August 2023
SAVE THE DATE!
Special Event
Back to Blue: Reclaiming the Virginia House
September 12, Tuesday, 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET
Dan Pfeiffer, political advisor, bestselling author, and Pod Save America podcast host, will share with us what we need to know about the unusual importance of Virginia’s state legislative races this November. We'll also find out what we can do to help CASA in Action, Virginia flip the House of Delegates back to blue, and make sure the slim blue majority in the state Senate is strengthened.
You can Register now if you like
COMMITMENT TO MENTAL HEALTH MEANS REFORMING THE LEGAL SYSTEM
“I’ve always been about helping people,” says Alexandria Hughes, Base-Building Organizer for Michigan Liberation. Her focus is organizing the community to reform the legal system by prioritizing mental health. The need for doing so first struck Alexandria while working as a Behavioral Health Therapist. In Michigan schools, she notes, “There’s more law enforcement than counselors, peer support, and psychologists combined.”
Alexandria recalls working in the Dearborn Public School with a nine-year old boy with autism. When he kept asking why there were police officers at school, Alexandria knew their presence upset him. “In a kid’s brain–’handcuffs!? That’s to arrest people!’ He kept thinking he was in trouble and I had to keep reminding him he wasn’t.”
Alexandria knew there was something very wrong with the status quo. “Detroit police, for example, respond to sixty plus mental health calls per day. Those who need the care are the farthest from getting the resources they need–being Black, being Latinx. That echoes racism.”
These problems have led Alexandria to much larger and mostly unaddressed issues with Michigan’s legal system. It’s the branch of government that most often directly impacts people’s lives but is the most poorly understood by its citizens.
The word Alexandria uses again and again is accountability. How do Michiganders hold police, DAs, and judges accountable? Part of her job is to get community members to develop their own leadership skills. “People think, ‘they’re not going to listen to me. I’m just a community member.’ They don’t think they are good enough to call for a meeting with government officials. When the switch gets turned on and that light comes to them that they can change things, I love to see that. People go to their local council and ask for more money for mental health and see things actually change.” Not only does this improve mental health services; such engagement and empowerment is what turns non-voters into voters.
This also matters when it comes to Michigan Supreme Court judges, who have to run for reelection every eight years. It’s been an often-missed opportunity for accountability. “A lot of people leave that blank on the ballot. So we raise awareness around that. Get community members involved to understand the power of voting.”
That empowerment makes a difference–in election outcomes up and down the ballot (as we saw in shifting the balance on Michigan’s Supreme Court in 2020 and the 2022 midterms!) and in pushing for change via the courts. For instance, the Grand Rapids Police Department had been fingerprinting and photographing people without cause, impacting Black people more heavily. Michigan Liberation joined with the ACLU to take it to the state Supreme Court, and the practice was ordered stopped.
Alexandria has seen reason for hope when looking around America today. “Iowa recently removed law enforcement from the schools. They have a three-tiered model for mental health care and conflict resolution. We need a non-police crisis response and prevention department to handle mental health needs for people who are homeless or impoverished, because those are the people who are likely to go through a crisis. There are places doing it. Denver is one. Parts of California. Oregon has been doing it since the 90s. So it can be done.”
“My old career informs my current work. I need to care for people to know what needs to change.”
AIRLIFT’S UNSUNG HERO: DAVID FORD
Stories are how we create meaning and connect with others. No one knows this better than Airlift volunteer David Ford. An artist-in-residence at The Marsh, David has been helping solo performers shape their stories for new and unusual theater for decades. We are lucky to have him shape stories for Airlift as well.
David got his start at Yale’s Repertory Theater. But things really clicked for him when working with an incredibly collaborative Israeli director made him realize, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up!” He moved to San Francisco and got involved in performance art and solo performances. Talk about collaboration! David notes that in shaping stories, it’s “not only a conversation with the artist, but also always a conversation with the audience.
