Pulling a project together can be daunting, but splitting it into small tasks and asking for help is the way to get it done and build community.
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The resistance is starting to form. Activists and residents are coming together and getting to know each other. People are volunteering to help by using their specific skills. This banding together is to be expected. It’s human nature to connect socially and form groups around common challenges. And as we continue to band together, we get stronger. This week, we’re diving into the final steps of my letter project, hand-delivering 1,000 letters of concern from constituents to our congressperson. Here’s how we did it:
1. Do the busywork. It’s worth it.
Last week, I began the basic work to set this project in motion. I wrote the letters, printed them out, and got the supplies I’d need to send them. This week, with the help of several friends, I spent most of my time stuffing envelopes and addressing them all to Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL).
2. Keep attending protests. The more the better.
On April 15, I attended the Hands-Off protest in front of our Social Security administrative office. I got my final signatures and took video footage and photos of the group there. Those photos were shared by the national movement Indivisible and seen far and wide. They even made it into a few protest articles, including one in the Daily Kos.
A man at a gas station started heckling the crowd gathered at the protest. He threatened protesters to the point where they called the police. He eventually drove away in a car with a disabled marker on his plate. I bring this up to emphasize how there is no logic in these times. There is no fact or event that will sway the opposing side right now. But we must keep going anyway. We don’t do this to convert Trump followers. We do this to sway people who may be sitting this one out, people who aren’t sure what to do or whether they should do anything. We do this to provide them with an incentive to take action, and a model for what such action might look like. And when they join, we all grow stronger.
3. Get the message of your movement out to the activists. Make it pretty.
The messaging for our action centered on a post showing Kat Cammack’s photo against a red-shaded background. Semitransparent gradient boxes read “No response to email,” “No response to calls,” “No town hall,” “No representation.” Underneath, in capital letters, just below Kat’s headshot: “Miracle at Kat Cammack’s Office.”
Underneath that, in a semitransparent darkened stripe, white lowercase lettering reads: “Constituents will hand deliver 1,000 letters of concern to their D-03 representative.” In slightly larger type, below that, the call to action and the details: “Come help deliver, tomorrow, April 18, at 10 a.m., Kat Cammack’s Office, 5550 NW 111th Blvd A, Gainesville, FL 32653.”
I posted this to all the local activist groups I belong to, and I sent it personally to people with connections to concerned residents. I waited until the day before the event because there are so many events here that they can get lost in the calendar, and it’s most effective to catch people the day before — no sooner, no later. At least for now.
4. Write a compelling press release.
You need a catchy headline. Something punchy that immediately gives the gist of the story. I chose: “Residents Hand-Deliver 1,000 Letters to Kat Cammack.” News reporters won’t understand “Miracle at Kat Cammack’s Office” because it doesn’t give enough information. Tell them what is happening in a way that makes their ears perk up. But let’s start further up. The first thing you type is the date, right margin aligned. Then, on the left side, you write your name and contact information. Then, right above the headline, write “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” in bold and caps, left aligned. Give a dateline. Gainesville, FL, would be mine.
Then we get to the meat of it. Your first sentence gives all the details a reporter needs to show up. Date, time, location, and what is happening. Mine read “Tomorrow, April 18, at 10 a.m., residents will gather at Kat Cammack’s office, at 5550 NW 111th Blvd., to deliver 1,000 hard copy letters of concern to the congresswoman’s staff.” The date, time, and location were bolded.
In the next paragraph, describe your event or initiative. I wrote briefly that the letters were about federal immigration law, Medicaid and SNAP cuts, Medicare cuts, clean air and energy, NPR funding, the SAVE Act, sanctuary cities, addiction treatment protocols, DEI and anti-LGBT legislation, and national parks protection.
Then give some background and depth. For me, that meant explaining that residents had been filling out and signing these letters for weeks after noticing their calls went to voice mail unacknowledged and their emails unanswered.
In the next paragraph, spell out a quote from an organizer if you have one. This allows the media to “cover” the event even if they have limited resources and cannot get to there in person or arrange for a longer phone interview. This is where you can get a little more flavorful. My quote was:
“The idea is to Miracle-on-34th-Street her. If stacks of letters can prove Santa Claus is real in court, maybe they can melt the heart of our current representative… or at least get her to pay attention to the needs of her district.” — Darlena Cunha, Miracle at Kat Cammack’s Office Initiative.
Wrap it all up by describing the actions planned. I said that residents would be waving signs and marching (giving them video ideas) and that they would be available for interviews. I also mentioned I had footage of residents signing the letters if they wanted it (to flesh out their story and give them cover video for part of it).
