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    • The rise of 32,126-member Kansas Women for Kamala Harris • Kansas Reflector
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    The rise of 32,126-member Kansas Women for Kamala Harris • Kansas Reflector

    Harry Posted on

    Rebecca Yoder-Shetler had a hunch.

    The former nonprofit advocate and current healthcare technology executive lives outside Hutchinson. with President Joe Biden’s departure Since her Democratic nomination in late July and the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris, she believed women in Kansas wanted a forum to share their excitement about the national race and make local connections.

    “This is a moment that will resonate with a lot of women, and we may need a place to talk about both our hopes for eventually being represented in the highest office in the land and what this means for each of us personally and collectively,” she told me in an interview Wednesday. “But also the fact that most of us (myself included) have experienced multiple instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault in our lifetimes when someone runs for president and is supported by nearly half of the American public. convicted of rape and there are so many claims that it is simply triggering and deeply dehumanizing to experience.”

    Yoder-Shetler created a private Facebook group titled. Kansas Women for Kamala Harris On July 27. It has 32,126 members as of Sunday evening, a truly epic number. I knew the page was taking off because my email reporters started talking about it more than a month ago.

    I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this. Neither of them has a creator.

    Rebecca Yoder-Shetler
    Rebecca Yoder-Shetler started the Facebook group “Kansas Women for Kamala Harris.” (Sent)

    space for women

    The hockey-stick growth of the page and the community engagement it has already encouraged without the approval of the Harris campaign amounts to nothing more than a realignment in Kansas politics. If Defeat of anti-abortion movement The constitutional amendment two years ago did not prove that women in the Sunflower State had become a dynamic political force; this group provides another strong data point.

    “Many of us are deeply disappointed in men, especially with their response to Trump,” Yoder-Shetler said. “And I think it will be a strong bond for us girls to feel like we have each other’s backs.”

    He added: “My hunch was that if we gave them two things, a place where they could strategize about connection and action, they would be encouraged to create change and replicate the change they were experiencing themselves.”

    However, the group is not excluded. Non-binary people and trans women can participate as well as straight people cisgender men among us. Men have some restrictions on participation. They can’t bring up topics, and their role in the group is strictly to support women in their lives and communities.

    This seems logical to me. Adolescent boys and men learn from an early age that they can participate in politics without fear. They can raise their voices. They can talk nonsense without being pushed back. Our society welcomes ignorant ignorant peopleAs long as they shout loud enough and make their way through the crowd to the front rows. This leads to a situation where women feel unwelcome and excluded from political dialogue, even if they have full voting rights under the law.

    Even political dialogue that could lead to their rights being curtailed and their future curtailed.

    “I hope the men out there learn how to support women and non-binary people who have experience of misogyny that they haven’t experienced in their lives, how to support them and how to respect their experiences,” she said. “And even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it’s completely irrational, it’s to listen, not belittle it.”

    Rachel Sweet, Kansans for Constitutional Freedom campaign manager, smiles after Kansans' vote to protect the constitutional right to abortion at the Kansans for Constitutional Freedom watch party on Aug. 2, 2022. (Lily O'Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector)
    Rachel Sweet, Kansans for Constitutional Freedom campaign manager, smiles at the Kansans for Constitutional Freedom watch party after Kansans voted to keep abortion a constitutional right on Aug. 2, 2022. (Lily O’Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector)

    explosive growth

    Let’s go back a little to that topic. evening of July 27.

    Yoder-Shetler started the band and then left with her family to have pizza night at her mother-in-law’s house. He didn’t check his phone because he sent the first round of invitations to friends he thought might be interested. He had set benchmarks for the first few days of the page and thought this would be it.

    Instead, Kansans flocked to the page. He put his early goals behind him.

    “I hit my benchmarks every day for the first three days, and after the third day I stopped counting because it was over. “The growth rate had already exceeded my expectations,” he said.

    The page now has four moderators, along with Yoder-Shetler, to approve memberships and keep content and discussions on track.

    Surprisingly, given the problems Facebook owner Meta has been having caused the Kansas Reflector The platform, along with other news media outlets and public advocacy groups, has become available to fans of Kansas Harris.

    “It was surprisingly calm, especially considering the amount of direct action generated across the state from this group,” he said. “I mean, we had a protest organized in our group when J.D. Vance visited eastern Kansas. made the newsand that was really the middle of our growth.”

    Which brings us back to the page.

    Of course, it includes the usual kinds of posts you’d expect on a Kansas Women forum for Kamala Harris: political discussions, photos and memes, quotes from others, and a heartening amount of social support and discussion. But it also brought about members’ political activism and community involvement.

    “A lot of people are stepping up to become social leaders both in the group and in the communities,” Yoder-Shetler said. “It happens every day, sometimes several times a day, and someone texts and says, ‘Listen, I know we’re all worried, but look at what we’re doing across the state. Look at the numbers, the things that brought us to this moment. And stay hopeful. Stay active. We got this.’ ”

    The current climate, he told me, is “anxious but still hopeful and determined.”

    Harris-Walz campaign-themed friendship bracelets are inspired by Taylor Swift on August 22 "Kansas Women for Kamala Harris" Rally in Leawood. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
    Taylor Swift-inspired Harris-Walz campaign-themed friendship bracelets are strewn across the table at the “Women of Kansas for Kamala Harris” rally Aug. 22 in Leawood. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

    Next steps

    To me, the most encouraging part of the group’s development and evolution has been its relationship with local races and politics.

    Yoder-Shetler read the same stories about ruby ​​red Kansas as the rest of us. He also experienced the same disappointment non-representative Legislative Assembly and partisan power brokers who seem only interested in their fat wallets. He sees an opportunity in the Harris-Trump race to mobilize Kansans in a different way.

    “I’m painfully aware that Kansas was given just to be red, and we’re all Electoral College votes “I’ve been going for Trump in the past,” he said. “I thought setting the goal of ‘We can change this’ and taking advantage of this national moment and connecting us all to feeling like we’re going to be represented in the highest office was a powerful motivator. But the down-ballot impact of getting people to the polls is going to be huge across Kansas.” “I think.”

    He noted: “A lot of the candidates who have really good people running right now to oppose or unseat them have become little MAGAs in our state. Many of us have seen the effects of that and we’re not happy with the current state of our Legislature and how the supermajority is keeping us from moving forward as a state.”

    The Facebook page will not be the last either.

    Yoder-Shetler saw a hint of the potential that existed in Kansas. This same potential something I have written many times in this space. This state may have a proud progressive history and a common sense approach to government. If the state’s majority voted according to its values, Kansas could shock the country with a different approach to our fractured political life.

    Someone has to dream big. Of course, predicting a Harris victory in Kansas adds credibility. But overturning the GOP’s legislative majority won’t do that. Keeping the Kansas State Board of Education focused on kids instead of culture wars not.

    He plans to see where this approach can take us all over the weeks, months and years after 5 November.

    “After the election, we will leave the group alive for a few weeks to help people go through the process and give them space to connect no matter what,” Yoder-Shetler told me. “Then we’ll probably pause that for a week or so to take some time for the restructuring and the legal end to be completed and to form a political action committee. Because the constant refrain in the group was: ‘I don’t want this to stop after the election.’ “And people are very committed to the future of our state.”

    Clay Wirestone is the opinion editor of the Kansas Reflector. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector strives to amplify the voices of people affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own review, Here.

    Harry
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