If not now, when? If not here, where? How can we defeat the reversal of over 100 years of democratic rights and standard of living as proposed by Trump?

1. Independent Political Organizations are not the only formation. Any where you find yourself among affected people — unions, special interest groups, women’s rights, minority nationality movements you have to coalesce with a growing group of sincere people who share our values and who have good connections with a wider group.
2. IPOs are growing in importance because our survival depends on building bastions of support for new popular people centered platforms — to the point that our largely urban and minority power bases can cause our examples in terms of institutions actual programs to be emulated among areas that made up Trump’s base.
3. IPOs are by nature political and electoral. We sharpen our precinct skills by consciously putting together ward based teams that act as a force in the vote.
4. When we are not in an election cycle, we do education around issues preferably in connection with active advocacy protesting and lobbying.
5. The recent history in our 12th ward in Chicago has created a milieu of activists that came forward in various progressive campaigns. We are a Latino super majority ward. The sons and daughters of immigrant working class residents is the fertile soil we are blessed with. They — not the work we have done to unite them — are the primary reason for our success.
6. Not every ward has this history and constituency. Our lessons are still applicable. The key to progress is always to do specific analysis of strengths and weaknesses. Some areas have more diversity and more Trump supporters. We went 88 percent against Trump.
7. Our continuing programs will tap into the leadership role we gained by campaigning under the slogan Dump Trump in the presidential election. It was not an easy decision since we too were discouraged by the defeat of Bernie Sanders. Our advantage was that we try to be immersed in the feelings of our populace. Fear of deportations is rampant and we could not — as did most other political groups in the city — just let this election pass because of fingers crossed that Nate Silver’s polls were right. We had to stand up to the threat and gained the respect we will need as we go forward.
8. In the one year since we united on some organizational rules and hallmarks, we have quadrupled in size and plan to at least double in 2017.
9. The approach is common sense: extend an open hand of unity with people who have proved their willingness to work. The types are many — old timers from campaigns going back to the 70’s, the youth who are coming into political motion because of the dire future they face, people who have made careers in serving community in schools, churches, clinics, and counseling, Individuals who may be new and with a need to belong to something with a spirit.
10, As with any group, a dedicated leadership is needed to keep things organized and on track. We have maximized communications with members and recruits with social media.
11. It took a while to realize a key fact about the specifics of a Latino community. That is: despite their shadow existence, non citizens are the single most important vehicle to spreading the word. Yes our group plays a key role in setting the agenda, but single most useful constituency (counter-intuitively) are the clutches of immigrant women who group together more any other single layer. They have deep community connections and to use a sterile political science electoral strategy of studiously skipping door bells of non voters is to miss something big.
12. This brings up the key point we make to younger activists who are full of zeal. Just as many old timers did in the ’70s, people need to make a long term commitment to being part of a constituency where they can exercise their interest in organizing.
13. Many political observers don’t get the concept of “vibe” — the unity that spreads more magically than our own necessarily limited individual efforts. Granted at the high point of mobilization, tactically proficient efforts are needed, but the awareness of a growing progressive mentality is something we build over they entire election cycle. IPOs can do that.
14. The six words that I use are: build social, cultural, and political hegemony for our vision.
15. In developing new members it is important to make sure that everyone understands the stages of gaining a lasting relationship with our precincts. In the presidential, we said “everyone work their own precincts and build a team of your own people”. Some were out there 12 hours without much help. We have to keep from setting expectations from being too high, from allowing discouragement. The district wide activities of the IPO and precinct specific tasks help with this. Participation in Local School Councils and other community based groups as well.
16. Another key concept is united front. Our current challenge is so massive that we do not have the luxury of dismissing any who are not fully on board or who have shunned us in the past. This includes progressive, even nationally specific, democratic formations and office holders. It also includes those whose main identity is more to the left than the unifying line of the IPO.
17. The relationship of a seemingly contradictory set of tasks is not so confusing. How do you go deep and go broad at the same time. Going deep means having political, social, and cultural activities designed for the very roots of the community — say a precinct committee or a local school council. Going broad means having a wide front of partners – organizations that we work closely with but don’t always agree with. Both deep and broad can be accomplished at the same time, if primary emphasis is placed on the grass roots aspect. With an army in the field, people approach us and are willing to join for their own interests. We have seen this happen in our two most recent electoral mobilizations — the primary and the general.
18. Final key concept — relating somewhat to united front — in that of circles. Our immigration mobilization to — for the first time — go outside our normal kinds of activities required us to fill a bus with at least 40 people. We did it. Most of the people on the bus were people from one circle or another that we have been in contact with. We had a strong contingent from the 25th Ward IPO. We have members of the Civilian Police Accountability Movement. And other informal circles — home town club from Oaxaca, a crew that is trying to build an IPO in the 14th ward. In this effort our own members were also a “circle” to be relied on.
19. Pass this on. We are trying to be influential among others who are searching to understand the properties and methods. The South West Side has many of the same characteristics of our ward and we want to be cooperative and up to the task before us.

Ideas for a new, unexpected turn of events
We are facing a long Trumpian winter. A dramatic regime change occurred in our own lifetimes, not by coupe de etat. Not by invasion. We can critique neo-liberalism, the role of the Russians, one constituency or another that didn’t perform so well for Hillary.
The fact remains that major shifts in power relations have occurred. It is difficult to even comprehend. On the one hand we see the increasing hyper nationalism accompanied by authoritarianism and xenophobia in many advanced and advancing countries. On the other hand we have the resurgence of what has been labeled The New Confederacy, a coalescence of avowedly racist formations and individuals along with the intolerant religious right and the most reactionary section the Republican elite — fossil fuels extractors, banking and finance, defense, parasitic real estate speculators, and other anti-labor behemoth corporations.

It is not surprising that many of us who have made up the backbone of the progressive movement were caught off guard. At that moment when Bernie Sanders lost and the campaign became a battle between Hillary and Trump, we should have joined in a broad nationwide effort to defeat Trump. Because we have been invested in a no holds barred fight with neo-liberalism, we did not adjust quickly. We were not nimble. We did not pivot.

