“If we don’t talk to our people, someone else will!”- Kristin, SURJ NYC
Last night, hundreds of people joined us for our training, How to organize your people: a training for white people on how to have hard conversations. We talked about why difficult political conversations are so important right now, who we’re having them with, how to have them, and SURJ’s role and approach. We heard step-by-step guidance from organizers and stories from SURJ members about their personal experiences with friends and family, some of which were deeply transformative.
Here is a link to the recording, which includes the transcript and captions.
The most powerful next step you can take is to become a SURJ Block by Block Captain. Take the leap and commit to being part of Block by Block between now and November 11th – just after the midterm election. We give you resources like a toolkit, monthly campaign calls, and ways to get support from SURJ national leaders in order to:
- Take part in 3 SURJ phone banks before August 11th to practice the conversation skills we laid out. You’ll be talking to voters who need a push to vote for the progressive candidates in their areas, connecting with them using our conversation tools, and through that positioning our movement closer to winning what we need.
- Find and build a crew of 10 people in your life that you can have an organizing conversation with and have them join you to take part in actions to ENFORCE the election results. Through the lens of connection and shared interest, you’ll use our skills to ask them to join you to protect free and fair elections this fall. We don’t know what shape the actions will take yet, but we know that virtually all of us value democracy. You don’t need to agree with these folks on everything – but you can agree on free and fair elections with real, democratic results intact, and you can connect with them through this shared interest!
Other resources and calls to action:
- How to Organize Your People printable handout. Feel free to save and share!
- Phone bank with us to practice your convos and win the elections we need to build power!
- Become a SURJ National Member – commit to action and fund our work!
- Sign up for SURJ NYC’s Calling In Workshop on August 26th at 7pm ET