BALANCING the SCALES VOLUME 40 ISSUE 2
JULY 19, 2021
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Updates on our Organizational Change Initiative Eastern Kentucky Community Remembrance Project Jefferson County helps engage thousands in the budget process SOKY creates People’s Guide to Planning
THE PEOPLE’S HEARING The Northern Kentucky chapter hosts the People’s Hearing on housing and environmental justice. Read about it on page 9!
Victory for rooftop solar! Political education: climate justice and Just Transition Just Transition art show reflections Annual membership meeting updates
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THANK YOU FOR BEING A KFTC MEMBER AND READER OF BALANCING THE SCALES! This quarter’s issue is chock-full of important local updates and some exciting recent organizing wins that you helped make happen! We’re also doing a deep dive on climate and Just Transition in this issue with some political education on KFTC’s work for a Just Transition, an overview of the Movement for Black Lives’ Red, Black, & Green New Deal, and what the conversation online about these issues has been like lately. And if you missed the Just Transition Art Show, we’ve included a reflection from the show as well as several of the works of art in this issue.
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a community of people, inspired by a vision, building grassroots power in Kentucky – with a more authentic democracy, a just and sustainable economy, and a clean energy future. At KFTC, we offer a pathway for Kentuckians to work with others who share their vision and values to impact issues at the local and state levels, develop leadership skills, build community and grassroots power, and win changes that make Kentucky a healthier and more just place to call home. KFTC membership dues are $15 to $50 per year, based on ability to pay. No one is denied membership because of inability to pay. Membership is open to anyone who is committed to equality, democracy and nonviolent change.
Balancing the Scales is published by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and sent as third class mail from Louisville. Reader contributions and letters to the editor should be sent to P.O. Box 1450, London, KY 40743 or bts@kftc.org. Subscriptions are $20/yr.
You may notice lots more faces and less Zoom screenshots in this issue! That’s because we’re slowly beginning to have more in-person gatherings when it’s safe to do so. We’re grateful that we’ve been able to see so many folks after these past months of being at home. And even though we’re doing more in-person events, our annual membership meeting will still be virtual this year. You can read more about it on pages 28-30 and we hope you’ll join us for the event. KFTC is turning 40 this year! We’re celebrating four decades of action for justice and making big plans for the work ahead. You can support this work at www.kftc.org/support or by filling out the form at the end of this newsletter. Interested in submitting to balancing the scales? Share your writing, photos, and more via email to bts@kftc.org or mail to P.O. Box 1450, London, KY, 40743. We can’t wait to hear from you!
TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Committee Corner.................................................................................................................................................3 Organizational Change Initiative update..............................................................................................................................4 Union contract announcement..............................................................................................................................................5 LOCAL AND ISSUE UPDATES Eastern Kentucky Community Remembrance Project........................................................................................................ 6-7 NKY celebrates Pride.............................................................................................................................................................8 Jefferson County helps engage thousands in the budget process.........................................................................................8 NKY chapter hosts People’s Hearing......................................................................................................................................9 SOKY chapter creates People’s Guide to Planning...............................................................................................................10 Redistricting on the horizon................................................................................................................................................10 Rooftop solar scores a victory!............................................................................................................................................11 Lexington votes to ban no-knock warrants..........................................................................................................................12 Reflections from a first-time canvasser..............................................................................................................................12 Where have KFTC members been lately?.............................................................................................................................13 Finding each other through deep canvassing............................................................................................................... 14-15 Voting Rights Coalition update...........................................................................................................................................16 Political Education: Organizing for Climate Justice, Racial Justice, a Just Transition, and a healthy democracy................17 It’s time for a Red, Black and Green New Deal....................................................................................................................18 Op-ed from Cassia Herron...................................................................................................................................................19 ICYMI: Social media updates........................................................................................................................................ 20-21 Reflections and artwork from the Just Transition Art Show............................................................................................ 22-25 KFTC helped make an animated series that premiered at Tribeca!.....................................................................................26 KFTC 2021 (VIRTUAL) ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Tentative schedule..............................................................................................................................................................27 Leadership nominations for Exec Committee......................................................................................................................28 Leadership nominations for Kentucky Coalition Board........................................................................................................30 Pictured on the front cover: NKY members Huê Tran and Janet Tobler at the People’s Hearing on June 26.
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Reflections from KFTC’s outgoing leadership I’ve spent over a week attempting to write a “good-bye” letter for this issue. Instead of a letter it seems I’ve inked part of a chapter for a memoir. It was hard to capture in a few hundred words what it’s been like to serve in this role and share parting words for your consideration. In its place, I’ll offer you the letter I penned for our 2020 annual report. Its been an honor and privilege to serve as board chair of KFTC. I appreciate the space it’s given me to mature in my analysis of what it will take for us to reach mutual liberation and in the way I show up as a leader. I’ve been challenged to share power and understand my privilege. I’ve spent countless hours writing, preparing for and meeting with legislators, interviews on top of interviews and meeting after meeting working to create a better Kentucky and just KFTC. I am thrilled with what I know to be our future and what we will do to support other Black women and directly affected folks who come to be KFTC leaders, build strategic partnerships in local communities throughout the Commonwealth and elect new citizen-leaders ready to hold public office. This moment demands no less of us. I’ll see you at a meeting, rally or party soon!
Cassia Herron Chairperson
Much love, Cassia The following is a version of a letter written by Cassia Herron and Burt Lauderdale, which was featured in the 2020 annual report. This is an extraordinary moment in history for our country, our Commonwealth, and for KFTC. Rarely has the personal been so political or the political so personal as was the case in all our communities and constituencies in 2020. The intentions, events, and conditions of the past year called on each of us to speak up and listen hard, to strive to create and support positive change, while also taking care of each other and challenging ourselves. We can all attest, it’s been a lot. 2021 looks to be almost as challenging, and at the same time, opportunity rich. As we celebrate KFTC’s 40 years of Action for Justice this year, we have also embarked on a comprehensive Organizational Change Initiative to imagine KFTC’s future. Led by the vision and aspiration of our grassroots leaders, we’ve dreamed together, lifting up our eyes to see who and what we want to be in ten years, when we’ll be celebrating KFTC’s 50th. Upon reading about this ambitious organizational change initiative, a long-time ally and friend of KFTC urged that we “remember what is sacred” about KFTC’s work. It is a good reminder that social justice, like an organization, is always a work in progress and that moving forward includes changing what needs to change and developing what is underdeveloped, and also amplifying what is sacred – that which makes us strong, creates our potential, moves us toward our vision. For the two of us, what is sacred about KFTC is organizing. It is the deliberate commitment of listening
for commonality and shared purpose and the effort to bring people together that builds grassroots power for justice. As straightforward as that may sound to some, many of us have learned that organizing is a complicated, intense, and exhilarating labor of love. There are many important ingredients to successful organizing; a few that we believe are essential for KFTC. We hope and believe KFTC will continue to be vision oriented. People often try to describe KFTC by our issue campaigns or our organizational structures, but it is our vision – our north star – that guides our work, propels us forward, and reveals our purpose. We encourage KFTC to see problems, and seek solutions. Identifying problems in our communities, our Commonwealth, or our organization can be easy or difficult. Identifying solutions and building the collective power to secure them is typically much harder. KFTC is perhaps the best hope in Kentucky for turning protest into grassroots power, a conversion that requires an elusive combination of passion, patience, and unrelenting shared purpose. We love that KFTC is so committed to leadership development, and hope that KFTC will only deepen that commitment. Finding and facilitating new, nontraditional, perhaps unlikely leadership has always been KFTC’s central strategy, our secret sauce that is no secret, but is hard to make, at least in large batches. Much more grassroots, community, and political leadership will be needed to achieve our common vision. We hope that KFTC continues and expands upon the investments in new leadership so that Kentuckians become the leaders we seek.
Finally, we wish that our KFTC family can be good to one another. As recently developed and affirmed through the organizational change process, a ten-year vision of KFTC as a beloved community, comprised of 100,000 different people, is both inspiring and daunting “We are Kentuckians; We choose each other,” is more than a slogan – it is truthfully our best hope for change. Choosing each other means every KFTC member and every Kentuckian – no matter their race, income, or ZIP code – has a place in that vision and a role to play in getting us there. We have to practice calling people in to this organization, this work, and this vision to have any hope of achieving it. We must hold ourselves and each other accountable to the vision. And we must do it with love. Like a hike up the holler or a bike ride through the neighborhood, the path forward for KFTC won’t be straight or without some difficulty. Walking this path together for the past four years together has been a journey for the two of us. We have gained from each other and all of you lessons that we will carry, memories that we will cherish. As we move ahead, wearing different hats but familiar shoes, we offer our gratitude for KFTC’s ambition, our deep respect for your commitment, and our heartfelt cheers for all the future success. Thank you.
Cassia Herron, who lives in Louisville, KY, served on the KFTC Executive Committee since 2017, as chair since 2019 and her term expires at the end of July.
Burt Lauderdale, who lives in Laurel County, KY, has been on KFTC staff since 1983, as Executive Director since 2001, and will retire at the end of August.
4 | BALANCING THE SCALES | July 19, 2021 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE INITIATIVE UPDATE
“Imagining and Envisioning the Future of KFTC” culminates in a “Summer Concert” In the last BTS issue, we reported on a cornerstone of KFTC’s Organizational Change Initiative: the Imagining and Envisioning the Future of KFTC conversation series. This series of structured conversations with over one hundred KFTC members was only one part of KFTC’s ongoing commitment to transformation – alongside an Interest Based Bargaining process to negotiate a staff union contract, which finished up in late May; an Executive Leadership Transition as Executive Director Burt Lauderdale exits his role next month, and work to center equity and racial justice inside KFTC and in our organizing. Imagining and Envisioning the Future of KFTC was significant, however, because it was a process specifically designed to help KFTC develop a shared vision of who we as an organization want to be, and how we want to get there. Designed and facilitated by organizational change consultants Pamela Chiang and Tony Bennae Richard, the visioning series consisted of a series of immersive
sessions held over Zoom from February to June. During the March and April “Jam Session” weekend gatherings, participants aligned around a shared vision for a future KFTC – a “Vivid Description” of the organization in 2031 – and an animating goal that can help us get there – affectionately named a “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal” by Pamela and Tony. A smaller set of six KFTC members then worked together throughout May to distill down the description and goal of both Jam Sessions, into one cohesive final product. All-star members Kathy Bullock, Tiff Duncan, Greta Elenbaas, Lisa GarrisonRagsdale, Ebony O’Rea, and Alan Smith spent 15+ hours together practicing what Pamela and Tony call “amalgamated thinking” to synthesize together a single description and goal from the March and April Jam Sessions, test them for resonance with participants, and then refine them into final drafts (see boxes to the right) to reflect feedback
2031 GOAL: Guided by Black, Indigenous, People of Color and impacted communities, recruit, equip, and activate a network of 100,000 members and partners across all 120 counties to dismantle racism and all systems of oppression, to develop a robust democracy and transform the future of Kentucky.
2031 DESCRIPTION: Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a collective light, leading the way to a thriving, joyful, intergenerational, multicultural society where people are free from oppression and where equity, health care, and racial, economic and environmental justice exist for everyone. We are a beloved community where all people are connected and affirmed through healthy relationships, dedicated to achieving mutual liberation.
Imagining and Envisioning participants then came together during the June “Summer Concert” Weekend Gathering to affirm these finalized description and goal, and to brainstorm different cross-cutting “breakthrough strategies” that KFTC could take on over the next 12 to 24 months, to get us closer to our audacious goal for 2031. The KFTC Steering Committee will further distill down these breakthrough strategies and identify next steps that will get us closer to the 2031 goal. While the visioning sessions have come to an end, the actual work of implementation – of committing to these personal and system-wide strategies for change, and putting them into practice – is just beginning, and will take all of us.
