LET'S TAKE IT BACK | DemocraShe x Gorgon Posse
Podcast | Supporting the Next Generation and Voting to Overwhelm Redistricting
I did not expect to come out of this podcast so excited!! The girls go on from this program to make big things, to make world, to run for office, to make the change only they can bring!
A non-partisan civics organization run by an enthusiastic and personable white, middle class woman preparing girls for leadership inside the limits of our liberal democracy? Like, cool. On this dire anniversary of always shaky and self-contradicting Independent Republic of the United States, here's a little ray of world building hope.
But, I tell you what. This is a Strategic Intersectionality Project up and running Sarah Jakle and DemocraShe are the antidote. More like this please! They support high school girls in standing in their power to go into civic and political positions to represent their communities and to represent women. These girls are from underserved communities, facing more than one uphill climb, and often carry lots of family responsibility – especially if they are first generation citizens.
Over 60% of girls who complete the program go into a civil position, a policy program, or into brute politics. 60% is wild success!! Some start their own programs with funding they secure from the UN or the Obama Foundation. This is working. DemocraShe is making change in, by, and for women.
See Youth Policy Makers of Tomorrow. Just for one example.
The more I talked with Sarah, the more I heard a radical feminism at work (if undeclared) in this nonpartisan nonprofit. Girls apply to the program, and once accepted they receive a stipend to help off-set income they or their families might miss while they are in the program. The program begins with deep recognition that every member is carrying wounds from this racist and sexist male-dominated capitalism, and the acknowledgement that those wounds can be triggers deliberately tripped by those who want to keep these girls out of the work.
Then, each cohort builds connection and learns trauma-informed tools for stepping beyond that wounded & critical voice in the mind that only tells us how bad the odds are, how small we are. The center of the program is the community chat, where the girls collaborate and support. Running over five years now, graduates mentor new members in a peer-to-peer system.
This powerful backing by the group helps these girls and young women confront the onslaught of male condescension in political spaces that runs from death threats to microaggressions. Jackel was always infuriated at the redoubled harassment women face in politics and wanted to steel girls against it with the power of a community of trust.
It's not the RadFem Utopia, but it is a pathway. It is a Big Swing, and it is working!! These girls are supporting each other in and across differences in way that many older radfems could learn from. Less policing, more emboldening.
Meanwhile, back at the patriarchy
Black and white together,
Black and white together,
Black and white together someday.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We Shall Overcome ...
This Redistricting Fuckery in November!
You know, but tell your friends, moms, aunties, grandmas, VOTING AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE. On the SAVE Act. The bill is currently stalled in the Senate but I would not put it past these sneaky parasitic fuckers to take the Nuclear Option and get it through as some kind of October Surprise.
It sucks, but we need to be ready. SCOTUS killed the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais (April 2026), so the GOP is going on a redistricting spree across the South and much of the Midwest, Louisiana straight stopped a vote in progress to keep black voters from representation, so we need to be ready.
Overwhelming numbers of blue votes are the only way.
How to help others check their registration and register.
Hook up with:
Flip the House — Swing Left
Join Swing Left to help flip the U.S. House by supporting competitive swing districts through volunteering, donations, and voter engagement efforts.
Rock the Vote
Dedicated to building the political power of young people. Register to vote, check your registration status, and more. Fast, easy, secure, nonpartisan.
Everything You Need to Vote - Vote.org
Register to vote. Check your registration status. Get your absentee ballot. Fast, free, easy, secure, nonpartisan.
Yes, campaign for your favorite – but we need numbers upon numbers.
CHECK THAT YOUR STATE GOP HAS NOT DE-REGISTERED YOU.
GET YOUR DOCUMENTS IN ORDER, HELP ALL THE WOMEN AROUND YOU GET THEIRS.
If these miscreants do an end-run and get the SAVE Act signed into law, it will be decades before we begin to repair the republic.
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(cribbed from Gemini)
Does the SAVE Act charge a fee to vote?
Not directly. But the documents it requires are not free. A U.S. passport costs a minimum of $165 in application fees and photos. A passport card, a cheaper alternative accepted under the bill, costs $65. A certified birth certificate costs $10 to $50 depending on the state. Replacing a lost naturalization certificate costs $1,385.
Over 51% of Americans do not have a valid passport. Only 1 in 5 Americans with household incomes below $50,000 has one. Only 1 in 4 Americans without a college degree has one.
Married women. An estimated 69 million American women do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name. Under this bill, they would need to present both a birth certificate and a marriage certificate to establish their identity. Research shows that conservative and Republican-leaning women are statistically more likely to have changed their surnames after marriage. This burden is not partisan. It falls on tens of millions of women regardless of how they vote.
Rural Americans. In the 30 largest counties by area in the Western United States, voters would need to drive an average of 260 miles to reach an election office. A Center for American Progress analysis found that some voters in Alaska and Hawaii would need to fly. For anyone working hourly, without reliable transportation, or with a disability, that is not a manageable requirement.
Young and first-time voters. About 24% of Americans under 30 do not have ready access to qualifying documents. Voter registration drives at college campuses and community events would largely end since they depend on mail-in forms. Young voters who move frequently would need to re-present their documents every time they update their registration.
Low-income Americans. The financial barriers above fall hardest on working-class Americans across all political backgrounds. They are simply the least likely to have a passport or the flexibility to visit an election office during business hours.
People of color. Research from the Brennan Center for Justice found that over 21 million Americans lack ready access to documentary proof of citizenship, with people of color disproportionately represented in that group. Nearly half of Black Americans under 30 do not have ID with their current name and address. Many older Black Americans, born during the pre-civil rights era, were never issued a birth certificate at all.
Military members and Americans abroad. The U.S. Vote Foundation has documented that the bill's in-person requirement would create significant barriers for service members stationed overseas and American citizens living abroad.
Transgender Americans. Before this bill, an estimated 210,800 transgender Americans in states with existing voter ID laws already lacked IDs correctly reflecting their name or gender. The SAVE Act adds another documentation layer on top of barriers that already exist. (The Vote)
(*)
The SAVE ACT is a penultimate nail in the coffin of what little democracy we have, and that’s we’ve only had since 1965. It deepens the roots of our Constitutional Oligarchy.
Right now, playing the liberal game is the only way forward. So play as hard as you can. Look, we're going to be in survival mode anyway, as women and minoritized women, and as organizations and projects. There is already so much broken and gone ... But we'll really not be repairing or building if these death eating parasites win.
Big Swings, y'all, big fuckin' swings,
Esmée
