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I spent this golden, crisp Veterans Day at Mt. Olive Cemetery in Clarksville. The ginkgo trees were shedding their bright yellow leaves, each one catching the light like a final salute as it fell. American flags stood upright along the path, steady and solemn, beckoning us forward. The sunlight pouring through the tree canopy overhead… campaigning had been intense and chaotic, and I realized that perhaps it was the only moment in which I actually slowed down to appreciate the beauty around me.
Mt. Olive Cemetery is a sacred and special place. The first recorded burial dates back to 1817 to a man who was enslaved, and over time, it became the primary burial ground for the city’s Black community, both free and enslaved. Beneath its layers rest roughly 1,300 people, most in unmarked graves, including members of the United States Colored Troops who fought for a freedom they were still denied at home.
Before the end of the Civil War, thousands of Black men, many formerly enslaved, fought for the freedom they had been denied. Beginning in 1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation allowed African Americans to enlist, nearly 180,000 Black soldiers joined the Union Army under the banner of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), comprising approximately one-tenth of the entire Union fighting force. Their service helped turn the tide of the war and forced the nation to confront the moral hypocrisy of slavery. The men buried in places like Mt. Olive Cemetery in Clarksville stand as proof that the fight for freedom in this country has always been led by those who were denied it the most.
As I listened to the program, I kept thinking about the contradiction those soldiers must have lived with — the tension between sacrifice and betrayal, serving a country that refused to serve them back. We see it today. Veterans are waiting months for care because of privatization and staffing cuts at the VA. Veterans working at the Social Security office haven’t been paid because of the government shutdown. Veterans trapped in endless appeals just to prove the severity of their disabilities, fighting for a few hundred extra dollars they’ve more than earned.
At the event, a Colonel and member of the Mt. Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society looked at me and said, “Thank you for YOUR service.” I was taken aback a bit because I’ve never served in uniform, but then I realized he was referencing my public service. As I walked towards the car, I tried to remember my first introduction to the idea of “service to one’s country,” and it was very obviously from Girl Scouts.
The Girl Scout promise is as follows:
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
Many of you know I got my start as a community organizer at the Tennessee Justice Center. I’ve been looking through old photos lately — from the first town hall I organized in rural West Tennessee on rural hospital closures when I cold-called every county mayor begging them to attend, the protests and constituent meetings I organized outside former Senators Corker and Alexander’s offices during the 2017 ACA fight, pulling an all-nighter writing the names of those impacted by the proposed Medicaid cuts on a banner for a press conference, or when I asked my then roommate to build a seven-foot wooden coffin for my political theater stunts and towed it in the middle of the night to Monroe County, trunk bungee-corded shut, praying no one on I-40 noticed, or when we walked from the Capitol the Governor’s Mansion in the pouring rain to put pressure on Governor Haslam one more time to expand Medicaid.
When I consider the all-nighters, invisible labor, the innumerable hours turned into years planning, protesting, strategizing, canvassing, lobbying, advocating, it feels strange to define my organizing over the past decade as “serving my country”, but as I was told by that Colonel today, that’s exactly what it is. Perhaps serving your country means refusing to give up on it, even when it breaks your heart.
And so I decided not to give up, but instead to run for Congress to continue the slow, steady work of making healthcare more affordable. The cuts I organized against in 2017 are now actualized…families telling me that their premiums will triple and, as a result, their kids won’t be able to play school sports due to costs, or individuals with long-term COVID asking me what’s going to happen to Medicaid and the medications they can’t live without… it doesn’t have to be this way.
What hurts me the most, after years of knocking on doors across this state and serving in the Legislature, is that those in power have led us to believe that this is the best we can do. That struggling to afford groceries, healthcare, and rent is the life we have to accept. We have the opportunity through this election to tell those in power that we’re done begging for crumbs, we’re done being sold out, and we’ve had it with the cost of living and the chaos. Rev. Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, the pastor of First Baptist Capitol Hill and civil rights organizer from Nashville, used to say, “Stay tuned for another world.” So, that’s the work ahead— serving our country by reimagining it and fighting to make it a reality.
I’m deeply grateful to all who have served our country in uniform — for their courage, their sacrifice, and their unwavering belief in something greater than themselves. Their service is a reminder of the responsibility we all share in organizing towards a country that keeps its promises and builds systems that benefit all.
Early voting begins tomorrow and runs through November 26th, with Election Day on December 2nd. [ [link removed] ]Running for this seat is the honor of my life, and I look forward to serving you in Congress.
Aftyn

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