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KFTC and the KFTC staff union agree on first union contract After the announcement of the KFTC staff union’s formation in October 2019, and recognition by KFTC’s Steering Committee, we took the bold step of building an initial contract through Interest Based Bargaining (IBB). This process – usually used for contract renewal –involves two sides coming together to find and negotiate around shared interests, instead of the more traditional confrontational method. We felt that this democratic and collaborative model fit best with KFTC’s values. It also took considerably more time, especially done during the COVID 19 pandemic. After 18 months and over 40 virtual meetings between teams from management and the staff union, as well as federal mediators, we are proud of the contract we created. Not least because our mediators believe that we have the very first initial contract agreed to by IBB! The contract, approved by the Steering Committee and Staff Union on May 13, is an expression of our shared commitment to the value and rights of KFTC staff, and of all working people. Highlights include: • I ncreasing funding for professional development leave • R aising our base hourly rate to $15 (from $14.53) and raising our base salary by $1,000 annually (to $37,030) • D oubling our compensation time available for employees to bank when they work overtime, and doubling the amount of comp time available for use per week • A dding Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a paid holiday and making Juneteenth a paid holiday, replacing
the day after Thanksgiving • Expanding the definition of family in several clauses, including for bereavement leave and family leave • Tripling our existing parental leave policy to 60 days, while preserving other available family leave • Establishing how coaching, progressive discipline, and termination will be handled, as well as a clear process for addressing grievances • Establishing a Labor Management Committee to engage workers, management, and member leaders in an ongoing conversation to strengthen our bonds and our work to transform Kentucky • Agreeing that if the organization revives the Organizing Apprentice Program in the future, KFTC management will consult with union members about it first through the Labor Management Committee. • Maintaining our fantastic, current health insurance plan through the life of the contract, which runs through November 2022 KFTC and the KFTC Staff Union are committed to the transformative, grassroots mission that is possible through a unique organization like ours. KFTC has been building power as a democratic, member-led body for 40 years, with a staff that has grown along with us. With this contract, we pave the way for strengthened collaboration between members and all levels of staff. From all of us at KFTC – we hope you will join us in celebrating this milestone, and join us as we push for new power and a new Kentucky where all of us can thrive. Let’s organize!
KFTC’s 2020 Annual Report is now available! We hope you’ll take a look back at our work in 2020 – a year unlike any in the history of our organization. View the report online at: bit.ly/BTS-2Q
“ There are many people we feel indebted to, who helped us make this contract what it is. We are grateful for the many former staff members who helped lay the groundwork for a strong staff union and make the case that KFTC as an organization is stronger when our workers are stronger. We are grateful to the CMRJB union representative Mike Hoagland and the federal mediators Tammy Poole and Chris Alford, who helped the bargaining teams navigate confusing and challenging processes of developing a first contract. And we are grateful to the KFTC member leaders who contributed hours to the bargaining process!” – KFTC Staff Union “ From our recognition of the Union, and throughout the IBB process, our goal was to help KFTC continue becoming a place where all who share our vision feel belonging and respect. We understand that our staff are often on the front lines of very difficult work, and we are thankful for how they partner with members to fight powerful interests and develop grassroots solutions. We hope that the contract we worked to create with members of the KFTC Staff Union will help all of our staff receive care, improve our communications, and challenge all of us to be stronger leaders.” – Lisa Abbott, Tiff Duncan, Burt Lauderdale, Meta Mendel-Reyes, and Alan Smith, KFTC management bargaining team
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Eastern Kentucky Community Remembrance Project reckons with history of racial violence and slavery mines of Birmingham Alabama at the age of nine and by the age of eleven was charged and convicted of killing a white man. After spending years in prison, Butler’s father moved to Kentucky to get away from his painful past. He eventually worked more than fifty years in the coal mines. Butler spoke with pride about the mining, mechanical skills, and hard work he learned from his father.
This article contains mentions of racial trauma, slavery, and violence against Black people. The Big Sandy Chapter recently launched a community remembrance project that aims to encourage learning and action for racial justice and reckon with the local history of racial terror and lynching. Using a model developed by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama, group members plan to foster community conversations and dialogue, memorialize incidents of racial lynchings, lift up the vibrant history and present-day experiences of Black people and communities in eastern Kentucky, and create opportunities for diverse people to work together to build more inclusive and just communities. “Jean and I first became aware of the local history of lynchings in eastern Kentucky when we visited the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama,” explained John Rosenberg. “It’s important for us to face this history.” EJI has documented a number of lynchings in eastern Kentucky, including the killing of a 28-year old Black man named Fredrick “Kid” Shannon in 1924 by an armed mob. Newspaper reports said a mob of several hundred attacked a jail in Wayland, Kentucky where Shannon was being held, using sledge hammers and drills to break down the door. Shannon was shot eighteen times and later died of his injuries. Although more than a dozen armed deputies were on duty, they later claimed that the attack was “so quiet” and the sky so dark that no individual members of the mob could be identified and none were charged. According to EJI, additional documented racial lynchings took place in Knott, Breathitt, Harlan, Whitley, and Laurel counties. A Black man from Pike County was also taken across state lines by a white mob and later killed in Mingo County, West Virginia. As KFTC members and other local residents first considered how to begin a process of community engagement and dialogue about this history, they decided to begin with a service project. Beverly May noted that the upcoming Memorial Day weekend would be a good time to clear an old cemetery where
Jerry Hardt, Tom Matijasic, Tom Vierheller, Beverly May, Mimi Pickering helped with the clearing of the cemetery
many Black folks from Wayland were known to be buried. On May 29, with support of Wayland Mayor Jerry Fultz and permission from nearby property owners, a group of fifteen volunteers climbed a steep hill with chainsaws, loppers, and machetes and worked all day removing trees, briars, and shrubs from the site. At midday they paused for a lunchtime program emceed by Emily Hudson, the founder of the new Southeast Kentucky African-American Museum and Cultural Center in Hazard, Kentucky. “This has been a good day, a powerful day,” she said. “It reminds us all of the power of stories, and the importance of uncovering our history.” To open the program, Tiffany Pyette shared a land acknowledgment recognizing that Wayland is the traditional homeland of Shawnee, Cherokee, and Yuchi nations. “We must name our histories to combat the continuation of colonialism and antiblackness in our lands.” Randy Wilson then sang a gorgeous version of the hymn “Tryin’ to get home.” Then James Butler, a local resident who provided a delicious barbecue lunch for the group, shared some of his experiences as a Black man and coal miner who grew up in nearby Wheelwright, Kentucky. He described how his own father had gone into the coal
Remarkably, the group ate lunch in the community center located directly across the street from the original Wayland jail, the site where Fredrick Shannon was incarcerated, attacked, and killed by the white mob. That small brick building still stands in the center of town.
After lunch, as the group returned to work in the cemetery, the site began to reveal more of its stories. At first, there appeared to be no visible headstones, only sunken places in the ground where people had been buried. But as vegetation was removed, volunteers located and propped up a number of stone markers, including some with names and inscriptions: Spencer Martin, Born 1836. Died Nov 15, 1910. Not dead but sleeping. L.H. Payne, Born March 13, 1880. Died Feb 19, 1935. Gone but not forgotten. Willie Lewis, Born Oct 5, 1918. Died Feb 7, 1947. He is not dead but sleepeth. U.M.W.of A. At the end of the day, Tiffany Pyette led a brief ceremony at the site. She later explained, “I brought to the gravesite sacred medicines: cedar, sage, and sweetgrass, along with my pheasant wing smudge fan, to be in ceremony for those we have lost and with those who are doing this work. I grew purple calla lilies in my home leading up to the service project day
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and fresh cut them that morning. Those flowers, along with those brought from another group member’s garden, were arranged and placed on the graves towards the end of the cleanup day. Myself and the youngest member of our crew put them together and tended the graves in our own way. It was important to me that we leave the graves looking as beautiful as we can; that the people buried are visibly cherished.”
Land Acknowledgement Offered by Tiffany Pyette in Wayland on May 29, 2021 Osiyo, Hatito, Ne-ho-we-say-la-lo-pwah. Sahn Gah Ley.
Since the service day, group members have continued to research and learn stories about the people who are buried at the site. Tom Matijasic, a local professor of history, quickly confirmed that Spencer Martin was an enslaved person as of the 1860 census. Spencer and his sister Cecilia were two of five people listed in that year as enslaved by John Martin, Sr. According to Matijasic, the fact that all five were listed in the census by name was highly unusual for the time. John Martin’s son Daniel Martin later sold the land that became the town of Wayland in 1913.
I have greeted you in the languages Indigenous to this land.
Then, several days after a newspaper article and social media posts publicized the group’s work, a woman contacted John Rosenberg to share her family’s personal connections to Spencer Martin and other local Black residents. She wrote in part, “Belle Martin was my grandmother’s best friend, and a good friend to my mother…The cemetery you cleaned is Steel’s Creek. They lived right at the bottom in the valley where the cemetery is located. The Black Martin man who fathered my grandmother’s children lived across the road from her. They were all brought into the community together…The property she lived on and where I grew up she purchased for $25.00 from Spencer Martin. So much history.”
It is important to say that what is presently known as the United States is an institution built by the displacement and oppression of Native peoples in order to make way for slavery and the legacy of racism.
TAKE
The Eastern Kentucky Remembrance ACTION! Project welcomes participation from all people who are interested in working together to reckon with our local history of racial violence and take actions to advance racial justice and healing. We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 7 pm via Zoom. To get on the group’s list-serve, contact lisa@kftc.org.
I would like to invite you to join me in acknowledging that Wayland is the traditional homeland of the sovereign Shawnee, Cherokee, and Yuchi nations. These territories overlap because this land is not just the names we call it, it is who cares for it, it is what it carries, what it grows, the rivers and the creeks that bring it life.
We must name our histories to combat the continuation of colonialism and anti-blackness in our lands. Oppressive systems have always worked together to harm and to profit, but we, in the fight against oppression can also choose to not be alone. To stand in solidarity and care with one another, and in collective liberation on the land. I am so grateful to those of you who have come to help us tend to graves; to regard all of our communities past and present as honored, deserving, and respected. Today is just one piece of a larger project as we reckon with the lynchings that have taken place in our counties. Kid Shannon was lynched in Wayland at 28-years-old. He did not live to be as old as I am now. Please take a brief moment of silence with me to reflect on who is here on these lands and who is not. Whose descendants are missing? Why are they missing? And who never lived long enough to have descendants? Let us reflect on how these lands hold us all. How they now hold those whose graves we now tend. How it now holds our feet and knees and hands as we do this work. These lands, like our hearts, carry growth and pain and hope. Let us reflect on how we endeavor to be good caretakers of this place and the people in and of it. Thank you. Wado. Niyaawe. Sah-lah-k’ah-di-ta
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NKY celebrates Pride, remembers the year before Northern Kentucky members came out on Sunday, June 6th to celebrate Pride with hundreds of others in downtown Covington! The event featured performances from local drag performers, musicians, and others, booths from a variety of community groups, and the first chance for so many to gather safely during the pandemic. The event was lifegiving. Hundreds if not thousands joined the celebration, visiting local stores, booths from churches, organizations, and others in support of both Pride and the new Northern Kentucky Pride Center. And, it took place in the first city in Kentucky to ban the torturous practice known as conversion therapy! It is hard though to not reflect on where Northern Kentucky was the year before, when many of us gathered with hundreds to declare that Black Lives Matter. We were marching with our community not in celebration of the joy of being able to finally be our full selves with one another, but in the anger and hurt of the loss of life our Black siblings face and the lack of safety many feel in their community. We were
mourning together during the pandemic at the deaths of Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and George Floyd, and a system that continues to devalue lives of people that look like them. Reflecting on the duality of the events, one early in the pandemic and one towards the end, it shows us how the struggle for justice and equity is not always a straight line. It shows that community can be found with collective loss, and with collective pride. And that as we work to build a world where we all are authentic, valued, and whole, we must continue to make space for both emotions.
