Issue: Principles & Processes

I don’t know where to begin – there has been so much learning, joys, and incredible juicy training that have occurred in the last 6 months. I joined the lab in June 2022 as Training Manager, along with Gabby H., who came along as our Training Lead amidst many staff transitions. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Let me first start off by saying that it can be so nerve racking moving into a new organization and hoping that you can accomplish all of your visions and hopes. I can say that being a program manager on the Lab staff has taught me so much and been a powerful experience. Let’s take a look into some of the incredible learnings that occurred over the course of 6 months from the Training Team.

Protesters are more likely to succeed if they are perceived as a diverse group, if they have a unified message, and if the number of protesters is high. The factors that influence the public are slightly different to factors that influence policymakers: the public is much more concerned about the worthiness of protestors, while policymakers are more influenced by the numbers of protestors and the diversity of groups present. Multiple studies indicate that peaceful protesters are more likely to persuade the public than violent protesters. The political context in which a protest takes place is also relevant: there is some evidence that protesters are more likely to achieve their aims if they highlight an issue about which public opinion is already on their side, and that they are more likely to have an influence at the early stages of the legislative process rather than the later stages.

When times are tough, we stick together. In pandemics or power outages, after hurricanes or snow storms, we do better when we care for one another. No matter our race, income, zip code, faith, or gender, we want our families to be healthy and thrive for generations to come.
For as long as we can remember, a handful of politicians in our country have tried to divide us and lie about the damage to our climate and communities. They want to point fingers, assign blame, and turn us against each other while oil companies profit off of polluting our air, land, and water. Black, brown, or white, Indigenous, or immigrant – we aren’t going to fall for it.
The record-breaking number of voters in the 2020 election signals the growing wave of people who are ready and willing to shape the direction of our nation. On climate, a large majority of the American public understands climate change is happening and that we must do something about it – a prerequisite to building a successful, winning movement*.The greatest opportunity and challenge ahead of us is translating that momentum and support into widespread action for movement solutions. Because voting isn’t the end of engagement and public opinion data is merely statistics if not translated into sustained action.
The climate crisis will continue to shape our lives and political landscape. In these moments of crisis (think about the COVID-19 pandemic for example), new narratives, new policies, and new social behaviors are established. This is why how we act and what we say in these moments is critical because there’s a small window of persuasion before people’s attention moves on.
Race Class Narrative is an empirically-tested narrative framework that breaks through the noise of our opposition, unites people across races, backgrounds, and genders, and communicates solutions in a way that makes them obvious, achievable, and worth fighting for.
Thank you to Tinselyn Simms and Eleonore Wesserle of We Make the Future, Anthony Torres of ASO Communications, and the whole team at 100% MN for being bold practitioners of Race Class Narrative (+ Race Class Gender Narrative) and contributing to this insight.