To act or not to act?: You can help someone answer
Good morning Engaged Durhamites for Democracy!
Great to see many signing up for the Triangle Unified Bridge Brigade on Sunday July 20th 9:30-11. We have modified the SignUp Genius as some bridges have cages and need fewer protectors/demonstrators whereas others are two-sided and need at least three people to hold the sign and people to take turns (18 total needed). If your favorite bridge is already “full” please consider going to another bridge that is “lonelier.” We need more people at the Raleigh bridges please. If we find that all bridges are sufficiently covered, we will increase the caps on bridges to allow more to sign up. If you can only go to one bridge, and it is full, please let me know.
Please also spread the word about this event. It is exciting to have 5 states working in tandem, and also having multiple cities in NC working together as our friends in Fayetteville will also be on the bridges at the same time we are! I have included QR codes below to help spread the word. Thanks, Wendy for making them!
Please go to the link to SignUp:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4DABAF2DA46-57528598-triangle
Please sign up on mobilize, so we can easily communicate with you if we need to reschedule.
We also have 258 so far signed up for the Good Trouble rally in Durham at 6:30. Thanks, to the many who have volunteered to help with the rally. See most of you on the zoom training tonight at 7pm.
More activism updates! Here is the report from Bob’s demonstration in downtown Hillsborough on Saturday. Great job Bob!!
“Concerned Carolinians held its weekly demonstration on Saturday. A good showing of about 35 people. The time slot has become a normal part of planning for group members. In case people are concerned about the efficacy of small demonstration a member shared the following note.
Great news! Democrats are ready to fight at more budget discussions (called rescissions) are underway that will cut funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid. Some Democrats are willing to shut the government down. We have been here before with Senate Minority Leader Schumer backing down when the Democrats could have made a strong statement about not allowing this regime to proceed.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5399053-virginia-democrat-on-possible-shutdown/
More great news! They are trying to get dark money and corporate spending out of at least local politics in Montana!
https://www.levernews.com/psychedelic-southern-comfort/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
More great news! A federal judge blocked defunding of Planned Parenthood.
More great news! We are not alone in boycotting Amazon. We are a small cog in a big machine. Amazon’s sales were down 41% on their first day in Prime Week! Great! We the People have power, and some of that power is our purchasing!!
We need to keep up the calls. I am editing the scripts from Jess Craven to make it easy.
We need to call about the rescissions package.
I know the Senate is going to be voting on Trump’s rescissions package soon. I urge the Senator to vote no. The cuts the administration has already made have hurt many in this country and worldwide. These cuts are not justified and often cost us more than save us money. Public broadcasting helps teach children. Please vote no on this package.
We also need to keep the pressure on to vote no on Emil Bove as a federal judge.
I also want the Senator to vote no on Emil Bove’s nomination to be a federal judge. He has said he will not obey court orders. This is not acceptable for someone who wants to be a judge. I urge the Senator to vote no. Thanks.
Today, I will cover the second part of helping folks form new identities as activists.
Identity is an interesting concept (at least interesting to me). I did this really fun activity when I taught college psychology classes. I would ask the class to take out a piece of paper (now you know how long ago this was). I asked them to draw 20 lines and then asked them to answer this question, “Who am I?” and answer as many as they could. Before you read on, try this out for yourself. Please answer this question as many times as you can. Then, read on.
What I found out was pretty fascinating. The men in the class almost exclusively used traits to answer the question. For example, “Who am I?” I am intelligent, I am athletic, I am hard-working. The women, however, almost always answer the question in terms of their identity. “Who am I?” I’m a girlfriend, I’m a daughter, I’m a student. They thought more in terms of their identity in their relationship with others rather than their traits. Identity was top of mind for women. I wonder how many of you answered “I am an activist.” If you didn’t, please read this post not just for helping others but also think about your own identity.
You will encounter people who have never acted in their life. They are not opposed to acting. It just has not entered their brain. Many who are part of our family fit into this group. Judy, for instance, who sometimes attends 5 demonstrations per week and is what we call an “unrelenting force” as she puts QR codes in front of folks to sign up for our events has NEVER been politically active. She is in her 80s!! Way to go Judy. Acting is also new to Beth who also attends at least 5 demonstrations per week and we have called our “nurturing force” as she brings signs for people, helps build canopies to keep our demonstrators from overheating, and brings Freddie and Ferdinando wherever she goes. This is a new identity for Beth, and she has embraced it like no other I have seen. Thank you, Beth and Judy for your amazing energy and dedication!