Pictured: NKY members Logan Fedders, Greta Elenbaas, Caitlin Sparks, Joe Gallentstein, and Caitlin Powell
Jefferson County chapter and allies help engage thousands in the Metro budget process Working with allies, the Jefferson County chapter recently helped engage thousands of Louisvillians in the Metro budget process and secured a major victory that built community power. Most Jefferson County residents want to see more investments for schools, parks, health clinics, and neighborhoods. In the past year, they have also been asking lots of questions about the city’s budget – especially the police budget – because of the increased attention to police violence against Black and brown folks and the people protesting said violence. And with many members feeling like the process isn’t accessible or transparent, members and allies decided to dig into what values should be in the budget, monitor the process, and share what they were learning with others. Originally the budget hearings were only available on MetroTV but after significant pushback from the community, they were also eventually streamed on Facebook so that more folks could access and
participate in the virtual meetings. However, meetings still lacked other accessibility supports like ASL interpreters and closed-captioning. And despite the fact vaccinations are on the rise, the meetings were still closed to the public with very little opportunity for people to speak directly with the council. With virtual meetings the main way to access the hearings, members and allies – including Take the Seat, 490 Project, Louisville SURJ, Black Lives Matter, ACLU, and Books and Breakfast – monitored twentythree hours of hearings on the various parts of the budget. The chapter then shared weekly updates from the budget hearings that included important analysis and context for the budget as well as ways to submit comments or contact their Metro Council person. The chapter also partnered with ACLU for a canvass on Juneteenth in the Smoketown neighborhood to talk with folks about the budget, hear what investments they want in their community, and to invite them to submit comments or questions about the budget.
In the end, community members sent thousands of emails and submitted hundreds of comments about the budget. Most of Mayor Fischer’s original budget passed the council as-is. However, the community scored a major victory when $4 million was divested from LMPD’s budget for a deflection program meant to explore non-police first responders, such as behavioral health specialists, and re-invested in the Emergency Services budget. With so many people engaged in the budget hearings, the council knows that the community is watching them and will be holding them accountable. And with the city receiving $388 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan, community engagement is as important as ever. If you have ideas on how the money should be spent, contact Jefferson County chapter organizers Corey Dutton (coreydutton@kftc.org) and Shauntrice Martin (shauntrice@kftc.org) to get involved. Or you can find the link to submit an official comment at bit.ly/BTS-2Q.
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NKY chapter hosts People’s Hearings on housing and environment Over the past few months, members in northern Kentucky have been doing deep canvassing in neighborhoods in Covington looking to learn the issues neighbors were facing – with a specific interest in residents and members’ concerns with affordable housing in the region and the pollution from Interplastic Corporation.
As a result, members and allies have been canvassing mostly in Latonia and City Heights. From that work the chapter decided to plan and host a series of People’s Hearings – a place for people to share their vision and their concerns with their neighbors and elected officials, and where local elected officials were invited to come and listen. Over fifty people came to participate, and the speakers came from a variety of neighborhoods. Susan Vogt, a passionate advocate for the environment and tackling the overconsumption of plastics who lives in Latonia, served as emcee. She introduced Lance Soto of Wallace Woods who is the president of the American Indian Movement of Indiana and Kentucky did a land acknowledgement, noting that the land in Covington was once inhabited by the Shawnee. He talked of their return recently to the Serpent Mound nearby in Ohio for the first time in over one hundred and fifty years, and how much we can learn about protecting our community and environment from indigenous communities. We also heard from Sister Joyce Moeller, who spoke about the stories of people in the Latonia neighborhood had shared with her during canvassing. People avoiding going outside, suffering headaches from the smell of plastic, and anecdotal stories of health concerns from both working and living near the facility. The smell and impact on day
to day activity in the neighborhood have had a toll, and many in the neighborhood had been part of a class action settlement a couple of decades ago from the same facility.
other complexes that the City manages have concerns about what will happen to their community. That they will be moving next, and may face the same labyrinth as those Bethany described.
Other speakers included Maddison Priest and Trevor Lyons, a couple that lived on the border of the Monte Casino neighborhood and the city of Ft Wright. They had been evicted after losing their jobs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a new management company took over the property and refused the Healthy at Home Fund designed to keep people in their homes as we recover from the pandemic. Now the couple are couch surfing as they look for a new place to live, even though they had gone through the process of being approved for the relief.
Gloria San Miguel of the Westside talked about how she and her partner are raising their daughter, and how important it is to have spaces for families like theirs to both live and experience nature. Rising prices in their neighborhood means they may need to find a new place to live, away from the community they have helped build and foster. And these new developments don’t just threaten their ability to stay, but a park that neighbors had built out of an unused lot, which includes a community garden and celebrated urban chickens, is at risk. She and others from the neighborhood came to talk to folks about their concerns with the park.
Theirs was not the only housing issue though. Penny Blevins of the City Heights Housing Council spoke about the issues people in City Heights are experiencing. Delays in maintenance, coupled with the Housing Authority of Covington deciding to apply to sell the property due to the costs of fixing and modernizing the space, have many residents worried about where they will live. Beyond feeling ignored, many residents worry about where they will live when they have to move, knowing that Covington and many nearby cities already don’t have enough landlords or properties accepting section 8 vouchers. Member Bethany Higgins of Mutter Gottes neighborhood shared the struggle of helping people look for housing, and knowing how hard it was to find a space. How increased rents were forcing people out, and the dwindling availability of places that accept vouchers is going to make it harder for families to have safe, affordable housing. Their insight of helping others, and looking for places for both their coworkers and themselves, illustrated how the problem is not isolated to people who will be forced to move from City Heights. Marva, a resident of Latonia Terrace, named the fear that residents of
Since the event, the chapter has created actions for Covington and Kenton county around housing and Interplastics. We hope to expand the housing work to include Boone and Campbell soon, but for now are working to build the relationships with our neighbors in Kenton County to promote affordable housing throughout the county, and helping people stay in the communities they want to call home.
TAKE
If you live in the Northern Kentucky ACTION! area and would like to help folks stay in their homes and communities, check out ways to take action at bit.ly/KentonHousing and bit.ly/Interplastics.
10 | BALANCING THE SCALES | July 19, 2021
SOKY chapter creates People’s Guide to Planning From protecting natural resources to building apartment complexes, decisions about our communities and day to day lives happen through local planning and zoning. We see the impacts of these decisions when Black neighborhoods face displacement, when gentrification pushes the working class out of affordable housing, and when pollution in our air and water hurts our bodies. While planning processes are designed to shape the future of Kentucky cities, planning and zoning are often difficult for the public to offer input into and to navigate.
Check out the full People’s Guide to Planning at bit.ly/BTS-2Q.
SOKY KFTC member and Master of Urban Planning, Tara Sorrels, set out to create a People’s Guide to Planning – a tool to help the Bowling Green community navigate our planning and zoning processes. Over the course of 6 months, Tara did meticulous research into our local planning systems
and structures, including reviewing our existing Comprehensive Plan, finding relevant case law, and talking with the chair of the city-county planning commission to ensure a complete and precise view of Bowling Green planning. A People’s Guide to Planning will help us understand and identify important changes and decision points in our city. It will also support our chapter as we use our position as stakeholders in the comprehensive plan update to make recommendations that align with our vision, and help us to express them in the appropriate terms and format. We’re proud of A People’s Guide to Planning, and can’t wait to express our vision for our city by influencing planning and zoning processes to align with our interests. Check out the full guide at bit.ly/ BTS-2Q.
Redistricting is on the horizon Every ten years after completion of the U.S. Census, it falls to the Kentucky Legislature to conduct a redistricting process to redraw political boundaries for U.S. Congress, Kentucky House, and Kentucky Senate to rebalance districts based on new population numbers. These new districts will last ten years until the next redistricting.
more political power. This practice is known as gerrymandering (see the graphic below for an example).
At this juncture, it’s unclear what timeline redistricting will happen in. It’s possible that there will be a special legislative session in late September or later, but that would mean Governor Beshear would be willingly calling the legislature to session to allow them to choose the districts. It’s also possible that redistricting will wait until early January, but the deadline to file for public office is also in early January, which presents some timing problems.
Legally, the legislature’s new maps have to meet certain standards: • Districts must be as nearly equal in population size as possible. • Districts may not intentionally dilute the voting power of racial minorities (by splitting voters into separate districts, for example, or packing them into one). • Districts for the Kentucky legislature must divide the smallest possible number of counties. Unfortunately, the Kentucky Legislature has often taken the redistricting process as an opportunity to advance partisan goals by splitting up communities to disenfranchise them, cutting legislators of the opposing party out of their own districts, and generally changing the boundaries to give them
Right now, the Republican Party controls seventy five percent or more of the Kentucky House and Senate, so they will largely control the redistricting process.
The League of Women Voters, KFTC, and many ally organizations have pushed in these past two legislative sessions for a more non-partisan redistricting process, or in some cases at least a process with a robust public input process. But those legislative efforts have so far failed.
KFTC will be watching, working with allies to proactively build fair maps as conversation pieces when key data becomes available in September, will pressure the legislature to allow public comments, and will respond to proposed maps.
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KY Public Service Commission establishes a fair process for calculating compensation credits for rooftop solar The grassroots campaign to protect rooftop solar in Kentucky and prevent electric utilities from rigging the rules against locally-owned distributed solar generation won a major victory in May, ending (for now) a multi-year dispute between solar advocates and monopoly utility companies over the value of fed-back rooftop solar energy. On May 14, 2021 the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a ruling rejecting Kentucky Power Company’s proposal to slash by seventy-five percent the value of the credit that new solar customers would receive for electric power from their panels that is fed back to the grid. Importantly, the PSC order established a methodology to determine a fair value of that fed-back distributed solar energy. The Commissioners then applied that new framework to calculate that, for Kentucky Power customers, the value for that credit is just twelve percent below what it would have been under the old policy. Kentucky Power immediately asked the PSC to rehear the case and reconsider the ruling. But the Public Service Commission affirmed its decision on June 23, 2021, underscoring that the many costs that solar customer-generators help utilities and other customers avoid must be taken into account in order for the compensation rate to be fair, just, and reasonable. After the ruling Cathy Clement, a KFTC member in Lexington who has invested countless volunteer hours to protect low- and moderate-income ratepayers and preserve a future for rooftop solar in Kentucky, celebrated. “I am so pleased that rooftop solar will remain an economic option for homeowners, non-profits, and small businesses in the Kentucky Power region who want to save on their energy bills, rely on clean energy, and support a growing clean energy economy in Kentucky,” she said. “So many people worked hard to secure this good outcome. It’s wonderful that our voices were heard.” The Kentucky Public Service Commission’s role in setting a value for rooftop solar was set in motion by the passage of SB 100 in 2019. That legislation, which KFTC and solar advocates strongly opposed, allowed utilities to depart from Kentucky’s solar
“ So many people worked hard to secure this good outcome. It’s wonderful that our voices were heard.” – Cathy Clement, Fayette County
net-metering policy which had given solar customers a one-for-one credit on their electric bill for each kilowatt-hour of electricity their systems fed-back to the grid. But before SB 100 passed, solar advocates won changes to the legislation that pushed the question of what the new solar compensation rate should be – and how to calculate it – to future rate cases before the Kentucky Public Service Commission, and secured a commitment from the Commission that the benefits as well as costs of serving rooftop solar customers would be considered. Kentucky Power was the first utility to come before the PSC with a new and sharply lower proposed compensation rate for rooftop solar, and KFTC members and solar advocates approached it as a precedent setting case. KFTC joined with Mountain Association and Kentucky Solar Energy Society to formally intervene in the case to defend ratepayers and seek a fair value for distributed solar. In this and several related cases before the PSC, our groups were jointly represented by Tom FitzGerald of Kentucky Resources Council. As co-intervenors, we hired and worked closely with expert witnesses James Owen of Renew Missouri and Karl Rábago. The Metropolitan Housing Coalition also joined as a co-intervenor in a related case dealing with Louisville Gas and Electric. Andy McDonald, who has represented the Kentucky Solar Energy Society in this and other related rate cases, explained why the methodology established
by the PSC matters just as much, if not more, than the actual compensation rate set in this case. “The order creates the framework for how the Commission will handle net metering in future rate cases brought by other utilities. The Commission acknowledged multiple benefits provided by distributed solar generation to the utility and to ratepayers. They adopted principles and best practices to be used for determining the value of distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar. The inclusion of the cost of carbon and the impact on jobs among the benefits to be considered is especially significant.” Carrie Ray with Mountain Association underscored the importance of the PSC ruling for customers of Kentucky Power, which serves a large share of eastern Kentucky. “Many of our clients are looking to solar as a way to afford their ever-increasing Kentucky Power bills. With this ruling, rooftop solar remains within reach – and the growing solar industry can continue to provide good-paying jobs to folks in the region.” With representation by the Kentucky Resources Council, the set of ally organizations who have worked together on this and related rate cases will continue to be vigilant. It is not yet known if Kentucky Power will appeal the PSC’s decision in court. Another PSC ruling on the value of distributed solar for customers served by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities is expected by fall.
