Where do I go from here?

[politicat]

9. Can you go local?

I get the outrage meter being redlined. For me, when national and international makes me feel like I'm shouting into a hurricane, I find something small where I can see I'm making a difference.

Last September, my community got hit with major flooding. It did major damage to our parks, to mountain communities, and to homeless encampments and gathering places. We had structural issues that only showed up when the community's emergency response protocols were tested (such as, when the community evacuates an area, how do we ensure that homeless people are also evacuated, and get shelter? Initially, the emergency shelters were rejecting homeless people because they didn't have an address.) In the last year since, I've found a lot of projects that need hands, minds, money and time, and in focusing on those, the tangible results help me be involved and recognize that I can make a difference.

Same with reproductive rights, civil rights, inequality. All politics are ultimately and originally local, because where you live is what affects you most day to day. Yes, my police department is generally fine, but that doesn't mean I skip going to city council, and that I don't speak up for my neighbors (I live in a predominantly minority/low-income neighborhood, though we're neither; my specific community needs a voice who can code switch between white privilege and urban Latino/East Asian.) I expect my winter to be focused on ensuring that the dash cams we paid for are installed, can't be tampered with, and reviewed by a citizen council. Civil liberties matter, and the people who can most eloquently bring people with privilege to understanding that civil liberties apply to all are other people with privilege.

Even if you live in a red town in a red county in a red state, there are local issues where you will find common ground, and by working at a local level, you may help turn your community more purple by being an example of another way. Yes, we disagree with the conservatives, and yes, we think they're wrong, but often their stridency comes from ignorance, fear, feeling helpless and anxiety, not out of active malice. If we can model a better world, they will see it, be educated, decrease their fear and feel more effective. Will it change them entirely? Not necessarily, but it may make them more amenable to compromise. Just because Faux is destructive doesn't mean their entire audience is.

I'm also an introvert, and being directly involved with people on a daily, heavy basis leaves me drained. I happen to be good with data, so whenever an organization needs data assistance (I.e. Setting up a system for tracking resources versus needs within the homeless day center, or getting hardware are working, or organizing job planning for trail restoration) I aim for those. (And since I follow through, which is something a lot of volunteers don't, I get great referrals. Also, funny enough, job offers.)

Alternately, you can focus on a single, large national or international project. I know someone whose entire activism is ensuring that young women have functional menstrual supplies so they can remain in school. She makes hundreds of pads a year. She's home-bound, so she can't be out doing more, but she can get to her sewing machine and cutting board. Another who is only on call for FEMA, but when she gets the call, she goes for weeks at a time. And I know someone who white-hat hacks to ensure that reported crime stats match official records. These women don't ignore the bigger picture, but they recognize that de-focusing will decrease their effectiveness.

And it's okay to take a break, take a step back, spend a day or a week or a month doing nothing on line but looking at cat videos and recipes. (Or whatever your calmatives are.) Compassion fatigue is a thing, and so is outrage overload. The first rule of caregiving, of emergency response is always to not make yourself a casualty, too. That should apply to activism, too, because when we burn out, we're gone, and it's a lot easier for everyone if we step back, recover and rejoin the fight than it is to recruit someone new who will only last 12 or 18 months then burn out, too.