It should be noted that almost none of the progressive movement in Chicago went out to do battle against Trump on Election Day. We have two city-wide organizations who aspire to advocacy for the concerns of the oppressed in Chicago – Reclaim Chicago and the United Working Families. Both abstained from leadership against Trump. Many of the IPOs also had difficulty recognizing the Trump threat for what it was. Traditional left wing organizations either had few troops to throw into the breach or abstained out of purist concerns. Not for profit community groups are shackled by their funding restrictions.
Even in these days of post-election of shock, a similar lack of direction maintains. The spontaneous, righteous protests are not really led or organized. In a sense, this is as it should be. The common people in their thousands are collectively wise. The million woman march on Washington as well as local activities against Trump are necessary and to be stoked and supported to the max.
The question arises “Why do we, the organizers, not hear the drum beat at the grass roots and why can’t we have an open mind to respond quickly and forcefully?
Here I make a pitch for a vision of locally based Independent Political Organization. We in the 12th ward are no further ahead nor are we lagging in the rear of effectiveness. Though we have contributed noticeably in electoral upsurges – most notably Bernie Sanders, Theresa Mah, and Chuy Garcia, we are far from the mighty force that we need to be.
We have two approaches that I want to advocate: long term locally-based political organizing and a united front attitude.
In the 2016 presidential, we took to the field as we would in any effort to support a local champion. We were not deterred by the argument that Illinois is a Blue state and therefore the effort doesn’t make any difference. We wanted to be visible and convivial at each polling place, standing as leaders for an embattled constituency that overwhelming against Trump, anxious about his draconian threats, particularly around deportation. We emphasized precinct leadership with our members who live in the precincts where they organize.

Guess what? Our election day – despite the grave setback on a national level – was a success. We wanted each of the 23 polling places to be a small demonstration of neighborhood unity. We were very successful at half a dozen locations and visibly present with our own palm cards and DUMP TRUMP stickers at a 12 others. The movement in Chicago don’t currently have the organization or the people power to do precinct level organizing but that is a north star direction for our work.
The second key to remember is United Front. At this time in history, petty turf wars, funding jealousies, historical political differences – these hinder our unity as we are face such an unprecedented onslaught. Issue by issue consider if you are strong enough to inject the correct demands within a united front. We don’t need to be the leaders of every effort. Within the ranks of the Democrats there are individuals and political figures who, for many reasons, see the need for unity. At the core of the resistance will be the organizations of those populations who have been singled out for vile treatment – immigrants, all people of color, women, special needs populations, gays and lesbians etc. To the extent that we can articulate a leading line and bring troops into the field, we can emerge as leaders. We can be the dog and less stable allies can wag like a tail.
We have practiced united front tactics in our 12th ward work. We supported our Democratic committeeman who ran against a Rahm acolyte. We were part of preventing the Rahm wing from its push for total hegemony in the party. We also crafted a message for Election Day that stretched a wide tent to include both Greens and true Blues on our flanks – maintaining IPO unity with the DUMP TRUMP slogan.
There is no cookie cutter. Our experience in the 12th ward is in certain ways easier than in wards where the class and nationality composition is not so homogeneous. In some wards measures to alleviate the burden of the lower rungs of the working class are not universally popular. Everyone has to determine the local version of the anti-Trump agenda. And do it the hard way, by immersing and integrating over the long haul with people in their daily lives – whether that be in precincts as we do, in unions, in special interest causes. We have to go the streets yes. And go to the broad populace to achieve political, social, cultural hegemony for resistance. If we can’t create strong, exemplary zones of political power in the abandoned streets and byways of the Rust Belt, what other course is there?

March and November often bring icy winds to favor those power brokers who pray for low turnouts. In this presidential election, our ward and precinct took advantage of mild pre-winter weather. We turned out in record numbers hoping to beat back the icy hate of an odious billionaire.

The 12th ward Independent Political Organization watchwords were visibility and conviviality. More than ever we find ourselves in step with the majority. Our palm cards advertised progressive local candidates. The DUMP TRUMP badges made it a winning hand. The IPO’s job was to create an atmosphere of neighborhood solidarity at each of the 23 polling places in the ward. By seven that evening, we would claim various levels of success in bonding with the populace. Not demonstrations in the traditional sense, but 23 chances to demonstrate unity.
Who are the individuals who joined in the quadrennial day of political expression? Who roused themselves to vote at our postage stamp sized baseball field called Hoyne Park? The kids who guided cane wielding grandparents. The moms and dads who encouraged their young adult children?
Our precinct is a majority Mexican-American. Interspersed are dozens of Chinese immigrants. A good bunch live in new lookalike bungalows just a short walk from Hoyne Park. There are many white retirees as well as younger pioneers.

First thing in the morning, my son and I dragged over a four by eight foot plywood sign emblazoned with DUMP TRUMP. It wasn’t long before voters were clustering around it to get photos. The tone was set. The civic alienation was punctured. It was our day, not a routine drill for the traditional machine. Gone were many of the old captains, a bunch of whom have relocated to the suburbs.
We warmly greeted the committeeman’s worker. She returned our fist bumps . Today we all would all be pulling the same wagon. We had no need to puff up chests as in “we’re the real captains around here.” The party’s palm card simply showed the face of our committeeman and a list of judges to vote for. We had the edge because of our anti-Trump verve and our endorsement of the popular Chinese-American newcomer, Ms Theresa Mah.
I kept it quiet about the woman, who had been announced as our new Democratic captain in March. Trolling in Facebook, I discovered that she had been heaping praise on Donald Trump. A ball of fire organizer, she would be a great precinct leader — if she lived in the ward and had any appreciation for progressive politics.
The early voters were shift workers and early risers. We pushed a Term Limits petition for the office of mayor. We stoked jokes and stories. Made mental notes of where each voter came from. Traded names with voters we don’t know. We asked them if they had received our anti-trump leaflet that related our precinct’s problems with the national picture.
“Hey I haven’t voted since 72 because I had a felony conviction,” asked a guy dressed in workman’s blues. “Go right ahead. I might have been in the cell next to yours,” I joked.
Then at about ten am, I just happened to be looking in the direction of our DUMP TRUMP monument on the corner. A blue van pulled a “U” and drove right through it. Ricky had shored it up with two by fours and four by fours so it got stuck under the van. He dragged it three blocks, trying to evade police before they cornered him at 33rd and Hoyne.