Why are stories so important? According to David, “We are always constructing the future in our heads. Young people, before they really go about living, have stories that they try on, adjust. It’s something essential to the human organism.” It’s also fundamental to empathy. David notes, “Story helps you stand in another person’s shoes”--something also vital in politics.
Reagan’s Iran-Contra scandal was key to David’s political awakening. “I was amazed by the criminal things people in power do, and became interested in how to change that.” Politics had a big impact on his career when Newt Gingrich slashed funding for the arts, and solo performances–David’s metier–became the most economically viable option in theater.
His work at The Marsh eventually led him to Airlift, when another unsung hero, Alison Whittaker, took his class. With David’s guidance, Alison developed a popular one-woman performance of what it’s like to be a nurse. When Alison told David about Airlift, he loved the concept about supporting grassroots groups and that it was all-volunteer. David and his wife, Anne Darragh, also a theater artist, donated, but since they don’t have a lot of money, David thought, “What else can I do?” When Founder Danny Altman asked “What do you have a passion for?” David knew right away. “Well, I know how to tell stories.”
David started with promotional videos for Airlift, talking with different canvassers trying to turn out voters for the 2020 election. He recounts how they connected with people around shared stories. For example, Marilyn, a Black veteran, talked to a stubborn old Black widower who had also served—and was hellbent on not returning his absentee ballot for the 2020 election. When she asked, “What if Donald Trump wins because you didn’t vote?” he looked at her and said, “‘Well young lady, I guess you’ve got a point there. Let me find that damned ballot.”
Just as Marilyn made things real for that voter, David brings these stories to life so potential Airlift donors understand the vital work their contributions support.
Now David writes regularly for The DROP, making the abstract real. We see voter suppression through the eyes of a Georgia poll watcher who convinces the police not to shut down voting at closing time, disenfranchising people who have been in line for hours and are legally entitled to vote. Or the vicious cycle of how a broken tail light can lead to ruin through the eyes of Michigan Liberation organizers. ML runs a free brake light repair service to help community members avoid a common reason for getting stopped by police. While fixing cars, they also talk about how political engagement can change the criminal-legal system.
“The work I do for Airlift is so inspiring because the people I talk to are so much braver than I am, so much better able to keep hope in their hearts.” David says. “It’s easy in California to be fearful and hopeless about the political climate,” he continues. But through his Airlift involvement, David sees that “there’s a lot of people in all the states who want change.”
This fervor for and belief in change strikes David every time he talks to somebody. “I always come away feeling inspired–like I can do and gotta do.”
Thank you, David—you inspire us!
“CAN DO, GOTTA DO!”
Here’s how:
Donate by Check. Set up automatic payments to Airlift with the Bill Pay service at your bank, or send a check directly to: Airlift, PO Box 617, Corte Madera CA 94976
Donate Online at ActBlue. Just click the button, and click again to Make it Monthly!
For Tax-Deductible Giving. Email Ruth Jaeger at ruth@airlift.fund.
Spread the word! Tell your friends and family about Airlift and our events. Share this newsletter and our website.
Thanks!
FIELD NOTES
It’s summer–”Field Notes” has gone to the beach! These aren’t beach reads, but if you want to be more deeply informed about the political landscape, here are some of our favorites:
Blue Tent. One of the savviest, most thoughtful resources about how to make your dollars count where they matter most, plus lots of great analysis and programs.
Democracy Docket. Up-to-the-minute summaries of court cases about voting rights, etc., plus astute essays from Marc Elias and others, some of the best pro-democracy lawyers in the country.
Hopium Chronicles. Simon Rosenberg, the only political analyst who predicted there’d be no red wave in 2022, provides a treasure trove of messaging, data, videos, and programs to fight MAGA from a progressive position of well-founded strength and pride.
The Message Box. Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s Communications Director and Pod Save America co-host, regularly serves up “analysis and insight for political junkies and strategic guidance for people on the frontlines of politics whether they are working on a race, running for office, or just fighting with their MAGA family on Facebook.”
Today’s Edition Newsletter. Robert Hubbell’s incisive “News through the lens of hope.”