By Eyerusalem Coleman-Kitch
Five students and three faculty members traveled to Des Moines, Iowa with other Chicago students as part of the Mikva Challenge campaign day on Jan. 15.
We campaigned for the candidates of their choice and encouraged the candidates to talk more about issues they care about such as education, immigration and police brutality.
Although Hilary Clinton was unable to meet with her supporters on Jan. 15, due to a debate appearance in another state, her husband former president Bill Clinton and her daughter spoke to volunteers (right). Photo by Eyerusalem Coleman-Kitch (as are most of the shots in the slideshow below).
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The Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 was the first contest in the primary season and our jobs were to gain supporters for our given candidates by calling people, going door to door and ultimately trying to get them to sign a commitment card for our candidates.
“Would you sign a commitment card?” was the question of the town.
A commitment card is a basic contract that states that the person who signed it will caucus for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or another candidate on the day of the election.
Although the campaign process is similar in all states, the caucuses in Iowa are different than primaries held in other states. For the democratic candidates, caucusing means the people use their bodies to cast their vote. Supporters for each democratic candidates stand in their own space and try to convince others to switch sides – the ultimate democracy. Not only did we learn about the process of gaining supporters and the process of caucusing, but we also learned about how we can draw attention to issues we care about.
We went to an event at Drake University where everyone had the experience of caucusing for an issue. The people who didn’t have enough people on their team will got a chance to plead for others to join them. After we had enough supporters, we separated and went to our own space where we figured out ways to present our issue. At the end, we voted for the best presentation, which will be the winner of the caucus.
This is why youth involvement in politics is so important. We all have issues we care about, issues we see every day, but no one is doing anything about them. It is our job to bring attention to these issues. It is our job to fight for the issues we care about.
“The system is not meant to work for you. You have to make it work for you,” a Mikva Challenge staff worker told us.
Besides learning more about politics, we had the experience of socializing with people from different part of the country. There were people from Washington DC, Chicago and suburbs, Los Angeles and Texas. We were able to see, that despite being from different areas of the United States and different ethnicities, we are facing similar, if not the same, issues.
We were able to unite and fight for things we believe in. This is why politics is so important, even if you don’t care about it, you can’t help but be a part of it. It brings people together, people who may not otherwise have met.
There was a lot of learning involved, but we also had a lot of fun. For example, I met former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton.
This Iowa trip was the most culturally binding, intellectually stimulating and humorous experience I ever had. I hope next election people will be proactive and get the same opportunity that I received.
I’m thankful to Mr. Mink and service learning coordinator Bernie Eshoo for letting us know about this trip.
