Answering the Call
and why it's time to step outside of Pantsuit Nation and GET LOUD
In 2008, Colorado’s red shade was about to purple. As rural residents of the state, my eight-year-old son and I drove hours to Obama stump speeches, knocked on doors, raised funds and proudly displayed all the campaign merch we could fit in our tiny windows and on our bodies. It was a thrill to witness a turning tide—to play even a tiny role in that optimistic movement.
Cut to 2016 when, after warding off verbal assaults and road rage inspired by my HRC bumper sticker, after being blocked by friends-turned-rabid-bros when I pushed back on misinformation, I eventually tired of getting shot down and joined millions of others in private groups online. I retreated to places where it was safe to support her.
Like most of us, I believed Hillary would win. So it seemed ok to keep online enthusiasm mostly inside the private Pantsuit Nation. I donated when I could, and proudly cast my vote for a woman and the most qualified candidate we’d ever had.
I’ve thought often, in the years since, that one of the biggest mistakes white women made, including the minority of white women who voted for Hillary, was playing it safe. Afraid to knock on doors, I stayed home. Scared to wear a Hillary shirt in public, it stayed in the closet. Tired of being verbally assaulted by bros, eventually I stopped engaging.
And now?
The past few days have been INCREDIBLE. A sudden infusion of energy has reignited hope across the beautiful spectrum of our wide-tent party.
And now.
We have just over 100 days until the election. Long enough for trolls to look for vulnerabilities. For misinformation and deep fakes and foreign influence to exploit any splinters we give them.
And know:
It will get hard.
My hope is that my white sisters have learned from 2016, and this time:
WE WILL NOT BE SILENT.
My interpretation of “understanding the assignment” (see also meme circulating threads all week) is that it’s not enough to vote.
We must engage. We must get our hands dirty. We must be critical consumers of information. We must invest the thought needed to create our own talking points. We must educate ourselves and have the hard conversations. We must stick our necks out and take risks.
We must take up more space than feels safe, and we must get loud.
And above all, we must listen to our Black sisters who have been leading on this front forever.
“if we learned anything (from 2016) it’s that SILENT SUPPORT IS NOT SUPPORT… That SOLIDARITY WITHOUT RISK IS NOT SOLIDARITY.” — Glennon Doyle
Unless you’ve been under a rock this week, you’ve heard that within a few hours of Biden’s withdrawal and endorsement of Kamala Harris for President, Win with Black Women broke the record for most zoom people on a call when they gathered an astonishing 44,000 people and raised over 1.5 million dollars in just a few hours.
Thursday night, following their lead—and with their explicit guidance—more than 164,000 women broke zoom answering an invitation to white women to hold each other accountable, show solidarity and offer financial support for this historic campaign.
The next morning, I woke at 5:15am so fired up I grabbed my notes from the night before. Reading the wisdom offered inspired me to come back here (hi again, Subtack!) to share some highlights. If you have the time, skip my highlights and go straight to the link below to watch the recording.
What follows are my extemporaneous notes from last night’s line-up of talent. They were scrawled quickly so please refer to livestream for direct quotes and context (all times noted are MST).
ANDREA GIBSON (Poet Laureate of Colorado & Activist):
“Let your heart break so your spirit doesn’t.”
“‘We can only go where we have first gone in our hearts and minds.’ … We have to first be able to imagine something if we are ever going to create it…
“Tonight, I invite us to put active energy into that imagining… in this political climate it is easy to know what we are against… it is vital for each of us to know what we are for… to go deeper… until we can feel that separateness is a myth, a lie manufactured by a patriarchal, capitalist machine… We are connected to those we might think are enemies…
“What I am for… feeling the roots that connect us all… caring beyond our own lifespan… Tonight let us fuel our energy by imagining something beyond what we ever thought possible… so we can do the work of creating it… together.”