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Lexington votes to ban no-knock warrants After more than a year of demands from residents, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council passed an ordinance that bans the use of no-knock warrants with a 10-5 vote. There was a packed house for the council’s discussion. 35 people made comments in support of the ban and none made comments in opposition. Black faith leaders in and around Lexington are at the forefront of the coalition that got their demands and stories heard by tens of thousands of Lexington residents. They held vigils and press conferences. They talked with the mayor and other city leaders and organized their congregations. Pastor Moore of First African Baptist Church was among these leaders and testified before the final vote
on the ordinance, “Your preceding tonight will let the Black community know where each of you stand on racial justice and equality.” Organizers at LPD Accountability, led by April Taylor, have also been pushing for a ban on noknock warrants. LPD Accountability collected petition signatures, offered talking points, spoke with the media, and organized public comments for the city council meetings. The ordinance to ban no-knock warrants was introduced by Councilmember James Brown in May and passed out of committee. Opponents of the ban, namely the Fraternal Order of Police, worked to block it’s momentum through multiple discussions and two more votes. But the overwhelming call from
Lexington’s Black community and other residents to stop the dangerous tactic – and to feel safe in their homes – was heard and respected by enough council members for the ordinance to pass on June 24 and be signed into law the next day. We would like to thank and honor all of the leaders, members, and coalition partners who helped win this important policy change and step toward true public safety: Pastor E, Arnold Farr, Adriel Downing, Jessica Clark, Mike Wilson, Pastor Acres, Pastor Rutherford, Pastor Robinson, Pastor Owens, Rev. Williams, Rep. Scott and many, many others. There is still much to do to win a future where we are all free, safe, and thriving. Let’s celebrate this win and get back to organizing!
Reflections from a first time canvasser
Lance Soto (left) of the American Indian Movement of Indiana and Kentucky joins Logan Fedders (right) before canvassing in Covington.
Last Friday, May 21, I went door-to-door canvassing for the first time. We were walking around the neighborhood of City Heights to try and hear from the residents what impact the city’s disregard had on their lives. As this was my first time going door-todoor, I was partnered up with my coworker Bethany to help me understand the flow of conversation and all that. Looking back I think the main reason I found the experience so positive is because I had someone to ask questions to and bounce ideas off of. I say that’s one of the main reasons because according
to Bethany our trip had a lot of bad luck. It would usually take us seven or eight homes before we got a response from someone. And while I was happy to soak up every response we did get, it became pretty clear to me that most of our respondents were briefer than we’d hoped and we didn’t really get any long conversations we could really sink our teeth into until the very end. Bethany seemed a bit disappointed at times but because I didn’t have any expectations going into this, it was much easier for me to keep a positive attitude, and the company certainly helped with that.
three people we talked to all mentioned problems with the garbage system, whether that being double charged or their garbage being ignored by collectors, so when we got to the fourth and fifth respondents I started incorporating the garbage collection as a conversation topic to start off.
Another thing that helped us keep our spirits up was the fact that my coworker seemed to be genuinely enjoying the type of canvassing they were doing. I heard from them that canvassing for an issue is much more liberating than what most people think of when they hear canvassing which is going door-todoor to support a political candidate for office.
Just after we finished up with our final empty house of the evening, a 14-year-old boy came up to us to strike up a conversation. He wasn’t technically a resident of City Heights (his parents just moved from City Heights to Cincinnati a few months ago), but we saw him a few times hanging out with the other kids from the neighborhood and he even told us they were as close as family to him. He just fit in so naturally with the neighborhood that when he told us he didn’t know why his parents had to move out of City Heights it made me sad in a way I still can’t quite explain. But maybe that’s what our canvassing is supposed to do, have people give words to their experiences in a way that folks like me just can’t quite do in the same way.
What made our type of canvassing different (at least according to my coworkers) is that what we were doing was relying so much more on listening to our respondents and being much more flexible in how we can interact with them. The main example that popped up during my experience was with City Heights’ garbage collectors. The first two or
I would like to end off my thoughts by talking about the most poignant interaction I had with someone from City Heights during my time canvassing, which oddly didn’t actually happen after I knocked on a door.
July 19, 2021 | BALANCING THE SCALES | 13
WHERE HAVE KFTC MEMBERS BEEN LATELY?
There was a packed house for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s discussion and vote on banning the use of no-knock warrants. 35 people made comments in support of the ban and none made comments in opposition.
Central Kentucky chapter members are talking with their neighbors all summer long at the Northside Nights concert series in Castlewood and Douglass Parks. Pictured are Jessica Clark of MiMi’s Southern Style Cooking and Diane Cahill of Moms Demand Action.
Councilmember Liz Sheehan spoke in favor of banning no-knock warrants, “We voted to honor Juneteenth. We passed a diversity and equity statement. Those were easy. This is your moment to show that you are willing to do the hard things, not just the easy things.”
Izzy Fogle poses with Senator Reggie Thomas and Representative George Brown at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council meeting.
The Jefferson County chapter got back to their roots knocking doors in Smoketown with ACLU-Smart Justice. They started the day off building story-sharing & listening skills, before talking with community members about the city budget.
Tom Matijasic and Tom Vierheller enjoying a lunch break after helping clear the cemetery in Wayland. See page 6 for the story.
Arnold Farr and Joyce Adkins spoke at the Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign news conference on June 7 in Louisville.
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Finding each other through deep canvassing Eastern Kentucky Organizer Jacob Mack-Boll has been leading a learning circle about deep canvassing. Below are his reflections from the first two months of facilitating and participating in the learning circle. Over the past two months, a small collection of KFTC members, staff, and allies have been probing the questions “what is deep canvassing?” “how do we design field canvassing operations that are responsive to this moment?” and “what can we learn from the powerful work being done by other organizers around the country to engage people meaningfully where they are?” Partially prompted by a desire to work with other organizations in Kentucky to build support for federal THRIVE agenda and Green New Deal policies, it also resonated with other pieces of our work – folks are talking in all corners of KFTC about wanting to do more door knocking. We’ve been looking to learn ways that people are designing and using field approaches that are non transactional, responding to a trend in political canvassing that has prioritized short conversations, talking at voters rather than listening to learn what voters are thinking, ignoring people that might not already be convinced, and aimed mostly at getting something (usually a vote or a signature). Instead, these ideas of “deep canvassing” and similar approaches emphasize relationships, listening, and persuasion with the goal of organizing people rather than just mobilizing them. We didn’t want to focus exclusively on this one “deep canvass” methodology, but acknowledged that it is an approach receiving a lot of attention. This gave us an opportunity to spend time learning from a few groups taking different approaches to their field work, and look for the places they were finding the most success and excitement. We had presentations from groups West Virginia Can’t Wait, People’s Action, Down Home North Carolina, and SONG Power. Adam Kruggel shared one window into how and why People’s Action started deep canvassing by naming how, “there was this real deep reckoning (after the 2016 election) that we as a as progressives had failed, really, in terms of really connecting deeply, that we had to do a lot of soul searching, like we had become disconnected with people that we love and people who should be with us who are suffering, who are not benefited by the status quo. And that we should
be organizing, but because of our own hubris, or our own arrogance, and our inability to listen, but also, also, because of the way the right has really weaponized race, they have been dominating people’s hearts and minds for decades, and that we need to get back in. So we spent the first year listening, asking, what are you most concerned about? What’s your vision? And then, who’s responsible? Really trying to understand people’s judgment. We saw this core conflict, like really viscerally.” That conflict was often primarily about who they believed was responsible for the problems in their lives and community: the wealthy and powerful, or their neighbors? What we’ve heard, from multiple fronts, has been that in our cities, in our rural places, and in the South, we’re fighting in a media landscape that has been captured by people who promote fear and propose solutions that inevitably escalate poverty, division, cynicism and mistrust. This resonates with what KFTC has been hearing and learning from others over the past few years. Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson inviting us at our Annual Meeting a few years ago to not cede rural places or white people or poor folks to be organized by the right-wing. Or what the research about RaceClass Narrative has taught us about intentionally messaging our fights so that they actively combat and reveal racist dog-whistle politics and tropes that the right-wing and the wealthy rely on to keep the rest of us from finding each other. As we heard in this learning group from Kruggel, maybe one problem is that, “We’ve forgotten that we belong to each other.” So deep canvassing asks us to listen, to understand, and lean in. Kruggel offered that one way to think of deep canvassing is the opportunity to do “light agitation” with someone you already know, where there’s a contradiction you want to excavate or hold up a mirror for someone to process their cognitive dissonance. First we have to listen and hear someone,
then we can share from our own experience, and only then are we able to move towards persuasion. You could say a deep canvass conversation is really just a “one-on-one” organizing conversation. Katey Lauer shared with us about how WV Can’t Wait used every opportunity they could to have one on ones with people. She wrote about it in a piece called “How to Scale,” saying, “Importantly, the goal of these one-on-one meetings was never to pitch how our gubernatorial candidate, or any other WV Can’t Wait candidate, would solve all our problems, as establishment candidates profess to do. The goal was to find out what moved the people we were meeting with, where we were aligned, and what role they could play. In short, one-on-ones were how we began a relationship to invite someone into the work.” When we think of it that way, it’s not anything different than one we already preach. But what is clear is that it requires intentionality, a clear strategy, rigorous and adequate training, support, and a willingness to be vulnerable. What are some of the other pieces that define it? Why do it? • It’s more effective at persuading than other communications and canvass approaches. • The persuasion achieved through deep canvassing lasts. • People are conflicted. We have the opportunity to expose and process contradictions in peoples lives.
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• F acts don’t persuade (at least not by themselves; at least not until there’s a groundwork of trust) • Empathy has the power to shape our consciousness and worldview. • Ultimately, this is a great way for people to learn the art of organizing: these are organizing conversations. What makes it work? Some assumptions and key elements of deep canvassing we’re gleaning as we go: • At its core, basically taking some of the best parts of what we do in organizing and compressing them into a 12 to 15 minute canvass context. Basic things we already believe. • Deep canvassing is the process of organizing, of reminding each of us that we belong to each other. • We have to talk explicitly about race. We can have intentional race forward conversations that help us inoculate against all of the horrible ways that we’ve been pitted against each other. We have found the enemy, and it is not one another. • The way we get people to a place of shared analysis is through story, and through deep listening. • People have a chance to hold up their own beliefs and assumptions, without judgement, and share them. And then, maybe, they get to put themselves in someone else’s shoes - and maybe they let their perspective change, even a little.
