The 2020 election brought with it a lot of dissatisfaction and uncertainty as well as much anxiety about things that a lot of folks in the U.S. have not had to engage with before.

Things like waiting for election results to be announced and protesting to protect the election certification process has fundamentally changed the experience of electoral engagement going into the 2024 year.

When I look back on those moments there are times when I feel disempowered. There are also moments where I think about Michigan Student Power and I am reminded of what community organizing can do even in the face of political unrest.

Even in moments of immense anxiety, as a community, young people throughout the state of Michigan made demands of our elected officials in support of futures that we wanted and where we could thrive.

Throughout our 2020 vote work campaign we...

╰┈➤ hosted vote parties that paired movement education with voter education for those who wanted to vote,

╰┈➤ we built community amongst multiple types of MSP organizing fellows, and

╰┈➤we hosted a virtual community care space as election results came in.

That year reminded me that sometimes healing looks different than one might expect. It showed me that sometimes it looks like choosing to walk towards an uncertain future hand-in-hand.

For MSP, organizing and elections have at different moments created tensions within our communities but that does not mean we need to disparage the tools that our collaborators use to make their voices heard.

Whether you choose to vote, protest, build safe spaces with your comrades, or some combination of all and more we hope that you feel empowered to seek out healing with your community.

We hope that you are empowered to demand good governance, and we hope that you can find the information you need to make the choices that are aligned with the future that you want. 

If you are looking for it, I hope you can find a space in MSP or that is like MSP that can also remind you, that we are in this together, and we are not alone.