Building people power for the battles ahead

The program kicked off with a call to action by Stacy Davis Gates, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and an AFT vice president. Davis Gates said, "I feel a spirit [in this hall]. I feel love. You all love this union." She urged delegates to practice "a radical type of solidarity" in the courthouse, the legislature, the ballot box and on the streets.

The morning's main event was a high-energy, lessons-learned panel, "How We Are Building People Power," moderated by AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus and featuring panelists Dani Negrete, a political organizer with Indivisible; Marcia Howard, the teacher chapter president of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators; Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, a movement strategist and the founder of Utopian Visions; Alex Lawson, the executive director of Social Security Works; and Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, the president of United University Professions - Downstate Medical Center Chapter.

Asked by DeJesus how to bring people off the sidelines, Negrete responded, "The most important thing that we can do is tell them that they have … a space to step into, that they won't be alone in [this] work."

DeJesus asked Howard how to help everyday people "feel safe enough to step forward and to participate," which is a feat Howard and her members have done again and again in Minneapolis.

"There is nothing in the waters of Minneapolis that makes us different than any other place," Howard observed. In these times, she said, "Normal people do get scared, … but then something interesting happens. You realize that you have neighbors who will have your back. … Coworkers that do have your back. … Family that … have your back." It's about realizing that there are "more of us than … of them, and we can stand shoulder to shoulder with each other."

Abrahams-Nichols reflected on the role that community played in a massive victory-after a yearslong battle-to stop the closure of SUNY Downstate, one of the State University of New York's three teaching hospitals and a crucial Brooklyn academic medical center and safety-net hospital. In 2025, the union and community secured $1.1 billion to upgrade and expand SUNY Downstate's facilities and services. It came down, said Abrahams-Nichols, to knowing "we can't do it by ourselves. We need our community partners." Real relationships-not just brief transactional alliances-are crucial, she said. "Build those relationships from the ground up."

Asked by DeJesus how we can move policy change, Lawson said that progressives must get out front, not count on politicians to lead. "Politicians are … never gonna be the brave people that show the way. The people show the way. … When we are brave, the politicians follow. Never wait for a cavalry that will not come, because we are the cavalry."

Woodard Henderson gave it to delegates straight: Our movement must do better at "bringing people together across their differences. … That's all the work is. … And I'm telling you that our movements do it pretty [terribly]. … Donald Trump would not be in the White House for a second time if we did it well."

The panelists concurred on the basics of building strong community coalitions: grace and openness, even when we don't 100 percent agree with potential allies; a willingness to be open and curious to understand where other groups may be coming from; and a determination to get out the vote even if it means tough conversations.

As Howard said, "If the Christian preacher who gets everything wrong every day except he doesn't like Donald Trump is down to work with me, guess what I'm gonna do? … Stay at the table … so that we can live to fight … another day. … For all of y'all who went no contact with that uncle that you know you're gonna sit down with at Thanksgiving, listen. … Bring him on back. Bring him on back. Baby, I might need his vote."

[Christina Bartolomeo/Photo credit: Suzannah Hoover]