I have always been an activist at heart. Whenever and wherever I saw something I believed was wrong I stood up and made noise which may or may not have been the best way to handle every situation. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I would say “that’s just wrong!” and wonder why it needed to be explained to anyone why it was wrong. My co-workers kind of liked that about me and would bring things to me just so I would “go off”. My employers were not always so impressed.
I’ve always understood that I should pick my battles, that I cannot win or even participate in every fight. Yet, I never found a shortage of battles to leap into with both feet. I would invest time and energy, even dropping other commitments, to make these leaps. Doing things this way caused me to burn out, become frustrated, and never be the last person standing.
When I retired last year, I started looking for the right group(s), person(s) or organization(s) to work with to champion reforms to Missouri’s foster care system. I attended meetings, I volunteered, I texted, I read emails, I supported groups on Facebook and even joined Twitter.
During a Kids Win Missouri virtual event, I learned about the Missouri Equity Education Partnership (MoEEP) that was advocating for Equity in public education and I jumped on because public education has a big impact on foster children. Through them I was introduced to the way things are in Jefferson City with our legislature. I had submitted some testimony on legislation that was being looked at before but I had never watched the discussions. This time I watched Missouri House of Representatives Elementary and Secondary Education committee sessions on the bills I had submitted testimony for or against and was completely appalled, overwhelmed and stunned by what I heard. I later joined the group to participate at an advocacy day in Jeff City and was further upset by what I observed.
What I Heard and Saw
Everywhere I looked I saw a complete lack of common courtesy. I watched committee chairs be rude and dismissive to citizens there to testify for or against bills, especially if the witness was a woman of color and they were testifying contrary to what the committee chair thought. I heard male legislators be rude and derogatory to female legislators.
One key thing that stuck with me was the chairman of the committee for Elementary and Secondary Education emphatically stating that public schools were fully funded in Missouri, even after being presented with FACTS that prove they are not. In that same committee I heard a legislator say that the welder down the street could teach school. They obviously have never tried to get a group of children of any age to sit still and listen. I have.
I volunteered with LegalMO2022 in getting petition signatures to legalize marijuana in Missouri. Watched the Missouri legislature try several things to derail it, including trying to change the initiative petition rules and a half assed bill to legalize marijuana.
After watching and following the antics in the state government, hearing the complete disdain these so called “elected” representatives had for the people they are supposed to serve I got involved with voting reform. I joined Missourians For Rank Choice Voting and Better Ballot KC, because nothing is going to be fixed by the government we have in Missouri right now.
When the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde happened I really got riled up. The months of listening to and watching these “legislators” trash teachers, be racist, and sexist while stripping Missouri of any kind of gun regulation and then to hear the garbage spewing out of their mouths as they lied about gun safety laws all just boiled up in me. I focused 100% on getting some kind of gun reform passed at the federal level while raising awareness in Missouri about the need for background checks and red flag laws, at least.
Then Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and a Missouri law that was put in place by the legislature in 2019 suddenly kicked in and banned abortion in Missouri.
I needed to choose what I spent my energy on, stand strong in my decision, and not allow myself to be sidetracked. It is easy to get overwhelmed and jump on every bandwagon which leads to burn out and hopelessness. I truly admire the advocates and activists I have been working with this year who have taught me to step back, breathe, get my strength up and start moving forward again.
It is hard to choose partly because I care about people and hate injustice. I have also found that even though my number one priority is the treatment of foster children there is so much going on right now, all of it impacts children and change is not going to be easy.
What to do?
I now use three criteria to decide which groups I am going to spend my energy with:
- The issues being fought for (not against).
- Specific actions that are being taken to reach a goal
- If I feel my efforts to support the message and the actions will matter.
When I find myself being “triggered” by an issue, making me want to jump in and try to help fix it, I have to step back to determine if I should.
- Do I have the resources within myself to add more to my plate without putting what I am already working with on hold?
- Does this issue align with my overall goal of raising awareness of issues in the system that are harming children over all? Or is it just tugging at my heart like the 4000 beagles rescued from being lab rats?
I want to be a true activist and take steps to make a difference not just howl at the moon on Facebook and Twitter, or sign petitions, or send letters, or emails to legislators. Everyone has to choose how to spend their time and energy, I choose to be an activist because I was just born that way. Now I am finally learning how to do it right.
BE FOR KIDS 