Here in Greensboro, NC, we don’t expect to see the Sanders campaign any time soon, since our primary is not until at least March.
But, that doesn’t stop us from organizing. Triad for Bernie 2016 is a new group of Sanders supporters that started grassroots organizing with a meetup on June 23. About 20 people showed up and many were ready to get involved. We are in the Piedmont Triad of NC, which includes Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. Our strategy is to activate a network of people in the area who can fold into the national campaign when it arrives.
Last night, we hit the streets on Bernie’s behalf for the first time. I’d like to tell you about it, hoping that other groups can profit from our experiences. We want you to share your experiences with us, too.
First Friday of every month, Elm St., Greensboro’s main street, becomes pedestrian in the evening. Many shops stay open later, there are street musicians, food trucks, strolling and a good time is had by all.
Triad for Bernie, with eight organizers, wearing Sanders tee-shirts, went down to Elm St. to stir up some support for Bernie. We had a card table with signs on it and a couple of chairs. Our friends at Wilmington North Carolina for Bernie printed masses of buttons and bumper stickers, some of which they sold us at a reasonable price. We had them on the table marked “$1 or more.” Many people gave more, so we will be able to buy or print more as needed. Sometimes we gave them away to enthusiasts who couldn’t pay. We also had flyers with Bernie’s Agenda for America. These are important, especially for people who don’t know what he stands for or who he is.
Those of us at the card table signed up people who wanted to be in touch, noting on the signup sheet whether they were ready to get active. That’s important. The rest of the team spread out with clipboards and voter registration cards. They pigeon-holed people and talked about the campaign while they filled out the cards. Then the canvassers would point them to the table for follow up.
Important stuff to know about voter registration. If your process is like NC’s, make sure the cards are signed and there is a phone number, so the board of elections can call for clarification. Be sure to ask registered voters if they have moved since they registered. They may have to update their registration. In NC, a 17-year-old can vote in the primaries if he/she will be 18 in time for the general election. Talk with a registration expert at the League of Women voters.
Of course, most of the people who passed the table had other things on their mind and didn’t want to stop. That’s entirely normal. It’s hard to tell how many people already knew about the Sanders campaign, but some who didn’t stopped to find out. We signed up a racially and gender mixed group of people. More than half of them said that they were ready to organize or might want to. The others either didn’t respond to the question on the signup sheet or said no.
One remarkable recruitment involved two African-American women who didn’t know about the campaign. One of them started reading the Agenda for America, and saying after each point, “I agree with that.” While she was signing up, I talked with her friend, who ultimately, said, “Yeah, but what can you do about it?” I replied, “Get active.” She said, “Oh.” And signed up, too.
Of course, we ran into people who were reticent about Sanders. Here are some of the reasons:
They had never heard of Bernie Sanders. That group is, I think, dwindling rapidly.
They are against gay marriage and don't like that he supports it. What can you say?
They like Sanders but Clinton is a) a woman or b) going to win. She'll always be a woman.
They don't like Sanders' support for Israel. No candidate in either party is going to be against Israel. If this is a big issue for you you're going to have to pick the lesser evil.
Then there was the elderly owner of the building where we had set up shop. Let’s just say, she was not happy to see us. “Sanders! He’s a socialist! GET OFF MY PROPERTY!” So, we did. That was the only belligerent person we encountered.
Click on over to Triad for Bernie 2016 and give us a bit of love. There’s a photo of most of the organizers on private property. I’m in the middle hugging my fiancée.
We’ll be in Winston-Salem with our banner on July 13 for the Moral Monday Voter Rights March.
Then we have a meetup in Graham, NC on July 21.
We are planning a meeting for July 29 at the same time as Sanders groups across the country.
Somewhere in there we have a farmers’ market to table and preparations for students returning in mid-August.