Adrenaline spurted in my veins. “Who the hell?” I followed the chase all the while wondering if it was a skinhead or one of the handful of Trump supporters in the ward. He was already cuffed and in the backseat of the squad when I got there. The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see the offender.
When they let him out to look for his driver’s license in the van, I snapped a photo. He was a Mexican! I couldn’t put it into any context that made sense. I posted his image on Facebook with my next guess, “He had a hairnet. Looks like a gangbanger.”
Back at the polling place our team had grown to a half dozen. Antonio helped Ricky repair the sign. Calls went out to our other precincts. My other son, Billy, who was precinct coordinator for the day, drove by to check out the situation. He volunteered, “Hey, maybe the guy thought the sign was saying to vote for Trump.”
Meanwhile my Facebook thread blew up with criticisms that I was a racist for assuming that he was a gang banger. A neighbor messaged me that she recognized the sign breaker as a family man who lives in an apartment 3 doors from my own home. I took down the photo and made apologies for prejudging the guy in the hairnet.

The arresting officer called from the station to let me know that the man would not be charged for damage to property because the sign was on a city parkway. I said, “Could you please ask him what his motivation was?” He said, “He’s just leaving now.” Then, I could hear him ask, “Man to man, why did you do it?” Back on the phone he told me, “He thought it was a pro-Trump sign.” In the maelstrom of social upheaval, all manner emotions and hasty judgements prevail.
As the day wore on, dozens of our neighbors came and went. Those who hung out with us understood. In effect, we were taking the place of patronage workers. In prior years, they wore yellow windbreakers as they stood around a 55 gallon blaze. These were not guys with bad intentions, family guys, tree trimmers, parks recreation supervisors. The Hispanic Democratic Organization, like the 11th ward machine before them, worked for a cynical breed that, in many ways, was skimming off the top at the expense of the majority.
Our team consisted of pure volunteers: moms of dreamers, husband and wife with political experience with the left many years ago in Mexico, a garrulous jokester and former union millwright, young men who had scuffed their knees along with my kids on that very ballfield, and — dramatically for us — a Chinese community leader from down the block. Together we enjoyed champurrado and tamales compliments of neighborhood women.
How far did we advance to our goal of becoming the leaven in the 12th ward loaf? Despite the widespread and intense hate for Trump, especially in Latino wards, no other ward teams took up Dump Trump wholeheartedly as we did. Even in the 12th ward, the coverage was uneven. Some polling places only had a single IPO passer and some voting hours were uncovered. Some passers were not the ideal captains because they did not live in the precinct. We did not buy the conventional wisdom that our E-Day work doesn’t make any difference because we are in a blue state.
We jumped on this crusade to flex our muscles, deepen our ties, and stand in leadership of a deeply and urgently felt popular sentiment. It is natural that we have different levels of ties in different precincts. In some our captains have been integral to the community for 25 or more years. In others, younger members are learning the techniques and patience that is necessary.

The key was our group’s compromise decision to focus on defeating Trump. In our endorsement meeting, a few members had passionately pushed for the Green Party candidate. Others favored placing Clinton at the top of our palm card as a practical, political move. To preserve unity we made no presidential endorsement but in the preparation for E day, we produced the Dump Trump stickers. Secondarily, we emphasized “The Year of The Woman in Politics” because our three endorsed candidates were female.
In effect, we were practicing the united front both within the group and externally with all the forces in the field of play – particularly the immigrant Mexican American and Chinese communities. We were explicitly in tandem with the democratic committeeman, though not working with our nemesis, the local alderman, who didn’t even field a street crew.
Now begins the cold winter of Trump revanchism. Fears of deportation raids, even steeper service cutbacks, curtailment of union power, bullying, xenophobia, even rape abound.
We will be employing the two outlooks that served us so well on Election Day: 1) immersion among the constituencies in our neighborhoods, learning and championing their interests and 2) uniting all who can be united against Trump and his policies. The upcoming united fronts will require a welcoming outstretched hand to nationalities we have not yet succeeded in uniting, to politicians who are willing to take positions in the interest of our people, to other organizations both political and not for profit who have different approaches to organizing.
There is a human heart in the forgotten neighborhoods of Chicago. Our potential is causing the right wing racists to crawl out from their lairs. Strategies that can move millions are what we need. Resolve to awaken this mighty force.

Our work has three distinct aspects. They bleed over into each other. These conform to the 3 geographies that we can affect. These are just my personal observations. Hopefully we can deepen the ideas and gain more ability and more unity.

Ward

The May Summary meeting/forum about our work in the primary was an advance because:

• We combined regular members, Theresa Mah activists (for the first time truly and equally involving sum up of work in Chinatown as well as the Latino areas), as well as non-English speaking Latinas.
•  Analyzed data and precinct tactics in depth. Appealed to activists from outside our ward.
•  Featured advanced political analysis by two very sympathetic elected officials – Theresa Mah and Chuy Garcia

Subsequent meetings were advanced educational forms

• July meeting in the Marshall Square neighborhood focused on the Term Limits Petition Campaign
• August 11th was a triple header with informative talks on the Democratic Convention, revitalization of the Central Manufacturing District, and the Mental Health Safety Net ordinance
• Chicago is Not Broke forum got into ideas of municipal bank, toxic swaps, as well as municipal revenue/budget mismanagement

The general election endorsement meeting was a key step in gaining unity. We united on a slate of three candidates based on flipping the senate (Tammy Duckworth), celebrating the ascension of the first Chinese to the state legislature (Theresa Mah), and punishing Rahm for his role in covering up police murder of Laquan McDonald and others (Kim Foxx).

The sense of the meeting was strongly anti Trump but we could not get a consensus on endorsing Stein or Clinton. As we worked up the palm cards for E Day we decided to supplement our work with DUMP TRUMP stickers and with less fanfare we also advanced the slogan “Celebrate the Year of the Woman” as a nod to our candidates and against sexism in the campaigns.

These accomplishments seem to highlight the sweet spot, the most appropriate kind of activity for our group – educational between elections and then electoral when that time comes.

We are more suited to joining coalitions and working as individuals on issues – as we did with the Mental Health Movement and when a grassroots group came as a delegation to the alderman’s office about the increase in the water bill. This can change as we gain more strength. But as an all-volunteer organization we don’t have capacity or leadership to play roles in leading other intensive struggles.

Precinct

The general was a huge advance because we deployed with a very firm guideline – build precinct teams based on local residents.

Gain visibility for our stance against Trump and allow the people to express themselves and to feel that someone is trying to lead.

The following are just a few highlights to paint the picture.

