Hello,
When I was twenty, I hitchhiked to Chicago to start community organizing.
I arrived during the Civil Rights movement, joining up with a group supporting Black families in the Lawndale neighborhood as they worked to end the predatory housing practices of banks, brokers, and home sellers.
Together, we staged demonstrations out in suburban Chicago where the lenders lived, organized rent payment strikes, went toe to toe with Mayor Daley to end those predatory practices, and eventually helped families in Chicago afford to buy and stay in their homes.
The families that my group was working with made change and got results because of their incredible courage, perseverance, and willingness to take enormous risks. They politely thanked us for our help, but really, I was the one who needed to thank them.
They taught me important lessons about fighting for justice, equality, and basic freedoms. They showed me how we need to address the root causes of problems—the laws that legalize and perpetuate racial discrimination, which become systemic—by fighting for policies that are just. And they’ve inspired me to keep up the fight.
I’ve always believed in listening to what people need and teaming up with them to make it happen. It’s how I worked as a community organizer, it’s how I serve my community now as congressman, and it’s how I want to continue serving as Vermont’s next senator.
I’m committed to fighting for our shared future: Medicare for All, a green economy, lower prescription drug costs, quality and affordable child care, and much more. But first, we need to win this race, and that comes down to growing this grassroots movement.
Thanks again,
Peter
