John Hanna/AP Photo
Advocates for expanding Medicaid in Kansas stage a protest outside the entrance to the statehouse parking garage as lawmakers, staffers, and others drive in, May 1, 2019, in Topeka, Kansas.
This article is part of the Prospect’s series on The Future of Organizing.
My personal interest in politics, government, and international relations is lifelong, having been born to diplomats and raised in a wider world. Domestic exposure to municipal governance and congressional internships were intensely rewarding, but ultimately I chose a different career path. Avocationally, I remained connected to issues and representatives, and supported advocacy groups, hopeful that they’d best represent my belief in a cause.
Post-election 2016, a wide swath of humans, attracted by the elegantly simple call to action of the Indivisible Guide, hatched Indivisible Kansas City (IKC) over the course of weeks, in vibrant debates about priorities, tactics, organization, and resources.
Protecting the ACA made top of every list, and IKC worked from that premise to craft town halls, informational panels, office visits to area representatives and senators, media lists and press releases, all while honing burgeoning activist files and following news of similar groups springing up around the country. The group’s initial decision to create a metro-wide entity meant that we were overlaying two states, 14 counties, over 70 school districts … and at least that many cities!
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The phenomenal reach of creative members, aided by networks of extant Facebook groups, regularly assured that our library rooms and community centers were filled with attendees. We also quickly learned who were the more established issues advocates in the community with whom we could partner. Issues of concern continued to rise on the priority list, and other progressive groups who had long worked in the peace and justice space were generous with their teaching and happy to share sidewalks.
The greatest benefit to interested citizens ended up being the broader coalitions Indivisible KC came to join on many causes, especially voting rights and Medicaid expansion, where newly engaging, civically minded people could find ready toehold for their energy. Over time, by and large, most of our 4,000+ e-mailable membership were happy to take receipt of a weekly newsletter and occasional targeted call to action.
All this was done on personal contributions of time, talent, and resources without compensation or support from the D.C.-based “HQ”. Much reporting here has made that already clear. Eventually IKC was able to use small recurring donations to support a website, bill-tracking tools, and G Suite for emails—but access to political tools (VAN data, etc.) vital to political advocacy focused on issues was not forthcoming from HQ, and IKC “lost” members to electoral work on individual campaigns (some even their own), Democratic Party precinct rebuilding, and other community engagement efforts.
Moving past the twinned deathly experiences Americans have faced in COVID and Trump, it is unclear the future impact that Indivisible Kansas City will make, though it will not carry the brand. This decision was made from deep fatigue within the group leadership, who believed they were disconnected from strategic decision-making. A second or third regional field “organizer” was unprepared to become an equal partner sharing in two-way flows of ideas or information.
However, connection to other Indivisibles through the Middle Tier project has reassured leadership that they were not alone, while different tactics worked better in different districts. Heavily blue areas with an abundance of groups and resources organized to offer resources to others with limited active members but a potential seat marked as “flippable,” for example. Others modeled work with varied partners, sparking IKC, in one instance, to hold informational “absentee” town halls when their own district representatives ceased engaging with constituents.
This element of new activism in American political life is key, I think, to the future efficacy of citizen-led, responsive governance. The Missouri side of the leadership team has merged with another former Indivisible group to become the Missouri Action Alliance. They will home in on local government and the Missouri legislature. The Kansas IKC team has disbanded entirely, although members are taking lessons from the success of Statewide Indivisible Michigan (SWIM), which is a network of about 50 local groups across the state of Michigan, and Georgia’s inspirational ten-year planning.
The massive root systems of tallgrass prairie plants grow deeper into the soil than their stems aboveground. Altogether, the densely tangled roots provide a whole host of ecosystem services, helping to slow runoff, lessen the severity of flooding, and rebuild the structure of damaged soil. Like the roots themselves, these benefits often go unnoticed. Kansas’s progressive people will continue to find ways to spread their roots, lessening the severity of the herbicidal GOP and amend our soil as we rebuild our fertile communities. And still we will need all of your support!