GLENNON DOYLE (author, podcast host, WE CAN DO HARD THINGS)
“For my shakey sisters: you don’t need to be unshakeable… Your leaders will be imperfect… You will be afraid of getting cancelled in your world… but we’ll ALL get cancelled if we stay silent…
“We white women do not yet know how NOT to turn on each other… We could put ourselves out there and stay connected… We could decide to care more about our children’s future than our own comfort…
“We could not just post “Trust Black women” but we could actually trust them… They have led over and over and showed up even when they’ve had to vote for imperfect candidates… We could look at the numbers and know it’s time to follow their lead… It is beyond time to stop freeloading on their labor in protecting democracy and start carrying our weight…
“We were too quiet in 2016, believing things would go our way without sticking our necks too far out to make it happen… if we learned anything it’s that SILENT SUPPORT IS NOT SUPPORT… that SOLIDARITY WITHOUT RISK IS NOT SOLIDARITY… WE WILL BE LOUD IN OUR SUPPORT AND EMBRACE THE RISK AND EMBRACE SOLIDARITY…
“Comfort doesn’t compare to joy and gaining the respect of women fighting alongside us…
“Something will begin to happen when white women do this work… we will begin to gain trust… and together we will all become the BIGGEST COALITION the world has ever seen… We will know we finally united and we won… and that together we saved the GD world… I’m ready to kick ass… Let’s make history… LFG!”
PiNK:
“When you speak poorly of women in power, those women will never hear you. But your daughters will, your sisters will… your mothers will, and your sons will, too.”
“It’s not about which candidate is perfect, it’s about which will candidate will inspire us to be better.”
“I’ve been waiting for love to show up… I feel like the first time in a while we can fight, we can get in the ring… love can win.”
SHANNON WATTS (founder Moms Demand Action):
Like so many things these days, this call… started with a social media post… White women are starting at a deficit in how we’ve voted historically… but we are not a monolith, if we do the work, we can flip the script this time… Committing to take responsibility… we don’t need to form a new organization, we’re working within the larger coalition…
Shannon’s tips to get involved:
Donate! (campaigns know how to best deploy the money)
Have conversations! When we build coalitions we bring new supporters in
Use privilege for good… host a fundraiser, become influencer, counter misinformation, etc.
Make a plan and hold yourself accountable (phone bank, knock doors, write postcards, etc…. LEAD!)
Be in it for the long haul… sustained engagement, the work does not end “Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet” — Alice Walker
VOTE in interests of you and of those less fortunate
UPDATE: 7:25pm fundraising update: $1.2Million, already raising $20K per MINUTE!
CONGRESSWOMAN MALLORY McMORROW:
“Hate only wins when people stand by and let it happen... this is not the time to start a book club! Get out there and talk to people you KNOW. In your networks, on your street, in your life… speak out at school board meetings (if her mom can do it, all of us can, too!) Let’s. Fucking. Go.”
UPDATE: Sara Bareilles just gave us $5K!
DNC TREASURER VIRGINIA McGREGOR:
More than 1.2M donors this week… When people talking about the capaign messaging, tell them “We are the messengers! Together we are Women for Harris” (Do the research and create your own talking points)
CONGRESSWOMAN ELISSA SLOTKIN:
When she started out in politics after 2016, she googled “local democratic clubs” and ended up joining an Indivisible club… actually knew two women who told their republican husbands they were going to “book club,” but actually they went to volunteer for dem campaigns… BE THAT PERSON in your friend group who does the research, knows a bit more, and who friends will turn to for voter info
UPDATE: 7:50pm $1.5 million raised… coming in so fast we’re breaking the links and systems…
CONNIE BRITTON (Friday Night Lights actress and also former college roommate was Senator Gillibrand):
Blowing up the patriarchy as an act of self love — Hello just look at how existing structures have kept Kamala quiet for the last three years, and now just look how she is SHINING when allowed to be herself! Let us rise up from the rubble… love ourselves enough to see a different future… WHITE WOMEN let’s LISTEN THEN LEAD
CONGRESSWOMAN HALEY STEVENS (MI, part of the giant wave of women who turned Michigan blue)
“roll up your sleeves, get involved with your local Dem club…if you can’t travel, donate… do the work!”
SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND:
Great opportunity to talk about what we’re for… grassroots organizing like this call critical to electing KH… she got involved in politics at 10 through her grandmother who organized women to build modern day campaigns…
Kamala IS READY, “I’ve watched her in the senate… foreign policy, intelligence committee… ready to be the Commander in Chief… ready to lead on gun violence prevention… reproductive freedom… etc. Increase participation… I’m extremely optimistic she will decimate him.”
Also stressed need to FLIP THE HOUSE!
UPDATE: 8:14pm, 17,000 individual donors, $1.7 million dollars!
LEAH GREENBERG (Co-founder of INDIVISIBLE):
To those who think “oh how bad could it be we lived through one trump term…” Know that a second trump term would be SO MUCH WORSE b/c he’s prepared this time with the 900 page step-by-step plan. Project 2025 four biggies:
coming for rights and freedoms
plan to sabotage agencies we rely on to stay safe and productive
use all the saved money to give to corps and millionaires
give all the power to the executive
OUR JOB is to spread awareness about the risks/stakes “remember up until the day they got rid of Roe, they were saying there was nothing to worry about”
Kamala’s vision is about freedom for all of us!!!
UPDATE: $1.8 million in less than 2 hours
CONGRESSWOMAN LIZZIE FLETCHER, leader Pro Choice Caucus (Harris County TX):
Heard the call to service in 2016, ran for her seat having never run for anything… first democrat and first woman to represent seat once held by GHWBush… This work doesn’t stop!
Candidate’s perspective of what we can do: encourage women on call to step up and RUN… “we need great people”… donate, volunteer — sign up with Harris campaign, They have jobs for everyone… Talk to everyone! Wear the branding with pride!! Kamala has already centered her campaign on freedom, let’s center our energy on her…
UPDATE: $5K from Brene Brown woo hoo
ARIELLE FODOR (Mrs. Frazzled, Influencer):
Don’t be afraid to speak up… do know when to pause … SEEK EVIDENCE and be a critical consumer of information! Don’t feed the trolls… Don’t expect to get it right every time… Parable of the choir: singers can drop out to breathe and the note goes on… drop out when you need and then get back in! Always ask: who is missing from the stories that are being told?
MEGAN RAPINOE & SUE BIRD (WNBA):
We have to show up for ourselves and for Black women whose lead we are following!
We can do hard things… Organize, talk, fund-raise, register voters and then: VOTE! or nothing else matters…
“FOCUS ON WINNING, NOT POLICING EACH OTHER TO BE PERFECT.”
UPDATE: 8:38pm PASSED $2M!
Friday Morning Update:
During instagram live, host Liz Minnella, Shannon Watts & Virginia McGregor announced:
UPDATE: Over 8.5 MILLION DOLLARS were raised, from 50,000 individual donors… and this number is still growing as news of the event circulates.
“We are not unicorns, we are regular moms who wanted to do something.”
“We owe this to all of the Black women who did the heavy lifting, provided guidance, educated and hand-held us through this entire process.” With enthusiastic thanks to the incredible jotakaeaddy and winwithblackwomen for their leadership and guidance and MAKING THIS HAPPEN. Rockstars.
NEXT STEPS:
Watch the livestream and donate here: answerthecall2024.com
Sign up for the Women for Harris Coalition call, Monday 7/29 here
Smash the patriarchy and save the planet
Let’s WORK EVERY DAY to GET KAMALA HARRIS ELECTED!!
This IS the time but it won’t happen unless we MAKE it happen.
Let’s F*cking Go!!!
Dear Jennifer, thank you so much for this message. Get up, Get Loud, and let's goooooo!!
thank you for this! People are surprised at the surge of support? Women have been waiting since the Hollywood Access tape, since Trump won, since January 6th, since Roe V. Wade, since Trump got the nomination again. Betrayal after betrayal after hopeless betrayal. Silenced and powerless. We've wanted humor. we've wanted kickass, we've wanted an inspiring leader. We will crush the MAGA Republicans.