We deployed over 60 people to work the polling places.
1.  We had area leaders in each of the neighborhoods – Marshall Square, Hoyne Park, Brighton East, Brighton West, and Central McKinley Park.
2. We emphasized group activity at polling places more than the broadest possible coverage.
3. Nevertheless we covered almost every place except the McKinley Field House for at least one shift.
4. We took on the 32nd precinct of the 25th ward (Everett School).
Home-made signs served to attract attention to our strongest demand DUMP TRUMP. Voters flocked to have their pictures taken with the sign.

5. The 12th Ward went by 85% for Hillary and with the Greens included it was 88%.
6. The group came together for a debriefing with tremendous espirit de corps.
7. We did a customized leaflet in Hoyne Precinct linking the general election to local realities.

We worked in the same harness with the ward committeeman. There was no reason for any friction because our immediate goals largely overlapped.

Region

We are trying to spread our approach to teams in Bridgeport, Back of the Yards, Pilsen, and Little Village. Each of these areas has things going on that we can learn from. And we have refined the education/election paradigm such that we can see how it is received by them. Our constituencies and memberships are not quite the same but very similar.

Points delivered by Bill Drew at a gathering of IPOs on August 13th at Rudy Lozano Library. The featured speaker was Anna Rius a council woman from Terrassa which is near Barcelona, Spain. She is a member of Podemos, the broad political movement in opposition to Austerity.

•  Our group is heavily oriented toward electoral politics. We have a special emphasis on developing a precinct structure which has been evident and effective particularly in the Mayoral/aldermanic race of 2014/15 and the 2016 primary.
•  Our IPO is descendent of the legendary 22nd ward IPO. Draw inspiration from their principles and history. Rudy Senior is the father, Jesus is the son carrying out his work, and our señora de Guadalupe is the best precinct captain in Chicago, Lupe Lozano. We take their 3 letter acronym seriously – Independent, Political and Organized.
• One key to our growth is a conscious effort to collect and cultivate dedicated campaigners – people who have strong ties with neighbors and family, people who are not involved for fame or personal gain. Mainly Latinos, mainly working class with a recent emphasis on youth. The place to find these members is in exactly the struggles – both electoral and around issues. Binding them into a group is done through periodic meetings, educational forums, social events, and issue organizing.
• We face 6 main challenges.

1. Building strong cores in all 3 neighborhoods – McKinley Park, Brighton Park, and East Little Village.
2. Including the most marginalized – non citizens particularly non English speakers, elderly, and disabled.
3. Finding the right balance of activism around local issues versus broader policy and electoral issues
4. Consistent functioning and communication because we are 100 per cent volunteer
5. Developing close working relationships with kindred organizations – other IPOs as well as non profit advocacy groups.
6.  Candidate recruitment and training.

• To gain perspective is may be necessary to consider the nature of the present period. Make no mistake. We are in a time of DEFENDING the standards of living and democratic rights of our hard pressed neighborhoods. Like an army being relentlessly back by an advancing enemy, we always have to analyze where to re-group, stave off encirclements, and counter attack.
•  Sometimes the period is defined as resisting austerity. Other times as countering neo-liberalism. These are useful categories. Defending democratic rights should be elevated as co-equal to these two concepts. School councils, police review and CAPS, electoral integrity, transparency, and accessibility to policy makers should be on our agenda.
• There is no need to concoct or divine the correct demand, the most winnable demand, nor the
  “perfect” springboard to our access to localized power. It is not time to bemoan how apathetic and passive are the people. Look around. There is no end to issues and grievances which spontaneously arise in the populace. Our job is to plunge in and give what leadership we can. We do not have to be the organization that gets the credit. Other issue and neighborhood based organizations have far more capacity, expertise, and connections.
• It is said (David Harvey) that the kinds of organization which arise reflects a direct response to the kinds of organization which has been created to control us. And in a chaotic, profit-driven system, those forms of control are constantly changing – even on a daily basis. In earlier times of more dominant mass industrial production and injustice, our people developed massive unions to resist. Now as we find ourselves increasingly in a gig economy, the forms of resistance are more localized. Now that the effort to squeeze us is coming more in the form of taxation and inequality of services and benefits. Coming more in violence, deportation, and neglect of those considered to be superfluous and unprofitable. We see organizations like Black Lives Matter, myriad expressions of resistance to deportations and depreciation of undocumented people, the mental health movement, trauma center, wage theft, privatization, environmental racism, school closings. IPOs don’t need to be the main organizers. We need to slip stream that momentum—publicize, give up our organizers, advocate with politicians, threaten electoral reprisals.  https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/david-harvey-neoliberalism-capitalism-labor-crisis-resistance/
• Neo-liberalism has more than 18 carat facets. All in the name of freedom for capital to achieve its yearly growth target – privatization, de-regulation, elimination of government services, financialization, globalism, concentration of ownership, division and picking on the weakest, rewards to political enablers. There is one other that we – the people on the ground – need to be award of: misdirection. The democratic tendency is still strong in our country. To pull the wool over our eyes, guys like Bill Clinton and Rahm have become experts at giving a penny with one hand and stealing a dollar with the other. We have to be astute to publicize and call out the plans which are devised to confuse and contuse.
• Minority nationalities are the bullseye of the neo liberal target. Effective resistance cannot be mounted unless we take on these attacks for what they are – a cataclysm of exclusion for people of color. In the political life of urban areas like Chicago, we have social and political forces which base their future on giving commercial and political leadership to minorities as minorities. They haven’t always sided with every progressive and/or working class cause. In times like now we have to build such a broad tent as to take advantage of what the center brings. By our expertise at the grass roots we can be the dog and not the tail.
• Learn from everyone. Mistakes are an essential part of learning. Coming up with the right approach is an iterative process. Adopt a line. Test it in practice. Tweak and repeat. Or junk it and rethink it.
• Unity of IPOs and all resistance organizations and stirrings is paramount. We have a good start – particularly as witnessed in our cooperation in Chuy’s campaign. Don’t let turf lines or lazy rivers separate us. Though each of the SW side wards has particular and different historical political, class, immigration, and nationality characteristics the plight of our residents is quite uniform.

Warm winds smiled softly. Far from the whirling rancor that rips at leaves in faraway forests.

What better a contrast! The unifier, the patient listener, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, the victor, our next state rep, a woman of warmth and justice. Here in the gateway to the Southwest Side.

At a time when a red faced devil, an abuser, a cynical divisive psychopath glares from TV.

At Dr. Mah’s outpost in the Chuy Garcia district headquarters, we were pleasantly surprised by a full house for her campaign kickoff. The first Asian American in the Illinois General Assembly knows you can never let your guard down. Though victory is assured because she faces no opponent, she is running a robust November operation. Regular Dem challengers will resurface trying to unseat her in 2018.