Reiterate the time and place at the end in bullet points, and finish the whole thing off with three pound signs to let them know the release is officially over.
5. Do the thing.
It sounds simple, but after so much meticulous calculation and detail work, showing up for the big event can be scary. What if no one else shows up? What if all the long hours of work were for nothing? Until the day of the protest itself, all that energy is potential. Once done, it’s done, for better or worse. Are we prepared enough? Did we do everything we could?
You cannot predict the outcome of such events. Some end with a whisper. Some end with an arrest. You just have to get there and let everything unfold the way it will.
I got there six minutes late. Honestly, it was the best I could do. About 20 people were there waiting for me, along with two reporters, one from our local paper and the other from our only local television news station. I plunked down my big box of letters, complete with one of the flyers I’d made taped to each side, and “Please listen, Kat” written in Sharpie on the box flaps. We may not be professional, but we have a message. Sometimes, homegrown just hits harder.
I gathered the troops around me and explained how it was going to go while the cameras rolled. Since I’m in media, I knew we needed to stretch the opportunity for good video out as long as possible. I had each person take handfuls of letters, walk them up to the front door, and drop them around the “Kat box” to create a pleasing pile, ever growing. We did that for a time. Next, we arranged the letters around the box and stood around it, each saying what we hoped would come of the initiative.
Then we scooped up the letters and tossed them into the box, allowing the cameras to get close-ups of many hands divvying up the work. A student reporter then showed up from our local PBS station, so I had everyone do it again. Since I was the organizer, and not the reporter, it was completely fine for me to arrange for a second viewing.
Cammack and her staff weren’t there. It was Good Friday. I hadn’t thought of that. But no matter. We gave the media a story.
6. Be available for interviews. Have extra information and assets.
After the photogenic drop, I allowed myself to be interviewed, providing quotes about the initiative, how it made people feel, what we were looking for from our representative, and why we chose this avenue to do it. In your initiatives, find someone well-spoken who is used to talking in front of crowds. Camera presence makes a difference. I told them not to put me in the sun, but they did anyway, so I didn’t look my best. Regardless, I got the point across.
We got a 1:00 VOSOT (anchor voice-over video with a sound bite from me in the middle) in the A-block (the first eight minutes of news) at the legacy local news station. We got a 1:25 full package at WUFT, our student PBS station, complete with anchor intro/outro and live stand-up reporter, and they even integrated the earlier footage of people signing the letters that I had sent them.
These stories ran at noon, 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. That’s good coverage. That helps an initiative grow. Because, rest assured, while we may have dropped the letters, the initiative won’t stop there.
7. Be prepared to be flexible and follow up.
As I said, Cammack’s staff was not on-site. So a man stepped up and volunteered to deliver the letters in person when the staffers returned the following week. He did that and sent me photos of the box inside Cammack’s office. He then continued to call them until they set up a one-on-one meeting. In the face of that persistence, Cammack’s office felt compelled to reply via social media with a message from the congresswoman and a photo of her going through the many letters:
Thrilled to receive nearly 1,000 letters today! Love the passion from our constituents — even if 99% of them felt it was a ‘no contact info, no problem’ kind of day. Reminder: we can’t respond to ghosts! Let’s keep the conversation going, folks — just attach your contact info and we’ll happily chat, even if we don’t see eye to eye!
It was a classic example of projection. Our original issue with our representative is that she has been a ghost. People have written painstakingly detailed letters and emails to her with their contact information included, and they have been ignored. For this project, we decided to use zip codes so that she would see what parts of her constituency were writing. Many of her constituents were not comfortable giving their home addresses or phone numbers. Realistically or not, they are afraid of being put on a list and targeted as trouble-makers later.
I’ve since heard that many other groups are continuing to print out my letters and send them via USPS. Given the local effort thus far, when I’m up for it, I’m going to see if I can parlay this into something a national group can use for wider campaigns.
But, for now, we know that Kat Cammack received 1,000 letters from concerned constituents and the media coverage around it pressured her to at least acknowledge our existence. Truly one small thing.
Each small thing done by just one person can snowball. Some people work on contacting Republican lawmakers. Some work on finding new Democratic Party leaders we can support in the next election. Some see the system in which we live as irreparably broken and focus on creating an atmosphere where we stand up and fight back. Everyone is useful.
I delivered 1,000 letters to our representative, a far-right advocate who will not listen although she pretends to. But getting her to listen is not the point. The point is showing others that our voices can be heard in a way that rouses fence-sitters to action. See you next week.
Past weeks of “One Small Thing” can be found here.