So how do we help people who have never acted and also don’t have a preconceived notion that they will not get involved? How do we help them form a new identify as an activist? I meet these folks a lot when phone banking or canvassing. People are busy. We have a lot going on, some more than others given our circumstances.
I believe that helping folks is easier than if they have an identity as someone who will not act. What it takes is helping them believe they can do it and also helping them believe their acting will have an impact. These concepts are self-efficacy/confidence and outcome expectations from social psychology.
In terms of self-efficacy, people need to feel confident in their ability to do something before they will take the plunge. To build self-efficacy, they need to think about things they have done in the past that have gone well to have a sense of mastery. Small successes will build their self-efficacy. Also, setting realistic goals helps build mastery and thus build self-efficacy. I often give people simple scripts they can use when they call their elected officials (like above). KISS, keep it simple, silly. Doing something somewhat hard makes you feel accomplished and ready to take on something a little harder next time. If the goal is too easy, it will not build self-efficacy. If the task is too hard, they might not achieve success, and this time self-efficacy can be hurt. So, setting a realistic goal matters, just like Goldilocks: not too easy, not too hard, just right.
In addition to feeling confident, they also need to know that their acting will make a difference. This creates favorable outcome expectations, that they can affect their outcome. Some have felt that calling and demonstrating does not matter. Well, in NC, we have shown it does matter. There is no better example than Tillis voting no on the big bad bill and then choosing not to run for re-election. WE DID THIS because we called, we canvassed, we phone banked, and we demonstrated (and one of us walked from Durham to DC, thank you, Bruce!!).
This is my favorite part of helping people flex their civic muscles. Helping them know that their voice matters is so empowering and frankly delightful. People can feel so hopeless and helpless. What a gift it is to remind them that we live in a government where we elect officials and lend them our power. We expect those people to use our power by representing our best interests. If they do not do that, we revoke that power and give it to someone else.
And how we change identities is starting with these small acts to build up to larger ones. Once people act, then act again, then act again, they start to view themselves as activists. It often does not happen with just one or two acts. Calling elected officials is a small act that can start to create a new identity in people. They may start to view themselves as worthy of voicing their opinion and letting their elected officials know how they feel. Making calls might motivate them to take the next step of potentially attending a mass mobilization, which for many is easier than attending a small demonstration. There is power and safety in numbers. So, after they start calling and attending a mass mobilization or two, their identity might start taking form as someone who stands up for what is right and makes their voices heard. This can then translate into someone who starts to attend the smaller events and maybe even steps up to lead one. Next thing you know, they become a zealot like me who tries to get anyone she meets to engage in this movement!! My identity might be on steroids right now due to what I am viewing as an emergency. I see it balancing out once this dictator is gone so my other identities get a little more care and time as I have a multitude of identities swimming around in my noggin (e.g., mother, researcher, partner, tennis player, daughter, friend, etc.).
One thing I will ask of you if you attend the next mass mobilization (hopefully you can come on Thursday!), please try to get someone to come with you. You might be starting a spark that helps them form a new identity as an activism warrior. If you have only attended mass mobilizations, consider taking the plunge and attending a smaller one that we host weekly. Look how many of our hosts have mentioned that someone at their smaller event had come to the bridges. Please talk to others at the Good Trouble mass mobilization about the Triangle Unified Bridge Brigade to see if they plan to attend (especially you in Raleigh please!).
Help yourself grow your activism warrior identity and help others start to form theirs. The more we are, the faster we can stop this dictator. It takes all of us helping others form new identities as people who are active in who rules this country. And we need to identify as someone who is giving our power to those elected officials and feel it is our duty to let them know what we think and when we like or do not like what they are doing. And importantly, we need to have the identity that when it comes time for new elections, we work to get those who share our values in office so they can represent us best.
Sad I will miss our family at the airport today demonstrating against Avelo Airlines who has contracted with ICE. Thanks, John for hosting today. Thanks, Wendy for doing double duty in Chapel Hill this morning and evening. I hope your AC has finally been fixed!
Have a super Monday all. See many of you on the bridge on Tuesday, bright and early (if no thunderstorms. I will email no later than 6am tomorrow with an update)! Tomorrow, there is also Tariff Tuesday, Gabriel’s corner demonstration and our demonstration to support unionizing at Corning Life Sciences. All of these links are in the Action Opps post from Friday. Keep building your activism identity by signing up and encouraging others to sign up!
Warmly,
Kathryn