Meet several characters in the pageant. More threads than a brilliant tapestry. Conversations elbow to elbow, spilling out to the sidewalk.

Tireless Rebecca Shi — always looking for something positive and in common, “I want to meet your wife because we really enjoyed visiting Oaxaca.”

David Li — a Chinese expert on British/Japanese history. I told him that I had been interested in the Chinese Revolution 40 years ago, something I usually hesitate to share. You never know how people will react. The guy knows nuance and lots about the various affects of cataclysmic world events.

A few guys from Chuy’s most loyal Pilsen crew. I told them my idea of sharing costs of our IPO palm cards for election day since we generally support the same candidates — both north and south of the river.

Reverend Tom told me that there is visible Trump activity in Bridgeport. Blue ribbons on trees east of Halsted, hateful comments on community web sites, Republican registration. All the more reason to hit hard at Trump this election. “But we’ll win Bridgeport.” “That’s not the point,” I said. “We win big to isolate the backward. Why were people with racial envy afraid to speak before? Because civil rights was dominant – big enough to shame haters.”

Meeting Kam Liu. A happy, effervescent guy. All these years, I’d considered him to be some unapproachable real estate mogul. Far from it, another friend to add my legion of acquaintances.

Highlights kept coming when the rally began. Three leaders of the Whitney Young Honor Society announced that special service hours will go to their members who volunteer.

A group from Theresa’s surprising victory in the St. Pius neighborhood in Pilsen. A couple of my ESL students showed up with them. I told myself, “I don’t remember inviting them.”

Chuy’s final words targeted the main enemy, “That’s why we have to defeat Trump and defeat him big.”

Pete Mendoza raised the rafters with his gravelly baritone, “We are the grass roots.”

When my son and I returned to our own precinct, we engaged with neighbors. In my opinion that’s where campaigners are most valuable — on our own home turf.

Harry on the corner cataloged the plant by plant departure of local industry. He did the books for companies and their workers. Not that happy with Hillary. Not happy with the empty industrial buildings and the departure of old time friends. Yet totally for Theresa. We think he’ll vote against Trump. We reminisced about the sad passing of Mike Holland — alone in his home.

In our alley we bonded with men who make a living with their hands. Sometimes political discussions slide to the side after you get a wink for Theresa or a willing signature on the mayoral term limits petition.

The alley is an ecosystem of Latino families who help each other — dry wallers aiding roofers. auto body men tackling jobs for plumbers. This fabric of community is the basis for progress on November 8th and beyond.

Our unity will be evident when we vote. It is not like the old days when Daley’s city workers insincerely thanked residents “for coming out.” Time to celebrate new alliances and bury Trump in a blizzard of ballots.

Dark clouds in the September skies yielded to bright October bundles. I rang bells along South Leavitt — the block I’ve lived on for over 25 years. “I’m your captain. What’re going to do this political season?”

Meet my neighbors. Think about them and tell me that we should stay on the couch, that it doesn’t matter because we are in a “safe” state, that nothing matters, that we should ignore this heightened political environment.

We started at Theresa Mah’s office. Walk sheets of the frequent voters. Me and Danny Ferrales. He is the first inspiration, “I love walking precincts. Been doing it my whole life.” Not shy. Goes quickly for signatures on the “Term Limits for the Mayor” petition.

Retired Latino homeowner. Wouldn’t repeat his hopeful comment about Donald Trump from 3 weeks ago. Disgusted with rising property taxes and the Mayor’s favoritism toward downtown. A smile at the mention of Theresa. A scowl for alderman George Cardenas.

White guy in his 40s whom I had never seen. Didn’t seem to be down on his luck. “Do you live here?” “Yes, just renting.” Positive for Mah, for making corporations pay, and for access to higher education for all.” It gave me a lift.

One of the older sons of a family with 6 votes. “Help for college, yes. Maybe I could of gone. I couldn’t afford it.” I double checked his first name. “Same as my dad.” I knew his old man had passed from cancer last year. “Que Descance en Paz”. “Thanks” he said, sincerely.

A Chinese man about my age. I told him I lived across the street for 25 years. He pointed to his breast, “Thirty for me”. We shared a smile that said. “what a crazy world. Where neighbors are unknown, anonymous and nothing more than a closed front curtain.” He didn’t seem to have a clue about Theresa. But it could have been a language problem.

Another neighbor who’d never blipped my radar — this one directly across the street. I told her that her father, a retired CTA bus driver, had given me first aid the time I opened up a gash on my palm 25 years ago. Another signature on the term limits petition. In return she got my business card, “Neighbors need to watch for neighbors.”

The friendliest Puerto Rican this side of San Juan. Thirty one years in an industrial springs plant that no longer exists on Western. Lots of head shakes and jokes about Trump. Concern for grandchildren coming of age. “If you need any help with your wife, you still have my card?”

Younger dude who’s getting by tutoring Calculus. “Hey if you need a list of union job openings in hotels, talk to my wife.” And “What do you think of the 3rd survey question about affordable college.” “Are you kidding?” he grinned.

Retired couple – both from CPS. The wife: “If I have to I’ll drive 40 miles to get my son and bring him to vote against Trump.” The husband: “We went to hearings on cutbacks of help for the disabled. My heart goes out. Wanted to cry.”

Latino college student. “My brother shocked me saying he’d vote for Trump. I started yelling did he realize that could mean their own mother and father could be deported”

Another house with multiple Latino voters. After she signs the term limits petition, “Make sure your brother comes to our IPO meeting, Tuesday. We’re deciding on endorsements. You can come too, if you want.”

This is just a sampling of what you can find on any single block on the Southwest side. There is a key task for us progressives — even more important that how exactly we express ourselves on our independent palm cards and election outreach. Hyper local organizing among the people most affected and most threatened. Stand as a leader. Express what they realize.

This is a time of realignment, of peril, of opportunity, and danger. Uniting against Trump is the clarion call. Be there in your own precinct with all the like minded people to send a clear message. We are the yeast in the loaf, but not smarter the the whole.

Aggregate our forces to take on the battles which will surely come. Cultivate your own block captains. The grassroots is the soil for democracy. Treasure, protect, and uplift. Vote Democratic emphasizing not Hillary but the planks that our Sanders movement forced into the platform.

