I’m sure we are all feeling a great sense of relief now that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are hard at work in the White House and we are not hearing from it’s former resident on an hourly basis. We are still in the pandemic, and we are all trying to figure out how to get vaccinations, and our national politics is still too partisan and poisonous, but what a relief to see the President working everyday to take care of people and solve our problems in an honest straightforward way. Now it’s time for us to turn our attention to local elections. We have important contests across Tompkins County this year, which Renate outlines in this newsletter, thanks Renate, and we need to get our candidates on the ballot over the next few months, and then work to get them elected this November. Where there are open seats in your town, ward or the county legislature, please help your local committee find good candidates. And where there are Republicans holding these seats, especially in the county legislature, let’s find good candidates to run against them and not concede any elected offices! When you are talking to prospective candidates remember […]

 from Susie Monagan The TCDC has communicated a desire to become a less racist organization. We dedicate ourselves to changing the culture of our organization to attract new members to better reflect the demographic makeup of Tompkins County. This change will allow the committee, our party, and our elected officials to better understand and serve all of our citizens and prioritize funding of the policies that will lead to a just and equitable community. In order to accomplish this goal, the TCDC will set aside funds to hire trainers who can guide the membership through the process of unpacking and dismantling its racism as well as developing a strategy for supporting this transformation for the long term. We acknowledge that our goal to transform the committee will take work; building relationships of trust and interrupting patterns of racism does not happen overnight. We must acknowledge that, between Philadelphia and Atlanta, Black voters delivered this past election cycle to Democrats, beginning the process of terminating the horrors of the Trump presidency and the McConnell Senate. Now is the time to look at what 2020 has taught us about the gross inequities in our society and commit resources toward living up to […]

by Peter Rothbart, TCDC Volunteer Coordinator Yes it did. This election mattered, this democracy mattered, votes mattered and volunteerism was one of the engines that drove the process. On a personal level, volunteerism feels good. We feel engaged, alive, empowered and committed. We are taking charge of our lives and our futures. And with Covid all but locking our doors for us, volunteering gave us a reason to cross the threshold and reach out to others barricaded at home. Covid, of course, changed not only the campaign landscape bur forced us to improvise new ways to the communicate… and quickly. Door to door contact was just plain dangerous, causing the Democrats to abandon leafletting out of a justified abundance of caution and respect for others. The importance of phone calling became even more paramount; new software and new organizational approaches were developed quickly, often with flawed and mixed results at first. The glitchy software got better and training sessions improved with experience and confidence. New techniques using texting and social media postings proved to be quick, efficient, cheap and personal in communicating with potential constituents. And even post carding and letter writing found a renewed niche as people longed for […]

by Leslyn McBean, republished from the Tompkins Weekly The Sting of Systemic Racism Leslyn McBean-Clairborne wears 2 hats as Chairwoman of the Tompkins County Legislature and the Executive Director of GIAC. She is an experienced mediator, facilitator, actress, and community organizer. “The sting of systemic racism,” words that echoed from the mouth of President Biden as he gave his inaugural address, accounting for the ways in which America is shaped by racism. It is great to hear the country’s top leader prioritize this issue, but we have been here before. In the moment of joy and celebration we hear those words and experience a glimmer of hope that change will come. Sadly, it should come as no surprise that real, sustainable change does not. Year 2020 was unprecedented by all accounts – tumultuous, unpredictable, and downright truth-revealing. While the medical pandemic of COVID-19 raged across our world destroying lives in its path, citizens protested with outrage against the social pandemic of racism that continues to put Black and Brown people in the chokehold of death, figuratively and literally. We all watched the 8-minute-46-second public execution of George Floyd. Many people expressed their disbelief but those of us who live this […]