- Share This Post
- submit
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
One of the most common questions I get right now is, "How's the campaign going!?" People really seem to want to know. And I'm thrilled that people 1) know that I'm running for city council and 2) are fascinated by the fact that I'm running for office. I'm not always sure if that's a compliment or a curiosity, but hey - I'll take the attention about my candidacy anyway it comes.
Yet, much like when I first got married and people would ask me, "How's marriage treating you!?", I tell the same kind of truth that people don't seem to expect to hear (either because they were asking out of decorum in the first place, or they're uncomfortable or unfamiliar with people telling it like it is): it is HARD.
No two ways about it. Here's what I wrote someone just two days ago:
It is lonely, it is difficult, it requires you to have a very different focus and set of goals to get elected than it does to occupy the office, and I don't know how many people have told me, "Just be prepared. People will hate you, HATE you, just because you're in government." It's almost like the niche employment area known as "Elected Office" was created specifically to let people demand things of others that they'd never do themselves. And then of course there are those who decide to go ahead and seek that employment.
Win or lose, it's an incredible experience.
Thanks for asking.
Being a parent of three? Much easier. ;)
And yet, even as I think and feel this way about campaigning, I'm conscious of how much more difficult it could be. Yes, I'm facing four incumbents, all of whom have been supported by the current mayor in the past. Yes, although the city isn't very large (about 5000 registered voters), most driveways are 150 feet or more and the homes are on minimum one acre lots (translation: the houses are far apart - doing "door to door" is a whole lot different in this kind of suburb than it is in most other NE Ohio suburbs around Cleveland).
But what if I were a single mom? Or a woman of color? Or a single mom woman of color? In my city or any city? (Check out Anitra Brockman in Cincinnati.)
In previous posts, I mentioned or linked to Democratic, Republican and nonpartisan groups that exist soley to help women lead a political life. But, being aware that there have been schisms in the past between women about how groups perceived as feminist are also often perceived (rightly or wrongly is a debate for another post - or the comment section!) as being mostly by and for white women, I started to wonder: are there and what are the organizations that help women of color (WOC) enter politics?
From the research I've done, which included asking several women of color I know, there doesn't appear to be a plethora. But I think I just have to find more people to ask, and I'm hoping that some BlogHers can fill in the blanks with what they know.
Meanwhile, here's what I've learned:
Vernoica Arreola of Viva la Feminista (and who was profiled and pictured in action in the current Ms. Magazine issue, Mom 2.0) turned me on to these resources for Latinas:
1. Hispanics Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Although their leadership programs and trainings do not specifically target feeding the pipeline for political office campaigning, that clearly is one of the routes women who seek out HOPE may take.
2. Another entity with what Roni describes as a "huge leadership training program" from which many Latinas then run for office is National Hispana Leadership Institute. And if you browse the site, you will see that, like HOPE (as well as entities like The White House Project), the concept of leadership and advocacy are respected for their nuance and numerous ways in which they can be deployed.
3. A third resource Roni provided is this post she wrote called, "Latinas Lead the Way." In it, she describes a panel she saw at the National Council of La Raza Conference, where, she said, "Latina elected officials shared their stories." Hey - I'm writing these posts in part so that there's a place women who want to run or are running for office can go to read a real life story of how it goes. Sharing our stories is so key to inspiring and assisting other women to make a run for office.
What about African-American women? For starters, there's SheCodes, who authors and edits the