A Perfect Storm

Chapter 3

Three Magic Words: Independent, Political, and Organized

A Personal History of the 12^th Ward IPO

Was it a crazy dream? I arrived a short time before the Candidates Forum was to begin. No mad scramble with the final checklist being drawn up with five minutes to spare. Our members helping each other to set up chairs and tables in the Centro Cultural Zacatecano. For once, no stress.

And it wasn’t just the usual suspects. Sometimes a large hall feels like a shoebox with a few marbles rolling around inside. Not today. Our 12^th ward Independent Political Organization was hosting a coming out party, an open forum to decide on candidates for the 2106 primary. High schoolers took on roles as time keepers, photographers, and question readers.

Chris was arranging the pan dulces. Bernardo and Rogelio were patrolling as inconspicuous bouncers. The guys from Club Zacatecano nodded approvingly. Memo Magdaleño, a last minute replacement for Commissioner Garcia as moderator, tested the mic. Hilda Carbajal cribbed notes on her welcome statement. Paco Chaidez set up his translation shop in one corner.

Theresa Mah and stand-ins for Bernie Sanders and Kim Foxx worked the crowd.  Javier Salas was out on the corner wearing a sandwich sign about his candidacy. Emma Lozano came strolling in with a smile and a few other Luis Gutierrez supporters. Down ballot judicial candidates were lobbying by the coat room.

Following presentations by candidates and surrogates, our group caucused to vote on our slate. It was a remarkable discussion, a striving for consensus free of bickering. The most gratifying aspect was the participation of the new generation. I felt a grandfatherly affection for the high school students from Kelly. We emerged with what turned out to be a winning, upset slate for the ward: Sanders, Foxx, and Mah.

What is the soil from which a new wave of independence has begun to grow? On one level we are jaded old timers, aggressive middle timers, and enthusiastic young volunteers. Some of us trace our roots to the labor and political struggles from the 70s and 80s. Others came up in social justice causes colored by liberation theology, neighborhood organizing, immigrant rights, fair treatment for our at risk youth. In our events, mural artists mingle with union stewards; stalwarts for the Ayotzinapa 43 discuss environmental policy with U of C math grads; striking teachers commiserate with mothers who fear for their kids.

We have one thing in common: we can count on each other even when the chill winds blow. I can remember each picket line, each victory party, each election training where I first met the members of our IPO crew. I met Bernardo when dropping of sandwiches at the Ward Yards voting location in 2010, Miguel when he commented on my Chuy button in a Verizon store. A bunch of them started showing up a Pete DeMay campaign meetings. We don’t prioritize those who talk but don’t act. Ours is a fraternity of affection and cooperation, laughs and hugs not stilted handshakes and suspicious glances.

For me, it started seven years ago. Then I realized that our neighborhood had no politicians who would back us. At that time, a son of our neighborhood was on trial for the crime of self-defense. He was a best friend with my two boys. His crew of hip hop graffiti artists held him in their hearts. At backyard meetings of his defense committee, I was transported back to my activism of 40 years ago. The solidarity of these kids who had scuffed their knees on the Hoyne Park diamond was a reminder of the togetherness that I had seen in the labor skirmishes of the ‘70s.

Please don’t say that the past is an irrelevant, dusty attic. Scrapes and bruises from earlier times inform us now, set the stage. The comeback campaign of Chuy Garcia as county commissioner was our chance to get some revenge from an old defeat. I’d been salted away in corporate computer jobs for 25 years. I’d been away from organizing, trying to make amends for not being a good family man in my twenties and thirties. A lot of my old movement friends had successfully embedded themselves in union or other socially useful jobs. Meanwhile, I was writing computer programs in cubicles.  I used to say how jealous I was of my brother, “He can make one phone call and have 40 union members on any given corner the following morning.”

Chuy’s candidacy recalled the same hope I had felt when I helped in his committeeman race in the early ‘80s. On Chuy’s slate was Rudy Lozano Junior. His first bid for state representative was similarly meaningful. More than symbolically the martyr’s blood ran in young Rudy’s veins.

In that race we garnered a split decision. Chuy rallied troops and voters. His smile was still a strong card; his reputation, sterling. We painted Joseph Mario Moreno as a “bribes for bandages” hack who conspired to defraud Cook County Hospital. As the incumbent, he turned out to be crack in the façade of the Daley-orchestrated Hispanic Democratic Organization.

The Rudy Junior’s narrow defeat by Ed Burke’s brother, Dan, revealed that we had not yet consolidated our influence in a district dominated by the 14^th ward. The Garcia/Lozano effort and subsequent campaigns represented a push by Latino progressives to regain territory which had been lost in the “Hispanicization” of the Southwest Regular Democratic machine.

In 2011 new cadres regrouped in the aldermanic campaign for Jesse Iniguez. In 2012 we tried again to put Rudy in Springfield. By 2014 the battle had shifted to Pete DeMay’s challenge of George Cardenas for 12^th ward alderman. With each fight we were able to make ties, to add to our ranks more serious campaigners. In Rudy’s campaign, we held meetings on a regular basis. The most tireless campaigner and petition gatherer was Pete Mendoza. Pete learned his organizing from John Velazquez and Rudy the father. He sharpened his skills as a long time chief steward and precinct captain.

The other Pete was DeMay, our candidate for alderman in 2014. He came seemingly out or nowhere with years of experience organizing hotel workers in Puerto Rico and autoworkers in Tennessee and Mexico. Creative, combative, and hardworking, he inspired a campaign that showed great promise until it was derailed by legal tricks from the incumbent.

Dozens of other 12^th warders have these kinds of expectations. We have dreamers, advocates for separated families, youth organizers.  Each 12^th ward neighborhood school has activist mothers who feel the decline in educational quality as dollars go elsewhere. The twelfth ward is home to a surprising number of leaders of the Teacher’s union and union activists in manufacturing and service. Some are progressives priced out of the north side; some have participated directly in the renewed resistance in Mexico.

But on a deeper level, the hope comes from the laborers and commuters, clock punchers and gear shifters, the moms and dads. The common people are seeing dreams fade from technicolor to a dull gray. They, as a group, are the ones learning lessons. As organizers, we have to bend down close to listen to something that I call “community wisdom”. Each election, each implementation of austerity, each abuse produces resistance – from grumbles at the checkout line and clashes with landlords to large scale marches by the Kelly High student body. Each failure of organized resistance, each victory, no matter how small, produces germs of a new understanding.

