Jenny Du Puis
A birthday parth for the 19th Amendment offers activists a chance to celebrate while resisting Trump.
On a recent Wednesday night at an east-side bar, Melanie Olsen is wrestling with a digital projector during a presentation on activism in response to the election of President Donald Trump.
“Sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing,” she says with a laugh as she adjusts the computer’s settings, trying to make her video play. It’s hot in the bar, but she’s wearing an iconic pink-knit pussy hat, the emblem of the Jan. 21 Women’s March. Olsen, a relative newcomer to political activism, was a key organizer of the Madison event, which drew more than 100,000 to the state Capitol — the biggest demonstration per capita outside of Washington, D.C.
From a seat near the bar, fellow activist Kate Flehmer offers words of encouragement: “Don’t apologize. None of us know what we’re doing.”
Flehmer, 31, is the co-founder of a new advocacy group called Team 19, which is aimed at organizing progressive women and male allies who are “fighting back against Trump.” Founded the day after the Nov. 8 election “over multiple pitchers of beer,” Team 19 is one of several new, left-leaning grassroots political groups that have risen from the ashes of 2016’s scorched-earth presidential campaign.
“It sprung from a sense of….hopelessness is maybe too strong of a word,” co-founder Hilary Stohs-Krause says. “[We were] kind of feeling like we knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t know how to do it.”
Flehmer and Stohs-Krause figured others might be feeling the same way. So they decided to form a group that specializes in “activism for non-activists.” Flehmer works in public relations and Stohs-Krause is a web developer, so they combined their expertise and created a website and weekly email newsletter to keep people informed and engaged about Team 19’s efforts. It serves as a clearinghouse of sorts, curating and distributing information about progressive political activism opportunities. Team 19 organizes phone call campaigns on local and national issues, highlights volunteer opportunities, and provides a signal boost for other progressive events and causes in Madison and Dane County.
“What we do is shaped by all of you,” Stohs-Krause tells a crowd of about 35. “We don’t know what we’re doing — we’re just doing it.”
Team 19’s first public event is a 98th birthday party for the 19th Amendment — you know, the one that gave women the right to vote. Wisconsin holds the distinction of being the first state in the nation to ratify the amendment on June 10, 1919. (Although, to be fair, Michigan and Illinois did it on same day — just later in the afternoon.) The venue, Old Sugar Distillery, has taken on a festive vibe, with partygoers mingling over snacks and drinks and testing their smarts with feminist trivia questions.
The crowd skews younger and is overwhelmingly female, but several men show up to support the cause. Many are new to activism, but there are several veterans in the mix, including Erin Forrest, executive director of Emerge Wisconsin, an organization that trains Democratic women to run for office. Addressing the group, she urges women to fight for their rights and make change in the most direct way possible — by becoming policymakers themselves.
“When women run for office, we win just as much as men,” Forrest tells the group. “But we’re only 25 percent of candidates.”
Forrest admits she spent election night “having a breakdown.” She was gutted by Hillary Clinton’s defeat and questioned whether she could continue leading a women’s political organization. But shortly after the election, Emerge Wisconsin saw a “huge surge” in applications.
“If this is how women are going to react — by stepping up and taking back their state — we’re going to be there to support them,” Forrest says. And she offers the same reassurance to people who feel uncertain about their ability to enact change. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I still don’t know what I’m doing. That feeling never goes away, and that’s okay.”
Date Wisconsin ratified the 19th Amendment: June 10, 1919
Percentage of Wisconsin town boards with zero female members: 75%
Percentage of Congress’ 535 seats held by women: 19.4%
Percentage of states’ 7,383 legislative seats held by women: 24.9%
The number of Emerge Wisconsin candidates who won seats this spring: 5