• I n the experience of researchers, deep canvassing persuasion conversations are effective whether or not the canvasser is from the community they were volunteering/ working in. • These are emotionally intense conversations. Debriefing together is crucial. • Training. We have to be rigorous, we have to get specific, we have to get personal. Some tips and tricks for having these conversations: • You have to be willing to listen to someone you disagree with. • You have to be willing to share your own story, vulnerably. • You have to be willing to not argue (this will only reinforce existing frames). • Cone of curiosity: when we’re listening to someone, remind yourself to keep asking questions, looking for a hint of a story. What we’re looking for is why does someone believe what they do? Not trying to persuade of anything - trying to understand. • Story of harm: describe a time when ____ caused harm to you or someone you know? How did it feel when that happened? Reflecting on it, why did it feel that way? • Story of hope: I believe it doesn’t have to be this way. How would doing ___ keep the person in your story safe, and how would that make you feel?
SOKY members gather to talk about mass incarceration and racial caste while reading The New Jim Crow. NAACP leader and political science professor Dr. Saundra Ardrey guided the discussion.
The Wilderness Trace Chapter hosted a voter registration table at the Harrodsburg Juneteenth celebration.
DOES DEEP CANVASSING SOUND LIKE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE TO TRY OR LEARN MORE ABOUT?
TAKE ACTION!
KFTC and partners will be hosting a series of trainings this August and September around the state, specifically on Just Transition strategy and deep canvassing skills. Stay tuned for more information or check KFTC’s events page at bit.ly/BTS-2Q for details later. You can also look out for a workshop on deep canvassing at our KFTC Annual Meeting 2021 at the end of July! Sister Joyce Moeller, Logan Fedders, Janiah Miller, and Bethany Higgins canvassing in NKY.
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Voting Rights coalition registers voters, pushes Beshear KFTC members and allies are hard at work in the field: community tabling and knocking on doors to find Kentuckians with felonies in their past and helping them to register to vote if they got their rights back through Beshear’s executive order. This work is being integrated into existing canvassing efforts and some stand-alone events, particularly in Lexington where Tayna Fogle is leading weekly talking events. These events are also key places to circulate our Voting Rights petition to identify supporters and get them involved. Over seventy people attended a texting training a few weeks ago and we’re continuing that effort to reach out to people and register them to vote remotely as well. If you know someone with a felony in their past and you’re not sure whether they got their right to vote back, you can check at www.CivilRightsRestoration.ky.gov. The Kentucky Voting Rights Coalition has created breakout teams, with some teams meeting regularly to focus on a particular geography or strategy, like training, lobbying, texting, or field work in Lexington. You can join upcoming meetings of these teams on Mobilize (see “Take Action” box).
of the session about a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to people with felonies in their past, and hope to build enough momentum to pass the legislature early next year and land on the November 2022 ballot. Our allies at the Kentucky Equal Justice Center have filed a lawsuit after discovering that, when Beshear took office, over 2,400 applications for voting rights were pending in the Governor’s office but Beshear has never responded to these. We sent a letter written by KFTC’s Chairperson calling on Beshear to answer these applications, but have not received a response. (See the content of the letter below.)
VOTING RIGHTS ACTIONS:
TAKE ACTION!
Send an email to your state legislators: tinyurl.com/y34v3dxp Send an email to Governor Beshear: tinyurl.com/6pb3p75j Find other opportunities at: www.mobilize.us/kftc/
Members Jessica Clark and Carl Haddix volunteered to table and build relationships with the citizens of the east end of Lexington. Sixty people signed a petition in support of restoring voting rights to Kentuckians with a felony in their past!
We’re continuing to meet with legislators outside
Open letter to Governor Andy Beshear about Voting Rights The following letter from KFTC’s Chairperson Cassia Herron was sent to Governor Beshear on June 17, 2021. The letter has received no response from the Governor’s office. Our allies at the Kentucky Equal Justice Center have filed a lawsuit to get Beshear to respond to the 2,400 Kentuckians who have submitted applications to have their voting rights restored with no response. Governor Andy Beshear, Kentuckians know that our democracy works best when we all have a voice and a vote. Your 2019 executive order attempted to help reduce disenfranchisement of Kentuckians with felony records in their past, and was a huge step toward a healthy democracy. I want to thank you for taking action and to let you know it’s not enough. Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and the 44
member organizations of the Kentucky Voting Rights Coalition have invested immensely into reaching these people and registering them to vote. We’ve knocked doors, made phone calls, tabled at community events, and more. We’ve helped people navigate the process of learning whether their rights were restored, registered those who are eligible, and helped people apply who are not. Again, it was not enough to significantly increase voter turnout in the last election cycle. We will do more and want your support. Over 2,400 applications for voting rights were pending when you took office, having been ignored by the previous administration. We’ve met some of these people over the past 2 years and heard their frustrations. They want to hear from you. We urge you to respond to those applications, and
to the Kentuckians who submitted them with hopes of participating in and strengthening our democracy. Their rights are on your desk and in your hands, and they deserve an answer. We’d love to hear back from you and gain some insights into why this hasn’t happened yet, how you might rectify this situation, and how we might help you. Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Cassia Herron KFTC Chairperson
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Why we organize for Climate Justice, Racial Justice, a Just Transition, and a healthy democracy Anyone in the U.S. under the age of forty and paying attention has lived their entire life aware of the existential threat caused by the global climate crisis. In recent years, Americans of all ages have expressed increased levels of alarm and urgency about climate change. According to Pew Research Center, in 2020 nearly seven-in-ten Biden voters (sixty-eight percent) said climate change was very important to their vote; six-in-ten Americans viewed climate change as “a major threat to the well-being of the U.S.” A Tufts University study found that young Americans named climate change as one of their top three concerns motivating them to vote in 2020, behind COVID-19 and racism. That growing sense of alarm is well founded: more than a century of extraction and burning of fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and deforestation have loaded the earth’s atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, causing average global temperatures to rise by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit or one degree Celsius. Just that seemingly small change has already supercharged climate change, contributing to more frequent and more extreme weather disasters. The last year alone has brought record-breaking floods in eastern Kentucky, record wildfires in the western U.S., record numbers of destructive hurricanes, and recordbreaking extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest. Climate change is happening now. It is already causing widespread harm and suffering. And without urgent and sustained actions, the world is on a path to an even more dangerous future. Three years ago, a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared that the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions in half over the next ten years to avoid catastrophic climate change, prevent massive human suffering, and reduce the risks of economic and ecosystem collapse. In the years since that dire warning, social movements have swelled in the US and around the world, led by young people, Indigenous communities, and Black and brown communities, and others on the frontlines of climate, economic, racial justice, and health disasters. Yet nothing has been done to significantly change the reckless path we are on. The failure of governments to respond to the climate crisis is in large part the result of the poisoning of
our democracy, media, and relationships by the same fossil fuel companies and financial interests that have long polluted our air, water, and land. Globally and here in Kentucky, oil, gas, and coal companies invest in corrupt politicians; manufacture misinformation; and promote public narratives that stir up anti-Black racism and stoke the fears of white voters. Then the politicians they help elect – including Kentucky’s Senator Mitch McConnell – seek to preserve their power in the face of a growing multi-racial progressive majority by passing racist voter suppression and election laws, packing the courts, and continuing to fuel racial resentment. Systemic racism, economic inequality, climate change, and threats to our democracy are interlocking crises. Securing a livable planet and a future where all people can thrive – no matter the color of our skin, where we live, or how much money or privilege we have – requires an all-in, inclusive, anti-racist approach to rebuilding our economy, relationships, and democracy. That’s what KFTC means when we say we are working to shape a Just Transition: a Just Transition is about a just process and just outcomes for the people and places most affected by environmental devastation and pollution, systemic racism, and economic exploitation. It means winning climate policies that prioritize, protect, and invest in the health, wealth, and well-being of Black, brown, and Indigenous communities and workers, and make life better in all impacted communities. A Just Transition also means rejecting false choices and false solutions, like the idea that some communities are disposable, but some industries are not. It can be hard to even imagine a world, much less make that vision real on the ground. In recent years, KFTC and many allies have taken on the challenge of describing what we mean by Just Transition in bold, transformative, and specific ways. • In 2017 KFTC produced the Empower Kentucky Plan, a people’s plan for a Just Transition to a Clean Energy Economy in Kentucky. (See: empowerkentucky.org). • In 2019 the Sunrise Movement and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared their vision and demands for a Green New Deal to address racism, poverty, and climate.
(See: youtu.be/d9uTH0iprVQ) • In 2020 a coalition of frontline climate justice organizations – including Climate Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, People’s Action, and KFTC –wrote a document called “The People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy” describing 15 ways we need to transform our economy and relationships. (See: climatejusticealliance.org/ regenerativeeconomy/) • In 2021 the Movement for Black Lives released a Red, Black, and Green New Deal, a climate agenda that puts Black liberation at the center of the global climate struggle. (See: redblackgreennewdeal.org) • In 2021 KFTC hosted a Just Imagine Art Show, in which 40 artists shared their “visions for a just, sustainable, and anti-racist Kentucky,” or “what our relationship with the environment and each other would be if we were free from white supremacy and scarcity,” or “the joy, hurt, or harm experienced while doing work with KFTC.” (See: justimagineky.org) How to get involved What’s your vision for just, sustainable, and antiracist Kentucky, a place where all people – no matter our race, age, gender, sexual orientation, wealth, or zip code - can thrive? What stories from your own life experience motivate you to work for climate justice and a Just Transition? How can we center racial justice in our work? And how can we be skillful and effective when engaging other people about climate and Just Transition, including in conversations with family, neighbors, coworkers, and voters? These are just some of the questions KFTC members and allies will have a chance to explore this summer and fall as part of a series of trainings and volunteer canvassing days aimed at building thousands of new relationships needed to win transformative policies for climate, jobs, justice, and democracy. Look for information coming soon about how to sign up for in person and online trainings and volunteer canvassing events in August, September, October and November.
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It’s time for a Red, Black, and Green New Deal KFTC is a member of the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA). The following excerpts are reprinted with permission from a press release from the Black Caucus of CJA posted on April 23, 2021 at wwww.climatejusticealliance.org/ thereisnoclimatejusticewithoutabolition/ ...we cannot celebrate “Earth Day” without centering Black freedom and liberation. Black communities are disproportionately vulnerable to climate hazards, living closer to toxic waste sites, as well as impacts from hurricanes and flooding. It is not only policing and prisons but a climate crisis that attempts to cut Black life short. Justice for Black Lives and Communities is a key pillar for building a regenerative and sustainable future. Today, we ask you to join Climate Justice Alliance member group Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy and Movement for Black Lives in a call for a Red, Black & Green New Deal. The Red, Black & Green New Deal is a strategic agenda for holistically empowering the lives of Black people while addressing the root causes of the global climate disaster. Visit redblackgreennewdeal.org and follow the hashtag #RBGND for more information and updates.
Our communities face interlocking crises, including record-breaking climate disasters, systemic and sustained racial injustice, and gross economic inequality. The climate crisis, like each of the others, affects every aspect of our lives. And Kentuckians know that while some people grow wealthy from the activities that destroy our environment, many more of us pay the price, with Black, Indigenous, people of color and working class and poor communities hit the hardest. We also know that these are the folks who hold the solutions and can lead the way through a Just Transition. Black communities, in Kentucky and across the county, believe all people have a right to clean water, clean, safe and community controlled energy, and healthy, climate-ready communities. The Movement For Black Lives (M4BL) launched the Red, Black & Green New Deal (RBGND) Initiative to win a sustainable future in defense of Black lives.
The Movement For Black Lives (M4BL) launched the Red, Black & Green New Deal (RBGND) Initiative to win a sustainable future in defense of Black lives. You can read more about the RBGND, find a social media toolkit for sharing the word, and donate to the Movement For Black Lives at redblackgreennewdeal.org
The RBGND National Black Climate Agenda focuses on justice across six key pillars: Water, Energy, Land, Labor, Economy, and Democracy. Water: “We have a human right to safe water and an equal right to its access. It is fundamental to a thriving community. We want our water to be safe, uncontaminated and we want our communities to be protected from the harms of water dictated by climate change.” Energy: “We want reliable, renewable energy that does not damage the environment or produce harmful impacts on marginalized communities. We want to divest from dirty energy that harms Black Communities and an investment in affordable and reliable systems that are insulated against climate disasters and can ensure the Earth grows healthy for seven generations and more.” Land: “We want to be able to purchase and pass down land to our children. We want fair treatment in the mortgage process. We want to live in areas with access to reliable, affordable services. We do not want to be concerned about floods, the safety of our children’s food, and public parks.”