Complexity rules.  We are up against the classic pattern. Society’s regulators are forever responding to the ever changing needs of the super rich.. The competitive system produces a constantly shifting terrain for the opposition. Anybody who has lost a job in the great industrial runaway movement, anyone who has been escorted out of the building when their skills or salaries don’t match the corporate requirement, anyone who must adjust to maddening accountability paperwork, all these have personally felt the disorientation. In the political realm, the social regulators settle on crazily shaped ward boundaries to pack, stack, and crack natural unities.

In response, we, the opposition, have to constantly adjust. Before the IPO, we were promoting the McKinley Park Progressive Alliance. As ward and district elections loomed, wider geographies seemed to be more relevant. The 12^th ward includes, in addition to McKinley, sections of Brighton Park and the Marshall Square part of Little Village. The MPPA still exists on paper, but we seem to be reaching a bigger audience with the IPO while accomplishing much the same. We hope to resurrect a more locally focused McKinley effort as soon as possible.

To our credit, the MPPA was a Paul Revere alerting the McKinley community to the proliferation of charter schools. Our earliest focus was the intrusion of the Gulen Movement, a secretive charter network based in, of all places, in Istanbul. We risked being attacked of Islamophobia, but stuck to our guns with presentations showing unmistakable patterns of corruption. We riled people up best when we exposed multiple fraudulent H1-B hirings of Turkish teachers at a time when our own sons and daughters are losing jobs at the public schools.

We credit advice from Alvaro Obregon with giving us a completely different footprint in the community. “Run as community reps for Local School Councils”, he urged. I was a bit late to the strategy, already my closest political ally, Jose Hernandez, was embedded in a couple of school councils. Theresa Mah had been voted in with him on a slate at Kelly High. Jose had close ties at several other schools and was instrumental in winning construction of the Calmeca Dual Language Academy on the western edge of the ward.

When I got onto the council at Everett Elementary, I found myself immersed in a layer in the community that I had little prior knowledge of. I was pleasantly surprised at the sisterhood that existed among the Everett mothers. Soon I was volunteering as an English as a Second Language teacher in the parent’s room. It became a time to learn and at the same time teach. With an Irregular schedule of workshops we brought in outside speakers on topics from citizenship to health care and school funding.

What was the deepest significance of Alvaro’s advice? Three points: 1) the crisis in public funding of education is acute in our neighborhood and it is a citywide issue, 2) those most affected on the Southwest Side are immigrant parents and their children,  3) being immersed allows for the best construction of resistance plans. What a windfall! Now we had consistent access to people most directly affected by one of the system’s austere reorganizations.

The key point has to do with the relation of organizers to the population in need. Without concentrating ideas coming from average people, it is impossible to decide on which plans have a chance.

The McKinley Schools Showcase captured the spirit nicely. We gave voice to six school communities at a time when their achievements are being depreciated to justify cuts and marginalization.

Is defense of public education an exclusive a model for IPO success?  No. There are numerous ways to connect locally. We would like each of our members to consciously create a relationship with people, whether in a neighborhood, a community garden, a family network, a home town federation, a union, a school council, a church, or a precinct.  In these networks, we find not only votes, but more importantly, sources of human love, cooperation and knowledge.

Our choice as a ward level organization follows on the success of Little Village’s 22nd Ward IPO. For several years, some of us had unrealistically waited in hopes that their organization would reach out and colonize us. In fact, they had provided organization and example in many ways. How can we forget two forays by Rudy’s campaigners into the heart of the 14^th ward in his runs for the legislature?  The Little Village multi-generational cadres provided the experience for any campaign that involved Chuy or Rudy. They did timely educational events. And they were the backbone of 22^nd ward service through the alderman’s office. Many moved on to human service in the non profit sector.

The reality for us, though, was that, if we wanted to have an Independent political organization, we had to do it ourselves. There are no saviors, no big network that understands our reality like we do. We aspire to be a democratic organization growing like wild flowers and leafy vegetation from the grassroots.

On December 16^th, 2015, with a feeling of collective liberation, a scruffy cohort of activists raised their hands in unanimous approval for our 12^th ward IPO bylaws and hallmarks. Hard won lessons won’t be lost on us. It is not a question of tricking our way to power. As we grow we hope to guide something much stronger that our small group. Like the Senator from Vermont says, “A political revolution is on the rise.”

A Perfect Storm

Chapter 2

Precision and Passion Set an Example for Progressives

A passion born in the small store run by her immigrant father,  nurtured as a translator for Chinese San Franciscans, and brought to full bloom in her scholarly work in Asian studies. Everything about Dr. Theresa Mah’s historic campaign sprang from the desire of an emerging community to have a voice.

Did all of us in the 12^th Ward Independent Political Organization fully grasp the historic importance of her challenge? I know that I underestimated the fervor and democratic aspirations of the unrepresented nationality. Chinatown is a ten minutes trip up Archer. There are 150 Chinese voters in my own precinct including an entire block of new bungalows on Hamilton. It might as well have been ten hours away.  As Chinatown prepared to celebrate 100 years in Chicago, I couldn’t say that I had more than “Hi and Bye” relations with my Asian neighbors.

The machine regulars may have also underestimated the Asian potential when they redrew legislative maps after the 2010 census. The new 2^nd legislative district demographics emerged as the most favorable battle field for Asian American political power. The area is one half Latino and the remainder is about equally divided into whites and Asians.

We put Theresa on our ticket. She was a star attraction at several of our events; we were happy attendees at many of her rallies and parades. IPO stalwarts Pete and Theresa Mendoza along with Danny Ferrales were exemplary as door knockers wherever needed. A neighborhood meeting they hosted at Tierra Caliente across from Kelly High was their stellar best practice. Our group did election day hustling at most of the McKinley Park precincts. Did we forge the maximum unity possible based on a once in a lifetime opportunity? Probably not.

I had seen progressives fall to the machine in four recent campaigns. In addition my optimism may have been affected by the tough fight I am concurrently waging with inoperable pancreatic cancer. I was (and still am) beating the odds, still combative and more alert than ever.  But my energy level was reduced.  A couple days every two weeks in the height of the campaign I was carrying a chemo pump in a fanny pack.  On days when I was more horizontal than vertical, I joked that I was “practicing for my wake”.

