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Rise of 32,126 Kansas Women in Support of Kamala Harris • Kansas Reflector

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Rise of 32,126 Kansas Women in Support of Kamala Harris • Kansas Reflector

Rebecca Yoder-Shetler had a hunch.

The former nonprofit advocate and current healthcare technology manager lives near Hutchinson. WITH President Joe Biden’s departure After being elected to the Democratic nomination in late July and Vice President Kamala Harris taking office, she believed women across Kansas wanted to create a forum to share their excitement about the national race and make local connections.

“This is a moment that will resonate with many women, and we may need a space to talk both about our hopes of finally being represented in the highest office in the land, and what that means for each of us, personally and collectively. she told me in an interview on Wednesday. “And also the fact that many of us, myself included, have experienced sexual harassment and sexual assault multiple times throughout our lives. When someone runs for president and is supported by almost half of the American people, who was convicted of rape and has so many accusations, it’s just triggering and deeply inhumane.”

Yoder-Shetler created a private Facebook group called Kansas Women for Kamala Harris July 27. As of Sunday evening, it has 32,126 members, a truly epic number. I knew the page was popular because my email correspondents started mentioning it over a month ago.

I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. Neither does its creator.

Rebecca Yoder-Shetler
Rebecca Yoder-Shetler founded the Facebook group Kansas Women for Kamala Harris. (Submitted)

Space for women

The growth of the “hockey stick” page and the community engagement it has already fostered—without acknowledgment from the Harris campaign—suggests nothing less than a realignment in Kansas politics. If defeat of anti-abortionists While the constitutional amendment passed two years ago has not proven that women in the Sunflower State have become a dynamic political force, the group provides another powerful source of data.

“Many of us have been deeply disappointed with men, especially with their reactions to Trump,” Yoder-Shetler said. “And the feeling of us girls supporting each other, I think would be a powerful bond.”

She added, “I suspected that if we gave them two things: if we gave them connection and space to strategize for action, they could be given the courage to create change and multiply the change they themselves are experiencing.”

However, the group does not rule it out. Non-binary people and transgender women are welcome to join, as well as straight cisgender guys among us. However, men have certain restrictions on participation. They cannot create topics and their role in the group is definitely to support women in their lives and communities.

This makes sense to me. From an early age, teenage boys and men learn that they can participate in politics without fear. They may raise their voice. They can talk nonsense without resistance. Our society welcomes ignorant ignoramusesuntil they roar loudly enough and push through the crowd to the front rows. This leads to a situation in which women, even if they have full voting rights under the law, can feel unwelcome and excluded from political dialogue.

Even political dialogue that could ultimately limit their rights and future.

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

Rachel Sweet, director of the Kansas for Constitutional Freedom campaign, smiles Aug. 2, 2022, at a Kansas for Constitutional Freedom watch party after voting in Kansas to preserve a constitutional right to abortion. (Lily O'Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector)
Rachel Sweet, director of the Kansas for Constitutional Freedom Campaign, smiles at the Kansas for Constitutional Freedom watchdog group after Kansas voted to retain abortion as a constitutional right on Aug. 2, 2022. (Lily O’Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector)

Explosive growth

Let’s go back to that for a minute. July 27 evening.

Yoder-Shetler started the group and then went with her family for a pizza night at her brother-in-law’s house. She didn’t check her phone as she sent out the first round of invitations to friends she thought might be interested. She set the guidelines for the first few days of the page’s existence and thought that would be it.

Instead, Kansas residents flocked to the page. She has exceeded these early goals.

“The first three days I hit my numbers every day, and after the third day I stopped counting because they had just passed. Its growth rate has already far exceeded my expectations,” she said.

The page now has four moderators, plus Yoder-Shetler, who approve membership and support content and discussion.

Amazing considering the problems facing Facebook owner Meta. called the Kansas reflector — along with other media outlets and community advocacy groups — the platform has proven favorable to Kansas Harris fans.

“It’s been surprisingly calm, especially considering the amount of direct action this group is doing across the state,” she said. “I mean, when J.D. Vance visited eastern Kansas, we had a protest organized by our group that made newsand that was about halfway through our growth.”

Which brings us back to the page.

Of course, it includes the usual posts you’d expect on a Kansas Women for Kamala Harris forum: political discussions, photos and memes, quotes from others, and an encouraging amount of public support and discussion. However, it also sparked political activity and participation from community members.

“Many people are just beginning to become social leaders, both in groups and in their communities,” Yoder-Shetler said. “It happens every day, sometimes multiple times a day, where someone posts and says, ‘Look, I know we’re all worried, but look what we’ve done across the state.’ Look at the things and numbers that have brought us to this point. And keep hope. Stay active. We got it. »

According to her, the atmosphere now was “anxious, but still hopeful and decisive.”

Harris-Walz Themed Friendship Bracelets Inspired by Taylor Swift August 22nd. "Kansas Women for Kamala Harris" rally in Leawood. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
Taylor Swift-inspired Harris-Waltz campaign friendship bracelets are scattered across a table at the Kansas Women for Kamala Harris rally in Leawood on Aug. 22. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

Next steps

For me, the most encouraging part of the group’s development and evolution was its interaction with local races and politics.

Yoder-Shetler read the same stories about ruby-red Kansas as the rest of us. She experienced the same disappointment about unrepresentative legislature and party influencers who seem to care only about their bloated wallets. She sees the Harris-Trump race as an opportunity to engage Kansas in a different way.

“I am painfully aware that Kansas is simply given to be red, and all our Electoral College votes going to see Trump in the past,” she said. “I thought that setting the goal of ‘We can change this’ and taking advantage of this national moment and uniting all of us with the feeling that we would be represented in the highest office was a powerful motivator. But the impact of mobilizing people to the polls, I think it will be huge across Kansas.”

She noted, “A lot of the candidates who now have really good people running against them or unseating them were little MAGAs in our state. And many of us have seen the consequences of this and others, and they are unhappy with the current state of our Legislature and how the vast majority is holding us back from progress as a state.”

The Facebook page won’t be the end either.

Yoder-Shetler saw a hint of the potential that existed in Kansas. This same potential which I have written about several times in this section. This state boasts a progressive history and a sound approach to governance. If the state’s majority had voted according to its shares, Kansas might have shocked the nation with a different approach to our fractured political life.

Someone has to dream big. Of course, predicting Harris to win in Kansas is all too plausible. But eliminating the GOP legislative majority doesn’t do that. Kansas State Board of Education’s Focus on Children not culture wars No.

She plans to see where this approach can take us all in weeks, months and years. after November 5.

“After the election, we’re going to keep the group alive for a couple of weeks to help people figure it out and give them a chance to talk about everything that’s going on,” Yoder-Shetler told me. “And then we’re going to put it on hold for probably a week or so to spend some time restructuring, finalizing the legal work and forming a political action committee. Because there was a constant refrain in the group: “I don’t want this to stop after the election.” And people are very interested in the future of our state.”

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

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