Labor: “Working and earning a wage is how most of the world acquires the necessities that support our families and our lifestyles. Black people want to be able to provide for our families by earning a fair wage and working in a dignified, safe environment...We deserve to be valued for our labor – past, present and future.” Economy: “The roots of the climate crisis lie in an extractive economy. We need to end extractive economies in order to develop a sustainable future. We want stability in our communities and a safety net from the things we cannot control. We want truth, fairness and accountability in our system of utility.” Democracy: “We want a fair system that prioritizes our civil rights, including the ability to vote in a free and fair election. We want to be able to make decisions that are representative of our communities and laws enacted that protect our civil liberties and rights to choose.“
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Yarmuth and Democrats must insist on these investments for the climate and care industry This was originally published in The Courier-Journal on July 8, 2021. Reprinted with permission of the author. View the original at bit.ly/BTS-2Q When I was in elementary school, I placed second in the science fair. My project was a response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I proposed they create a giant sponge to skim the oil from the top of the ocean. This was the late 1980s, and it was the largest oil spill during that time. Now as a mother of two teenagers, I have frequent conversations with my children about environmental degradation and climate change. We can’t escape it. The effects of inaction are all around us. This past year alone has brought record-breaking weather events: floods in Eastern Kentucky, wildfires in the Western U.S., record numbers of destructive hurricanes and scorching heat in the Pacific Northwest. Last week a violent storm in Michigan dumped more than 5 inches of rain in an hour, flooding homes and businesses and wiping out critical infrastructure for tens of thousands in the city of Detroit. As this article was being written, the ocean itself was on fire, the result of a ruptured deep sea natural gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. Without urgent and sustained actions, the world is on a path to an even more dangerous future. Three years ago, a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared that the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions in half over the next 10 years to avoid catastrophic climate change, prevent massive human suffering and reduce the risk of economic and ecosystem collapse. In the years since, social movements calling for governments to act on climate have swelled around the world and here in the U.S., led by young people, indigenous communities, Black and brown grassroots leaders, and others on the frontlines of climate, economic, racial justice and health disasters. But to date, nothing has been done to fundamentally change the reckless path we are on. Our government’s failure to respond to the climate crisis is the result of the poisoning of our democracy by the same fossil fuel companies and financial interests that have long polluted our air, water and land. In a secretly recorded video interview, Exxon’s senior director of federal relations recently explained how the oil giant is getting its way, once again, in Congress by funding “shadow groups” to shape public opinion and influencing a set
of senators, including West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, to strike corporate taxes and other provisions from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. Unfortunately, it seems to be working. The budget reconciliation package emerging from negotiations in the Senate is a far cry from the scale or nature of investments that are actually needed to address the interlocking crises of climate, racial injustice and economic inequality. Climate champion Sen. Bernie Sanders has a package that falls short of the investments necessary for my children’s children to be safe from extreme weather and other events that result from our negligence to reverse our impact on the environment. As demonstrated during the pandemic, the harm caused by climate disasters is falling first and hardest on Black and brown people, disabled and elderly folks, low-income rural and urban communities and frontline workers. Of the six congressional leaders Kentucky sends to D.C., Congressman John Yarmuth is the only one to show his support for reversing the climate crisis. This year as House Budget chairman, Yarmuth is in a strong position to ensure Kentuckians actually feel his support by leading the effort to make bold investments in climate and in the care economy. Below is a set of specific 10-year investments that Yarmuth and Democrats in the U.S. House must insist be included before the package passes the House: • $100 billion for conditional, forgivable hardship loans to transform rural electric cooperatives and the communities they serve • 1.1 trillion for clean renewable energy • $600 billion expand and electrify public transit • $600 billion to retrofit public buildings, including schools and public housing • $700 billion in direct spending for child care and early learning • The package must also have strong labor and equity standards, and ensure the rights of indigenous people to free, prior and informed consent. Kentuckians need relief. We need support through this economic transition. We need leaders who understand the longer trajectory for a more sustainable future for generations to come; leaders who are unafraid to be visionary and fight for what’s necessary; leaders who reject the status quo. We are all too familiar with the
corrupting power that coal, oil, gas and electric utilities wield over many of our elected officials. And yet today, we actually have a chance to replace greed and criminality with compassion and love for people and the environment. Congressman Yarmuth is in a significant position to lead the change. This moment will not come again. He can see himself as a facilitator of a sprawling and messy budget process, or he can choose to be a transformational leader who refuses to compromise our future to Exxon, corrupt senators or anyone else, and to push Congress to make the investments necessary for Americans to shift in our approach to climate change. Yarmuth recently wrote about critical race theory, and it could apply to the public debate over climate change. He noted, “Average American citizens are just trying to get from paycheck to paycheck and to build a safe and secure future for their families. CRT is probably not on their radar. But our history is everyone’s history, and to the extent that it explains how we interact to create a society, the last thing we should be doing is ignoring that history.” Like CRT, what’s happening with the places where we reside and places where other of God’s creations live, we can no longer ignore it. We must act with valor. I can remember a time when the global climate crisis was a scary but abstract idea, something most people thought simply affected polar bears and the tundra. Over time, more and more of us face the daily effects of irresponsible decisions to choose profits over people. The days of thinking it’s someone else’s problem to deal with into the future are over. We must act now! One of my mantras with my children is to be “thorough and complete.” Kentuckians need Congress to be thorough in its approach to tackle climate change, racial justice and updating our economy. And we need Congressman Yarmuth to complete his tenure as “the Kentucky statesman who helped save the planet and transform the commonwealth’s economy.” Anything less is just a nod to mediocrity, and cause for despair.
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#ICYMI: HIGHLIGHTS FROM KFTC SOCIAL MEDIA YOU MAY HAVE MISSED! The fight for a Just Transition is heating up … literally. At the end of June we witnessed record-breaking temperatures in the Pacific Northwest – which created dangerous conditions in a region unfamiliar and ill-prepared for such a heat wave. We’re all too familiar with the harms the fossil fuel industry and others have inflicted on our land and air – no matter which part of the country we live in. The stories and experiences are alarmingly consistent. Eastern Kentuckians are still recovering from flooding that occurred in early March and Texans are still grappling with lives lost from a disastrous freeze in February. The climate crisis is here, and we know that the folks most impacted by these climate disasters are Black, low-income, unhoused, and Indigenous people. But organizations like Movement for Black Lives, Sunrise Movement, KFTC and so many others are showing up locally and nationally to ensure a Just Transition. In case you missed it, here are some conversations that have been happening online about climate and Just Transition!
Activists from the Sunrise Movement blockaded the White House on June 28 to demand that Democrats and President Joe Biden go bigger and bolder with the infrastructure bill. Over 200 organizations are demanding larger public investments in clean energy to do things like electrify public transit, improve and make permanent the Child Tax Credit, implement a national, universal paid leave program, close the Medicaid coverage gap, and more. Follow the hashtag #NoClimateNoDeal on Twitter to learn more.
The Red, Black and Green New Deal was launched on May 11 by the Movement For Black Lives. There is no climate justice without racial justice, which includes reparations and ending exploitative economies. Read more about the Red, Black, and Green New Deal on page 18 or online at redblackgreennewdeal.org.
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Follow us on social media and then join the conversation on – or off – line! kftc.org/facebook
@kentuckiansforthecommonwealth
@kftc
@kftc
You can find links to individual chapter social media pages at www.kftc.org/links
Kentuckians now living in the Pacific Northwest describe their experiences with the extreme heat. We reached out to Kyle who said, “It’s important that people start to wake up to this reality.”
KFTC is a part of the Rural Power Coalition which is campaigning to ensure the future of rural electric co-ops is grounded in justice, democracy, and resilience. Co-Organizing Director Lisa Abbot hosted a web series and discussed how Congress can invest $100 billion in conditional, forgivable hardship loans to transform rural electric cooperatives and the communities they serve. Find the episode link and watch at bit.ly/BTS-2Q!
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Reflecting on the Just Imagine Art Show Tona, Mikaela, and Trinidad emceed the launch, kicking it off with frank and powerful storytelling from Trinidad and Mikaela of why this art show was needed. They recounted a pivotal moment of harm that occurred at the Empower Kentucky cohort’s first weekend retreat together, during which cohort members and staff reckoned with the fact that KFTC’s Just Transition work has in the past excluded and tokenized Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and has not sufficiently centered racial justice as is needed to be truly inclusive. (Read more about this moment at kftc.org/blog/revisioning-what-wemean-just-transition.) The emcees recounted the decision to confront and address these past harms through a Just Transition revisioning project that starts–but certainly does not end–with the art show.
On Wednesday, May 19, 2021, KFTC members hosted a virtual launch event for The Just Imagine Art Show: Healing harm, sharing grief, envisioning the Kentucky we deserve. The idea for this art show emerged from a small crew of KFTC members and staff from the Empower Kentucky Leadership Network – Mikaela Curry, Trinidad Jackson, Tona Barkley, Lisa Abbott, and Nikita Perumal – who have, since late 2019, been working together to deepen KFTC’s understanding of Just Transition. In late 2020, this work group put out a call to artists across Kentucky, inviting them to submit works of art reflecting: • their vision for a Just Transition – a just, sustainable, anti-racist future in Kentucky • how they have experienced joy, hurt, growth, or harm within KFTC’s work for a Just Transition • what they imagine our relationship with the environment and each other would be if we were free from the scarcity created by white supremacy Over forty artists responded to this call with fiftythree works of art, spanning visual art, poetry, theater, music, textiles, video, and more – each infused with incredible creativity, love, raw honesty, and vision. At the ninety-minute launch event, the participating artists shared their offerings over Zoom to an audience of nearly ninety Kentuckians.
The hosts also showed audience members where they could explore the works of art in more detail (JustImagineKY.org), designed by longtime KFTC ally Seun Erinle of Grid Principles. And they highlighted an artist’s stipend process they put in place to ensure that Black and Indigenous voices, which have not been historically predominant in KFTC, were centered and lifted up. The launch event spent time showcasing the art of various artists. In addition to a highlight reel of all submitted works of art, audience members had a chance to watch a live performance of the poem Chokecherry Work from artist Cider Ellison, a recorded recitation of Amerikkka the Beautiful by Samuel Hawkins II, a grounding led by artist Serena Owen (creator of Let’s Empower Kentucky!) and recorded reflections from visual artist Marlesha Woods (creator of paintings Resilient and Tranquility) and Meta and Jackie Mendel-Reyes (creators of A Kid’s Guide to Just Transition).
“This entire process of trying to envision a more just and inclusive Kentucky and KFTC was a huge blessing for me,” reflected Tona Barkley of the planning team. “I’m thankful for everyone I worked with and everyone who contributed work to the show. I grew a lot in the process, and I hope that the art show helped participants and attendees expand our vision and our hearts and will lead to some actual positive change.” Explore more about the art show here: • Spend some time with all the works of art at the Just Imagine website: justimagineky.org. Feel free to use the comment feature of the website to react and engage with the works. • Watch the recording of the art show launch event at vimeo.com/559054040 The art show is just one part of a broader process to deepen and make better KFTC’s Just Transition work. Please fill out a short survey at forms.gle/ Uo8aaL11gxtutxde6, to help us continue to pour meaning into a just, anti-racist, sustainable Kentucky! All links can be found at bit.ly/BTS-2Q.