Even our Latino champion, Chuy Garcia, was hedging his bets early.  In the end, he came through in classic fashion. He had stepped up in the ‘80s when he filled in for his compadre, the assassinated Rudy Lozano. More recently he had stepped up against Rahm Emanuel when Karen Lewis had to withdraw due to her own cancer battle.  Chuy’s people reopened his Pilsen campaign office and gave Theresa the extra push she needed.

The large public employee unions were strangely passive. Reclaim Chicago, particularly through the Bridgeport Alliance, was deeply involved. The center of the struggle, not surprisingly, was located in the cooperation of a myriad of associations centered in Chinatown. Restaurant workers were a stable base. They provided the solid core that could anchor a broader front. Chinese from the suburbs and other Asian communities in Chicago joined in. News of Theresa was burning up WeChat, a Chinese version of Facebook. My banker, Bai Yuen, told me that she had ferried two loan officers from the Chinatown branch to vote late in the afternoon of Election Day.

Theresa’s south-of-the-river HQ was a boiler room of phone banking and canvassing. Her team kept pushing, methodical and disciplined. When I walked door to door with her in my own precinct, I had been pleasantly surprised at the genuine warmth shown by both Latinos and whites. I saw many positive flashes: Theresa’s grace on the porches, her identification with working families as well as immigrants, the precision of each step in her campaign. The Theresa team was scrupulous in record keeping and petition gathering. When she was not chatting on countless porches, she was raising funds by phone. Her hard core of white, Latino, and Chinese staffers linked up with existing networks many of which had formed a year earlier in the mayoral contest.

A few days after her smashing victory, I asked one of her most dedicated campaigners, Yanying Jiang, how they had succeeded in registering record numbers of voters. Yanying, who commands three Chinese dialects as well as English, detailed their intricate network of local leaders. She trained key people in senior homes, community centers, and neighborhoods. She armed them with the steps and specifics of how and when people could register and vote. I’d never seen Get Out the Vote performed so flawlessly.

In politics, things happen. Confusion and complication are part of the turf. Many in our IPO were initially taken aback when our longtime nemesis, the neo-liberal Alderman George Cardenas, jumped on Theresa’s surging coat tails. His team was busily affixing his campaign posters to fences all over the neighborhood, most often without asking for permission. Some of his signs implied a Cardenas/Mah slate. The unasked questions: “Is George playing Theresa or is she playing him?” and “Does Theresa really have a choice? Is there a path to victory without at least a few prominent Latino endorsers?”

In the early stages, Theresa had been unable to attract support from any Latino politicos. Her political instincts led her to take advantage of any Democratic elected official who would pose with her for a picture. The unstated message was “I’m holding you to the vision of inclusion. Democrats need to live up to ideals. I hope you realize that an insurgent Asian candidate can energize an excluded segment for future elections at the city, state, and national level.”

As things played out in the campaign, George was the tail to Theresa’s dog. Weakened by his association with Rahm Emanuel, he failed in his bid snatch the post of ward committeeman. For her part, Theresa had demonstrated a willingness reach out beyond her own nationality.

U.S. representative, Luis Gutierrez, was a second Latino figure who endorsed her. He, like Cardenas, has dropped in popularity on the Southwest Side due to his Rahm love. A Theresa Mah press conference to announce her Latino backers at first seemed to result in disaster. Family members of her opponent, Alex Acevedo, staged a shamelessly racist counter to her photo op.

In an irony to beat all ironies, the Acevedo placards called attention to Cardenas’ Hispanic Democratic Organization (HD) history. In fact the Acevedo attempt at dynasty was a start-to-finish HDO maneuver. Young Acevedo had been the chairman of Latinos for Rahm. The Acevedo posse mocked Gutierrez as a “chacalacca” (chatterbox) and a sellout. Despite Gutierrez’s popularity decline, the Puerto Rican congressman was not someone to drive out of Pilsen. He is, after all, the foremost national spokesperson for immigration reform.

The Acevedo crowd disrupted Theresa’s symbolic show of Latino/Asian unity by interrupting, pushing, and shoving. Shouts of “chink” were heard more than once. There, in Pilsen’s Tenochtitlan Plaza, where a stone eagle clutches a snake atop a concrete obelisk, the Acevedo mob had dishonored Mexican nationalism.

Many Mexican voters were turned off by the shameful display of racism towards Asians and Puerto Ricans. Chinese voters were galvanized. Not long after that Thresa gained the formidable ground troops of Chuy Garcia. Many of Chuy’s activists had known Theresa from immigrant rights mobilizations and from the mayoral campaign. Proof of the Acevedo miscalculation came as polls were closing on election day. A happy group of Latino supporters of Theresa Mah bounded into her victory party holding aloft the tapes proving that she had bested young Acevedo in two Pilsen precincts. Those polling places were at Cooper School, a stone’s throw from the senior Acevedo’s favorite watering hole.

Theresa had made the calculated and correct move to court all possible Latino unity. Though many in the ward harbored resentment against Cardenas, it is not clear that she lost an appreciable number of votes. She simply outshined Cardenas as well as young Acevedo, both of whom have worn out their welcome with former supporters.

In the aftermath of the Theresa victory, a hilarious post from the Acevedo camp went viral. It showed their thuggish, entitled mentality. Alex’s brother, Eddie Jr, was taped by Alderman, Danny Solis. The Acevedos were trying to re-live their past days of HDO glory when the Latino heavy weights behaved as a unified machine. In former times they could corral the Chinese vote the old fashioned way. Eddie Junior’s profanity filled, street call-out became an object of amusement throughout the progressive community. Listen here to the requiem of the HDO.

The road ahead is hopeful and perilous. Despite the complexity of the alliances and the hidden agendas, the voters of the 12^th ward rose to the occasion. The Mah campaign and the independent activity of the IPO and other groups gave organization to popular aspirations. But it was the common sense of hundreds of voters that won the day. An astonishingly unified Asian population rose to a progressive call for inclusion. She won around 80% in precincts flanking the restaurant district.

A majority of the ward agreed that the alderman was not to be trusted in his move to grab another lever of power in the Democratic Party. In spite of any misgivings about the Cardenas/Mah association, all was well. It ended swell.

The task ahead is to build more multi-national unity, to return to the ethos from the days when the original IPO of Lozano and Garcia embraced Harold Washington. In this contest we experienced a progressive nationalism emanating from Chinatown. We vanquished non-progressive identity politics that projected a false, self-serving concern for the Latino community.

Our organization is stronger than ever, girding up to defend Theresa when she campaigns anew in two years. Her campaign was like a school teaching us how to win.