our President.
This truth has been punctuated over the past few weeks by the flood of photos and memories in social feeds of our much younger selves, armed with clipboards and bullhorns, leading our first rallies, pitching our volunteers, and walking our packets. The optimism of 2008 brimmed with the possibility of #yeswecan and sustained us over the past decade with steps forward on health care, criminal justice, climate change, gun safety, civil rights, and human rights.
We’ve been happy warriors. We were reminded of the power of this shared spirit last week in Chicago, where we stood together with arms linked, as a community of people still full of hope. We said farewell to President Obama with grateful and heavy hearts.
But this is not the first time either of us have had to forge ahead when faced with a setback. We all remember the night of the New Hampshire primary. Buffy was organizing activists in California. Sally was in New Hampshire chasing every last vote. The final results were a devastating blow to the campaign. After the polls closed, Buffy addressed the crowd at her watch-party in campaign headquarters in Koreatown in Los Angeles and asked them to get on the phones. The activists didn’t miss a beat. In fact, that night was a record-breaking phone bank night for voter contact calls. Buffy thought, “if this is how we handle a loss, we’re going to win this thing.” We knew we had the capacity to keep pushing forward. It was our collective ability to maintain a clarity of purpose and to put our blood, sweat, and tears into the pursuit of that purpose that helped bring change to America.
Today, we might be a little less “fresh-faced” than we were in 2008, but we are no less determined. Since the election, we’ve all been reminded that the fight against racism didn’t end with the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. That women’s rights aren’t just something our bra-burning mothers and grandmothers fought for on our behalf. That we can’t be content to be the mere recipients of the values of mutual respect and diversity that we all cherish. We must hold them up and fight for them each and every day.
President Obama implored us with his farewell to be vigilant in this pursuit by being engaged, informed, organized and open-hearted citizens. And as we’ve personally wrestled with how to continue not just as happy warriors, but as “anxious guardians” of our democracy, we’ve been inspired by the reinvigorated efforts across the country to protect our climate, reduce gun violence, advance racial justice, protect our health care and promote equal representation in voting districts, political engagement, and beyond.
We each work for progressive social change organizations that carry forward the values forged by Obama’s leadership. But we also believe that we must use every talent, asset, and creative outlet possible to promote our vision of a country that respects, empowers, and includes.This is why we are also proud to co-host our podcast, The Riveters, where we use each episode to elevate the voices of a badass women leaders, whose voices we need now more than ever.
We hope you will join us. Join our conversation, and join our community. Pick up your microphone, bullhorn, clipboard, or whatever tools you can muster to do this work with us too. Together we can speak loud and clear. President Obama reminded us last week that fundamentally changing our country doesn’t happen with a rally, a few online petitions, one podcast, one President, or even one generation.The past 8 years we have proved to ourselves that we have the capacity as organizers, warriors, guardians, and as a country to do this hard, essential work. And tomorrow, in lockstep with you all, we will keep pushing forward.
Buffy Wicks worked for President Obama in 2008, 2012 and in the White House. She is a political strategist and expert in building and running local and national political and advocacy grassroots campaigns.
Sally Smith is the Executive Director of The Nexus Fund, a global organization dedicated to ending mass atrocities by supporting grassroots efforts in at-risk countries and communities.
They co-host the podcast, The Riveters.