REMEMBERING MARGARET RICKETTS Margaret Ricketts was an amazing poet, voracious reader of books, and had a sharp mind and wit. Social justice meant everything to her. She published her poems in several collections, most recently working with a group of poets with disabilities called Zoeglossiat. She was a member of the Madison County chapter of KFTC and the Empower Kentucky Leadership Network. Margaret’s poems Pronouns and This was the year were included in the Just Imagine Art Show. You can read them at justimagineky.org/artists/margaret-ricketts.
Audience members then got to connect and hear directly from artists in small breakout group panels, in which the artists shared about their work, their creative process and took questions from the audience. A particularly moving piece of the launch was when Mikaela Curry recited the poem This was the Year by beloved, and recently deceased, longtime KFTC member Margaret Ricketts. View all of Margaret’s poems on her artist profile at JustImagineKY.org.
Margaret (right) and Jeff Chapman-Crane (left) during the Arts and Activism workshop at KFTC’s 2013 Annual Meeting.
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This was the year By Margaret Ricketts This was the year that faces disappeared, omitting lips, noses, chins, mouths. A part can never encompass a whole. This was the year when we lost our beloved spaces, and the virus took many among us. This was the year that my spine straightened
Black, Block, Blah KTW2 and Alexis L.R. Oldham County
into a metal post, completely rigid. This was the year that a young woman was shot dead in her apartment and, legally, her death was held of no count. This was the year that a police officer, sworn to serve and protect, knelt on a man’s neck for eight minutes. This was the year that we couldn’t brunch, but we gathered in the streets to cry for these two, and many others. This was the year I read Baldwin, Levi, Morrison, Weisel and their
Urban Cooling Tona Barkley Owen County
voices pierced me as never before. This was the year.
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Hazel Cierre Childers We look at each other and see skin before the face When they’re black they’re too scary When they’re white they’re too privileged We all have a burden to carry The people who only see skin walk around undisciplined It takes our voice away We don’t speak out, we have nothing to say Time to take control Time to love yourself as a whole
Make A Difference Destiny Owen Kenton County
Take your voice back Let it shine in the world Doesn’t matter if your white or black This isn’t a dreamworld You are who you are Don’t ever need to change You are the shining star It may seem strange But one voice can lead to more The more the better chance of getting heard Getting heard gives us all the opportunity to make a difference No longer labeling each other due to the color of our skin Because at the end of the day we’re all kin.
EVOLVE Kristie Powe Franklin County
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Peace & Unity Hailey Bondia Hardin County
La Raza Cosmica Luisa Trujillo Jefferson County
One or two ways Kayla Morgan Jefferson County
Galactic Blackness Shauntrice Martin Jefferson County
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KFTC helped make an animated series that premiered at Tribeca! We are thrilled to announce that KFTC was part of a team of storytellers and organizers who created MINE, an animated web series that recently made its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Festival. Shifting the conversation about what is possible here in Kentucky is at the heart of KFTC’s work. We know that our movement is strongest when we break down the barriers between art and organizing, and when people bring their imaginations and unique talents to this work.
MINE is a sci-fi story set in a vibrant utopia. But when a magical, healing water source is threatened, an intrepid teen named Blaze must save their community before it’s too late. The series explores the difficult and worthwhile fight for the place you call home. View the trailer at www.mineseries.com. Keep up with all the latest from the world of MINE, and help us spread the word, by following the show on Instagram @beauvoda.
Since 2018, KFTC has participated in a cohort of organizers, advocates, artists, and multimedia storytellers from across the country. Over the years, this group sharpened our skills for narrative strategy and created Rise-Home Stories, a suite of five multimedia narrative projects, including MINE, that speak to the power of abundance and collective action in the face of increasingly toxic narratives of scarcity and individualism. The projects aim to advance a vision for our communities by changing the stories we tell about their past, present and future. Learn more at www.risehomestories.com.
Southern Kentucky chapter members delivered one-hundred and twenty-one petition signatures in the form of a human paper chain in support of a moral budget and demanding that Bowling Green fund the housing solutions the community needs. Members also shared their personal stories, which gave powerful testimony to the need for safe and affordable housing. The commission scheduled a public work session on housing and agreed to have the meeting in a more accessible location while they also added homelessness to their list of priorities for the year in their strategic plan.
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KFTC 2021 (VIRTUAL) ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Friday, July 30 – Saturday, July 31 We can make a future where every Kentuckian has a safe home, clean water, and health care. Where we can send our kids to public schools that equip them to pursue their dreams. Where our jobs earn us a good living and help us live a good life. Where we all have a say in the decisions that impact our lives. We can make a future where we all thrive. That future is possible, but first we have to imagine what we truly want for ourselves, our families and communities, for KFTC, and Kentucky. And then we have to organize and take action together to create it. That’s why KFTC members are envisioning and implementing an Organizational Change Initiative to set the course for KFTC’s future as we celebrate our 40-year history. It’s why we push for visionary policies like the THRIVE agenda, and work to impact elections and elect bold candidates. At this year’s virtual annual meeting, members will celebrate the first forty years of KFTC while we learn with each other about issues and strategies that can help shape the next forty years in Kentucky and of KFTC – starting now.
See the full schuled and register for KFTC’s 2021 Annual Membership Meeting at kftc.org/annual-meeting
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, JULY 30 (all times are eastern)
SATURDAY, JULY 31
7 p.m. Opening Session
10 a.m. Morning Opening and Plenary Session
• • • •
Welcome and Land Acknowledgement Introduce Theme Group Agreements Break into small groups for introductions and sharing
7:30 p.m. Story telling (Celebrating Burt Lauderdale’s Organizing Legacy and 40 Years of KFTC) An interactive timeline of organizing in Kentucky, the South, the nation. With a special emphasis on stories about retiring Executive Director Burt Lauderdale and his impact. 9 p.m. Adjourn
• Chapter petitions • Organization Change Initiative report 10:30 a.m. Morning Workshops (choose one)
Deep canvassing: It’s just good organizing Our Time To THRIVE: How Kentuckians are organizing for climate justice. It’s our money and we need it now! Abortion is a Human Right! The Grassroots Fight for Reproductive Justice in Kentucky 12 p.m. Lunch Break
2 p.m. Annual Business Meeting • E lect new statewide officers and Kentucky Coalition board members • Announce new Steering Committee Reps • Chapter petitions • Gratitudes 3 p.m. Keynote Address 7 p.m. I n-person social time for chapters to self-organize
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KFTC 2021 (VIRTUAL) ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Friday, July 30 – Saturday, July 31
Nominations for KFTC, KY Coalition leadership positions The KFTC Leadership Development Committee recommended, and the Steering Committee has approved, a slate of candidates for KFTC’s Executive Committee and the Kentucky Coalition Board who will lead KFTC through our organizational transitions and racial equity work, exemplify KFTC’s commitment to shared leadership, and who are highly qualified to fulfill the role. The committee’s work was also responsive to the Steering Committee’s recent change to KFTC’s bylaws, allowing for a co-chair on the Executive Committee, and with an eye toward KFTC’s Organizational Change Initiative. The nominees will be considered for election by members present at the Annual Business Meeting on July 31. The Leadership Development committee’s process The Leadership Development Committee developed questions to ask of candidates. They asked about work with KFTC and other organizations, identities that they carry, growing edges, how they approach conflict, their experience working across lines of difference, and their reflections on what makes change happen. The committee carefully reviewed these responses, along with information about who made the nominations, and any reasons given for nominations. Then over the course of two video calls, committee carefully reviewed these responses and developed a slate of recommendations based on the candidates’ profiles, responses to questions, their involvement with KFTC and the broader community, information about who made the nominations, and any reasons given for nominating each person. KFTC Executive Committee KFTC’s Executive Committee has consisted of five officers who also serve on KFTC’s Steering Committee and who make necessary decisions between Steering Committee meetings. Four members of the Executive Committee were elected. The fifth position has been the immediate past chairperson. In their May meeting, the Steering Committee approved a possible
expansion to the Executive Committee to 1) allow co-chairs, and 2) to allow for a vacant ImmediatePast Chair position to be substituted with a second At-Large position. This means that the Leadership Development Committee could put forth a slate of up to six members. This year, that would be up to two Co-Chairs, two At-Large positions, one Vice-Chair, and one Secretary-Treasurer who also serves as chair of the Finance Committee. To serve on the Executive Committee, a person must be a current member of KFTC, may not be an employee or immediate family member of an employee of KFTC or the Kentucky Coalition, and may not serve more than two consecutive one-year terms in the same position. The Leadership Development Committee strives to put together a diverse slate of four qualified candidates, taking into account a diversity of characteristics including gender, age, race, income, place of residence, level of involvement in the local chapter and statewide organization, and issue interests. In addition to the above criteria, there are a number of desired traits the Leadership Development Committee keeps in mind as we consider individuals nominated to serve on KFTC’s Executive Committee. These criteria have been developed by the committee over time and revisited every year. We seek people who: • Are visionaries who connect under-served and marginalized folks together • Not only reflect the diversity of our membership (gender, age, race, income, geography, issue, etc), but reflect the diversity of who we envision our membership to become as we continue to imagine, envision, and change. • Are good financial advocates and fundraisers (an authentic person who is effective and willing to tell their own story and KFTC’s story, and to ask others to invest in our work) • Have a good working relationship with staff and Executive Director • Demonstrate a commitment to KFTC’s vision
and values • Are knowledgeable about KFTC’s program of work (have experience working with a statewide committee and/or the Steering Committee and/ or a local chapter), and are able to see connections among our issues. • Listen well and build consensus • Are respectful and work well with others (not controlling or domineering) • See issues from others’ points of view and work toward consensus • Are good at thinking through complex organizational challenges • Are good at developing strategies and plans • Keep the larger picture in view and operate on the basis of what’s best for the whole organization • Stand up for what they think is best for KFTC but be willing to accede to others’ opinions • In this Organizational Change Initiative moment: Have experience with KFTC to contribute for Organizational change, committed to KFTC, committed to KFTC for the long haul. Current Executive Committee: The following is the current Executive Committee: • The chair is Cassia Herron. She has served two years and is not eligible for another term in that position. She would become the immediate past chair unless elected to another Executive Committee position. But Cassia has decided to transition off the Executive Committee. • The vice-chair is Alan Smith. He has served two years and is not eligible for another term in that position. • The secretary-treasurer is Rebecca Tucker. She has served two years and is not eligible for another term in that position. • The at-large representative is Tiff Duncan. She has served one year and is eligible for another term in that position. • The fifth position on the Executive Committee is an unelected position filled by the immediate past chair. This position is currently filled by former chair Meta Mendel-Reyes.
