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MILWAUKEE ACTIVISTS PREPARE FOR NEW REALITY UNDER TRUMP  
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Isiah Holmes
November 13, 2024
Wisconsin Examiner
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_ Local organizing groups get ready for upcoming campaigns and
elections: "We need know that we all deserve better.”  _

, Protesters march in Milwaukee after the 2024 presidential election.
(Photo | Isiah Holmes)

 

“Our strategy is year-round civic organizing,” Amanda Avalos,
executive director of Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) told
Wisconsin Examiner, following the Nov. 5 election won by
President-elect Donald Trump. LIT canvassers knocked on more than
665,000 doors ahead of Election Day, and the Milwaukee-based group
plans to keep up its civic engagement work in the years ahead. “This
doesn’t stop us,” Avalos said of the election results. “And if
anything, this is fueling.”

LIT, a grassroots nonprofit and nonpartisan group led by youth of
color, focuses on building political power for young people through
strategic civic engagement. From canvassing neighborhoods and knocking
on doors, to advocating for policy change or even preparing young
people to run for office, recent years have seen the organization make
a name for itself. 

[Amanda Avalos] [[link removed]] 

Amanda Avalos

It isn’t that LIT’s staff didn’t feel the waves of fear, anger,
and despair many community members experienced after Trump’s victory
Tuesday. Those emotions were familiar to LIT organizers. “This is
not the first time that we’ve been under a Trump administration,”
said Avalos. “And we know the direct negative impact that he has on
the communities that we work with. And that’s young Black and brown
people in the state of Wisconsin.” 

LIT plans to counteract that impact by staying organized and
motivated. From advocacy efforts to leadership development, sustained
organizing is LIT’s mission, said Avalos, explaining that the group
is dedicated to “growing our base year-round in between election
seasons — not just during election season, but for moments like
these…where we need to mobilize and act.” 

LIT is already preparing for another big election on April 1, when
voters in Wisconsin cast ballots in the state Supreme Court race.

Meanwhile, Avalos says, organizers need to take time to rest, process,
grieve, regroup and find community. “That’s what it’s going to
take to get through more moments like this,” Avalos told Wisconsin
Examiner. “That’s what it took last time, and we continue to hold
onto each other and continue to move fiercely with our plan, with our
advocacy, with all the ways that young people are leading all across
the state.”

The day after Trump’s election victory, Black Americans across the
country received racist text messages
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them to be prepared to be collected and sent to the nearest
plantation [[link removed]] for cotton
picking. Women have also reported being increasingly harassed online
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Trump’s reelection and a far-right social media meme has gone viral,
trolling women on social media with the slogan  “your body, my
choice.”
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The election was particularly divisive for young people. While Harris
attracted many young women voters of color, Trump attracted more
young men
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Some young activists also expressed dissatisfaction at both major
political parties. On Nov. 6, protesters gathered in Milwaukee’s Red
Arrow Park to protest the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and
express their frustration over the sense that they were ignored by the
Democratic Party. The protest was led by groups including Students for
a Democratic Society UWM, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, and the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee. Speakers
encouraged protesters to find an organization to join and get
involved.

[Protesters march in Milwaukee after the 2024 presidential election.
(Photo | Isiah Holmes)]
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Protesters march in Milwaukee after the 2024 presidential election.
(Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Avalos agrees  that young people feel ignored. “More than ever
young people are frustrated,” she said. “The lack of
social-economic progress, not being heard at the local decision-making
levels — local government, state government and federal government.
… There’s a lot of disillusionment, disappointment, frustration,
completely valid.” Avalos has heard young people express their sense
of powerlessness on issues including the war in Gaza
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cost of living, housing, tuition and gun violence, as elected
officials have failed to remedy those concerns. “Those issues
continue to be a priority, and we’re not at the point where we see
that reflected in policy and law,” she said. 

Avalos told Wisconsin Examiner that LIT will be back at the doors
soon, engaging with communities and asking them what they want to to
see from their elected leaders. Avalos stressed that connecting the
issues that affect people’s families and communities to voting helps
impress on people why it’s important to show up at the ballot box.
LIT will focus on getting more citizens engaged in school board
meetings, common council meeting and public hearings in the state
Legislature. 

As people process the fallout from the November election, Avalos said
she hopes that people will  support one another and remember what
motivates them. “At the end of the day, it’s not because of
anything more than we love each other,” she said of LIT’s
continuing work, “and we need know that we all deserve better.” 

_Isiah Holmes is a journalist and videographer, and a lifelong
resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His writing has been featured in
Urban Milwaukee, Isthmus, Milwaukee Stories, Milwaukee Neighborhood
News Services, Pontiac Tribune, the Progressive Magazine, Al Jazeera,
and other outlets._

_Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom
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nonprofit news organization_.

* community organizing
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* 2024 Elections
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* Young people
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* Milwaukee
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