Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Kin,
This is the final blog we will be writing for ESFL’s twice-monthly e-newsletter (if you’re not subscribed, you can sign up here). In the future you will be hearing from our new executive director, Saengmany Ratsabout. We know that ESFL will be in good hands, and we look forward to the new knowledge, experience, skills, and resources he will bring to this work. Our optimism has also been nourished by the commitment and follow through our Board members have manifested in this transition. The East Side Freedom Library is on solid ground. We have been invited to become emeritus members of the ESFL Board and to continue developing programs in our areas of expertise. We look forward to working with all of you.
As you can see from the list of upcoming events, we are not slowing down in our efforts to educate and inspire, to serve as a crossroads among our diverse neighbors, and to build community. Our upcoming programs range from learning about worker organizing to confront the scourge of wage theft to roller skating! We want to encourage you to join us, via Zoom and, on some occasions, in person, and add your stories to the conversations.
Like you, the East Side Freedom Library team is concerned about the upcoming elections. We know that access to the right to vote has been contested since the very birth of the United States. There have been waves of disenfranchisement and voter suppression, on the one hand, and campaigns for suffrage and voter registration, on the other. The current political climate is rife with all these elements, and more. The African American Registry and the East Side Freedom Library came together around the idea of working with young people in the East Metro, to educate them about this complex history, and to invite them to write and present short commentaries about how and why voting matters to them, their families, and their communities. Three deeply-grounded organizations—Urban Roots, Family Values for Life, and the Asian American Organizing Project—helped us recruit the youth. Best Buy’s sponsorship enabled us to compensate the youth and cover both organizations’ expenses.
As an historian with 40+ years of teaching experience, ESFL’s Peter Rachleff engaged the youth about historical background, and, as a veteran videographer with similarly extensive experience, the African American Registry’s Ben Mchie worked with the youth on their presentations and captured them on video. Both organizations, as well as our community partners, will be posting these videos on our websites, Facebook, You Tube, and Instagram pages, Twitter accounts, and more. Here is the eight and a half minute video. We hope you will find inspiration and hope in these young people. This, perhaps above all, is what makes us optimistic about the future.
Love and Solidarity,
Beth Cleary and Peter Rachleff
Co-Executive Directors Emeritus