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KFTC 2021 (VIRTUAL) ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Friday, July 30 – Saturday, July 31
Nominees for the KFTC Executive Committee positions CO-CHAIR: Tiff Duncan has served on the Executive Committee for one year in the At-Large position. She’s also been an active leader in the CKY Chapter, serving on the Democracy Team, as the Steering Committee Representative, and as the alternate before that, and consistently helping with fundraising, tabling, and phonebanking. Tiff has also participated in the KFTC Academy, and lends support to KFTC’s statewide issue work. Additionally, Tiff has been instrumental in hefty organizational work, like the Organizational Change Initiative and the IBB process with the KFTC staff union. Tiff brings a strong anti-oppression lens to her leadership at every level. She has both anchored and supported important pockets of disability justice work at KFTC, and she’s supported the CKY chapter in growing its racial awareness. Her insights are valued across the organization, as are her high expectations for KFTC, her thoughtfulness, and her collaborative approach. Tiff identifies as “fat, black, woman, cisgender, 33.” CO-CHAIR: Alan Smith has provided consistent, insightful, and reliable leadership to KFTC for many years, and has served as Vice Chair for the last two. He is an active member of the Southern Kentucky Chapter and has been dedicated to the chapter since he began to get involved right around the time the chapter was founded. Alan has served on the Economic Justice Committee and Voter Empowerment Strategy Team, and has served on the Steering Committee for three years and the Kentucky Coalition Board for one year. He’s continued to support statewide issues by participating in events like A Seat at the Table and Hear Our Health. Locally,
he was active on Voter Empowerment Strategy and Voter Registration efforts, fundraising, and athome lobby meetings. Alan identifies as “a white, middle-class, middle-aged, cisgender, straight, nondisabled, Southern male,” “a recovering racist/sexist/ homophobe. And a dad, a nurse, and a curmudgeon. And though I wasn’t born here and didn’t move here until I was 22, I am a Kentuckian.” VICE-CHAIR: Rebecca Tucker has served on the Executive Committee as Secretary-Treasurer for the last two years, and this year, Rebecca has also served on the Executive Leadership Transition Team. Previously she’s served as the Madison County Chapter Steering Committee Representative and alternate. She’s been a valued leader, asking quality questions and moving the work forward. Rebecca has also been active on KFTC’s Economic Justice Committee and Leadership Development Committee, and is an active supporter of local work, helping to plan chapter fundraisers, guiding and participating in local Democracy Team and issue work, and supporting Madison County’s interns and student workers. Rebecca has also served on the board of the Ampersand Sexual Violence Resource Center. SECRETARYTREASURER: David Miller is an active member in the Cumberland Chapter, and serves on the Steering Committee and the Leadership Development Committee, where his participation is valued and respected. He’s also been involved in the Poor People’s Campaign, serving as one of the Tri-Chairs. David has shown up (sometimes with his toothbrush) to plan, support, participate in actions,
phonebank, and lead songs. He is the Director of Justice Initiatives at Union College, an ordained minister, and has been involved in the efforts to bring LGBTQ inclusion to the Methodist Church infrastructure. This year, David’s also served on the Executive Leadership Transition Team, where he’s encouraged and offered resources for alignment with OCI and KFTC’s ambition for our next 10 years. David identifies as “white, male, cishet, middleincome, over-educated, and Christian,” and has a track record of using his privileged identities for justice, equity, and belonging. AT LARGE MEMBER: Kathy Curtis has been an active member of the Big Sandy Chapter since 2006. She’s served on the Economic Justice Committee, and participated in the KFTC Academy and the Just Transition Cohort. Last year Kathy served as Steering Committee Alternate, has participated in OCI, and continues to serve on KFTC’s Executive Leadership Transition Team. Kathy also has extensive experience in other community efforts. She was actively involved in Grow Appalachia, Community Farm Alliance, co-founded Appalachian Roots, and has hosted a radio show on WMMT telling the story of food and farming in the mountains. And, Kathy has recently been elected prioress of an ecumenical monastic community of women in the Benedictine tradition, the first nonCatholic in that community to hold that position. Kathy identifies as “a white (Scotch/Irish), CIS female, raised in Florida in the 50’s and 60’s, living in eastern Kentucky on Shawnee and eastern band Cherokee land. I am third generation low wage earner and second-generation single parent.” Continued on the next page...
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KFTC 2021 (VIRTUAL) ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Friday, July 30 – Saturday, July 31 KFTC Executive Committee nominations continued...
Nominees for the Kentucky Coalition Board The Kentucky Coalition is the tax-exempt sister organization of KFTC. It supports leadership development programs and other charitable activities of KFTC. The KC board includes the five members of the KFTC Executive Committee plus three additional members elected by KFTC’s membership at the Annual Membership Meeting.
AT LARGE MEMBER: Ebony O-Rea is a long-time member of the Jefferson County Chapter. Ebony serves on the Leadership Development Committee and digs in on Annual Meetings, where she’s helped plan workshops, facilitate, and participated in panels. This year, Ebony has also been active in the Organizational Change Initiative work, and was recruited to the Synthesis Team where she helped craft KFTC’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal and Vivid Description. Throughout the OCI process, Ebony has helped many of us imagine and envision the next KFTC. Ebony identifies as a Black Woman.
To be eligible for one of the three elected positions on the Kentucky Coalition board, a person must be a current member of KFTC, may not be an employee or immediate family member of an employee of KFTC or Kentucky Coalition, and may not serve more than four consecutive one-year terms. The Leadership Development Committee considers all nominees and recommends a diverse slate of three qualified candidates, taking into account a diversity of characteristics including gender, age, race, income, educational backgrounds, place of residence, level of involvement in the local chapter and statewide organization, and issue interests. Desired qualities for the KC Board include the list of traits used for the Executive Committee, plus: people with prior experience on the KFTC Steering Committee or Finance Committee, people committed to thoughtful stewardship of resources, and people who do not currently serve as their chapter’s Steering Committee representative. That last item is not legally required, but it is desirable. The following members, in addition to the Executive Committee members, currently serve on the KC Board: • Ezra Dike is in his second term. • Joy Fitzgerald is in her first term. • Matthew Gidcomb is in his first term. Kentucky Coalition Board nominees Joy Fitzgerald has long been active in social change, and joined the Kentucky Coalition Board after serving out her term as Shelby County Steering Committee Representative last year. She continues to be an active member of the Shelby County Chapter and many other local
organizations and efforts in Shelby County. Joy has supported candidate forums, building alliances with local People of Color-led organizations and community support efforts, and has anchored the local Pride celebrations in Shelby County. She has served one year on the Kentucky Coalition. Matthew Gidcomb became active with the CKY chapter in late 2014, during the campaign to raise the local minimum wage. He helped start the CKY chapter’s Energy and Equity Committee that works on issues related to Just Transition. He is also a member of the statewide NET committee. He also helped establish the local chapter’s Action for Democracy team. At the chapter level, he has helped shape the local electoral strategy and candidate endorsement process. He has been an active participant in helping draft and shape the local voter guide questionnaire, and is very passionate about the KFTC voter guide. He consistently supports voter registration drives and canvasses and is very passionate about that work. He can always be counted on to help put up chairs and help clean the room during meetings. He’s a software developer and worked on a project with former colleagues to develop a website registry of local arts and culture events and programming. Matthew has served one year on the Kentucky Coalition Board. Shannon Scott is a member of the Wilderness Trace Chapter, and has served out three terms on the Steering Committee. Shannon also serves on the Leadership Development Committee and the NET committee, and has been active in OCI. Shannon has put a lot of great work into maintaining and growing the Wilderness Trace Chapter by experimenting with social media and anchoring the chapter’s facebook page. She’s helped with voter registration efforts, fundraising, phonebanks, textbanks, and keeping chapter members and others tuned into local events and alliances to build and grow from.
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BUILD GRASSROOTS POWER JOIN KFTC OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP Your support makes this publication – and all the important work of KFTC members reflected in it – possible. Thank you! Here are three things you can do today: • Become a Sustaining Giver. With an automatic, recurring gift, you can ensure that KFTC’s work to build grassroots power keeps happening every day, all year long. • Renew your membership. • Invite a friend or family member to join KFTC. Give online: www.KFTC.org/support NAME: ______________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: ___________________________________________________________________________ CITY: ______________________________________________________________________________ STATE & ZIP: _____________________________________________
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Payment Method: ⎕ Check or money order enclosed. ⎕ B ank withdrawal: Please return this form with a voided check. (Best option for Sustaining Givers) ⎕ Credit card: Complete information below. ⎕ Visa ⎕ Mastercard ⎕ Am. Express ⎕ Discover Card Number: __ __ __ __ -__ __ __ __ -__ __ __ __ -__ __ __ __ Expiration Date ___ ___ / ___ ___ I authorize KFTC/KY Coalition and their authorized third-party processing vendor(s) to debit my account or charge my credit card in accordance with the information provided. I understand that this authority will remain in effect until canceled or changed by reasonable notification to KFTC/KY Coalition.
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KFTC OFFICES AND STAFF MAIN OFFICE Morgan Brown, Ashley Frasher, and Burt Lauderdale P.O. Box 1450 London, KY 40743 606-878-2161 | Fax: 606-878-5714 info@kftc.org
FIELD OFFICES Jefferson County E’Beth Adami, Corey Dutton, Alexa Hatcher, Shauntrice Martin, and Jessie Skaggs 735 Lampton Street #202 Louisville, KY 40203 502-589-3188 Southern Kentucky Laura Harper Knight and Whitney Kuklinski 958 Collett Ave., Suite 500 Bowling Green, KY 42101 270-282-4553 Northern Kentucky Dave Newton, Joe Gallenstein, and Caitlin Sparks 306 Greenup Street Covington, KY 41011 859-380-6103 Central Kentucky Tayna Fogle, Jessica Hays Lucas, Erik Hungerbuhler, Heather Mahoney, and Meredith Wadlington, 250 Plaza Drive, Suite 4 Lexington, KY 40503 859-276-0563 Big Sandy Jerry Hardt and Jacob Mack-Boll 152 North Lake Drive P.O. Box 864 Prestonsburg, KY 41653 Madison County Lisa Abbott 210 N. Broadway #3 Berea, KY 40403 859-868-1179
Email any staff member at firstname@kftc.org, except for Corey Dutton use: coreydutton@kftc.org, for Jessica Hays Lucas use: jessicabreen@kftc.org, and for Whitney Kuklinski use: whitneykuklinski@kftc.org.
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Kentuckians For The Commonwealth P.O. Box 1450 London, Ky. 40743
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF ACTION FOR JUSTICE. IMAGINING AND ORGANIZING FOR OUR FUTURE. This year, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth turns 40! 40. It’s an important time for the organization. We’re We’re reflecting reflecting back back on on where where we’ve we’ve been, been, what what we’ve we’ve achieved, achieved, and and what what we’ve we’ve organization. learned. We’re We’re making making big big plans plans for for our our future. future. And And our our work work to to organize organize for for aa fair fair economy, economy, aa learned. healthy environment, environment, and and an an honest honest democracy democracy continues continues today. today. healthy Go to to www.kftc.org/support www.kftc.org/support Will you you donate donate today today to to help help us us celebrate, celebrate, organize, organize, and and imagine? imagine? Go Will or cut out the form on page and mail your gift to P.O. Box 1450, London, KY 40743. or fill out the form on the previous page and mail your gift to P.O. Box 1450, London, KY 40743.
1981
1988
2001 1999
1988: 82% of Kentucky voters say “YES” to the Broad Form Deed Amendment to protect landowners from strip miners.
1981: KFTC launched as the Kentucky Fair Tax Coalition in Hazard in Perry County. The group wanted coal and timber companies in eastern Kentucky to pay fair taxes to support healthy communities.
2007
2013
2007: KFTC’s Canary Project hosted one of 2013: Members and allies rallied at the State Capitol several flyover tours of mountaintop removal sites. to support restoration of voting rights for Kentuckians with a felony in their past. The work to respect voting rights continues today and includes: Kentucky Unitarian Universalist Justice Action Network at www.kuujan. org, ACLU of Kentucky at www.aclu-ky.org, Kentucky Council of Churches at www.kycouncilofchurches.org, Black Live Matter Louisville @BLMLouisville on social media, Kentucky Poor People’s Campaign at www. poorpeoplescampaign.org, Louisville SURJ at www. louisvillesurj.org, and People Advocating Recovery at www.kyapac.org.
1999: Hopkins County chapter members and Noel Avenue residents in Madisonville organize for and win sidewalks and storm drainage.
2001: The Jefferson County chapter marched with others in Louisville against police abuse. The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was a leader in this coalition, and has been mobilizing people of color and white people to take action together against racism for over 40 years. Learn more www.kentuckyalliance.org
2019
2021
2019: Members attended the annual membership meeting at Berea College in Madison County. Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, the first Black woman Executive Director of the Highlander Research & Education Center, gave the keynote address. Learn more www.highlandercenter.org.
2021: Over 100 members met virtually for a series of conversations to imagine and envision the next 10 years of KFTC. They set a goal to “Guided by Black, Indigenous, People of Color and impacted communities, recruit, equip, and activate a network of 100,000 members and partners across all 120 counties to dismantle racism and all systems of oppression, to develop a robust democracy and transform the future of Kentucky.”
Thank you for being part of our 40 years of action for justice. We look forward to building the future of KFTC and Kentucky with you!
