From Nov. 1st through Nov. 5th, Jason and I documented and broadcast the Get-Out-the-Vote work in two key PBN states: Mississippi and New Mexico. Before we even set foot in the states, we had high expectations for this project.
For one thing, we wanted to give people a minute-by-minute account of what was happening on the ground. We wanted to let the voices of the people be heard as to why they were voting, what issues brought them to the polls, and what it felt like to engage their communities through door knocking and phone banking.
We wanted to capture the energy and momentum of what we knew in our gut was a historical moment: young and old working side by side at the doors, first time citizens casting a ballot, the record number of registrations and turnout of a peoples who have endured a historical legacy of disenfranchisement at the hands of our political institutions–African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, women, and young people.
We also wanted to spotlight the ingenious ways our partner organizations were merging their electoral work to build upon a grander vision. [Read more]
“I have the right to fight for my rights and I won’t let anyone stop me.” ~Sondra Montez
While in New Mexico for The Project, Pushback Network’s week-long, two-state, multi-media electoral project, PBN Communications Coordinator Brigid Flaherty worked in the field helping SWOP Field Organizer Sondra Martinez get out the vote.
While together, Brigid had a chance to talk to Sondra about what prompted her to get involved with the election and her community. Sondra’s husband, Salvador, is a new citizen who was able to cast his first vote this year.
How did you become involved with SWOP?
I moved to this community in 1997. I started working with SWOP because there were no basic services: no hot water, no roads. I saw a meeting going on where SWOP was giving a presentation. I approached SWOP at the meeting and asked if they could help us get basic services. [Read more]
While in New Mexico for The Project, Pushback Network’s week-long, two-state, multi-media electoral project, PBN Communications Coordinator Brigid Flaherty interviewed SWOP Field Organizer Joaquin Lujan, on what prompted him to get involved with the election and community.
Why are you involved with the GOTV program at SWOP?
Being a community organizer for most of my life, I never thought we could get the intense feedback from the community like we are now. We’ve gotta push these elections in Albuquerque and around the state because we’re getting somewhere. When I was with the Chicano Movement in the late 60’s and 70’s the racism was really intense. We were dealing with issues where people of color were having nothing done for them. We had no programs set up for Chicanos, Native Americans, African Americans. A lot of the organizing we did was on the basic needs. Well here I am now at 56. And where does the energy of a person my age go? I have found that energy through the youth at SWOP. Because of them I said OK, let me try to be apart of these changes. [Read more]
“We really owned what happened on November 4th. It was all about us, the big us. This election wasn’t about Barack Obama or John McCain. It was the American people and their hunger for change.” ~Robby Rodriguez, Executive Director, South West Organizing Project.
It’s now Friday, November 7th. I returned from New Mexico two days ago and am still reflecting upon the implications of the historical election results. How do I summarize what I felt, tasted, and experienced during my stay in Albuquerque? What words can adequately capture the great Get Out the Vote work accomplished by the teams of SAGE Council and Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)? Perhaps the best way to begin is to let the results speak for themselves. [Read more]
Right on @anotherpundit! The grassroots groups in New Mexico, Texas & Mississippi (incidentally, where Brigid, Samiya & Jason are now documenting civic engagement and voter mobilization all through election week) are great partners and friends. Follow us on Twitter, and check out info about more info on the South X Southwest Experiment!
Jason Cooper on the road through the Mississippi Delta mobilizing voters with Southern Echo and our Mississippi partners.
“We just wrapping cars for the motorcade and are on our way through Hollindale, Greenville, Winterville and Metcalf” said PBN Program Director Jason Cooper. “I’m with a beautiful black woman who was born and raised in her small town and decided to stay because she wanted to make a difference. Now she’s mayor. This is so great! We’re jammin’ to Al Green, driving through towns all along the Delta and talking to folks about voting!” — Jason
Follow their trip on local radio 94.3FM and go on out and see them! See great pics here –> [Read more]
Brigid is getting ready to head down to New Mexico for a full week of rock-doc’in the vote through PBN’s engaged civic mobilization model.
Pushback Network is excited to launch The Project in October 2008. We’re sending two of the scrappiest young organizers we know, Brigid & Jason, down South (coordinated by our own “Wizardess of Oz” Samiya, hanging with our community organzing partners in New Mexico & Mississippi all through Election Week to Rock-Doc the 2008 civic engagement process. [Read more]
Follow The Project, Pushback Network’s Election 2008 Multi-Media Project online through your social networks, at our Project Updates Blog, or on Friend Feed and watch history happen with updates all day, every day through Election Week!
We’re going to the battlegrounds of New Mexico and Mississippi November 1-7, 2008, to show what the work our partners are doing to fuse community organizing and voter engagement and mobilize people of color, poor people, and young people looks like — in action and in near-real-time using photos, videos, micro-bloggging and more. Check back each day to see where we are with preparations, and see the organizing work happen through the post-election wind-up November 7th. [Read more]
Kicking off in New York City on October 24th and preparing to stretch through non-traditional battlegrounds of Mississippi and New Mexico, Pushback Network (PBN) is getting down on the ground with the people pushing civic engagement to new heights. From November 1st through November 7th, 2008, Pushback Network staffers Brigid Flaherty and Jason Cooper are pairing up again with Samiya Bashir for a live and direct multi-media project.
Through this project, PBN will capture the non-partisan, on-the-ground, electoral field programs in two of our states: Mississippi and New Mexico. “The truth is that the electorate is changing,” said Cooper, “and people are getting involved in record numbers not just in voting, but in educating themselves and their neighbors about the issues at stake in their communities. Pushback Network partners drive the ground game locally in eight states across the country. We’re going where history is being made in civic engagement and putting it on the record not just for Election Day, but for what’s next.” [Read more]
From Nov. 1st through Nov. 5th, Jason and I documented and broadcast the Get-Out-the-Vote work in two key PBN states: Mississippi and New Mexico. Before we even set foot in the states, we had high expectations for this project. 
While in New Mexico for 
