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Piles of stamps, homemade postcards and boxes of pens and markers filled the tables of Street Side Saigon on Wednesday night as about a dozen people wrote message after message to their legislators.

The notes expressed worry about President Donald Trumps immigration policies, supported halting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and protested a measure making it easier to drill in national parks.

It was the second of what organizers hope will be a weekly gathering to send a steady stream of feedback to Arizonas elected officials about what they see as a flood of alarming decisions on the state and national level.

The postcard writing is just one item on a robust list of events and actions organized and promoted by Together We Will Northern Arizona. The group, which came together two days after the November election, is part of a web of local and national organizations that sprang up post-election with a goal of building and sustaining a progressive resistance to the Trump administrations agenda.

Over the course of just a few months, the Flagstaff group has developed a three-pronged approach that includes daily calls to action, marches and public protests and a schedule of community events like talks and art shows, Executive Director Lori Poloni-Staudinger said. Many of the actions replicate those being taken by community groups across the nation or are coordinated with national efforts to amplify impact.

Taken together, the Trump resistance has turned into a grassroots network with a suite of strategies that organizers acknowledge are nothing new they have been wielded by resistance movements since the beginning of our democracy, Poloni-Staudinger said.

But it doesnt require looking far back in history to see the last time such tactics were used with striking success. Even on a local level, Together We Will members acknowledge they are pulling from the same playbook as that used by the Tea Party to stonewall much of former President Barack Obamas initial agenda.

They knew what they were doing, Pam Gemin said matter-of-factly, as she worked through a stack of postcards on Wednesday. Its the same energy, different outcome.

With more than 1,500 members on Facebook, Together We Will Northern Arizona has a broad mission of standing up to threats that are sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic or environmentally destructive, Poloni-Staudinger said.

Demonstrating a level of organization and focus on local legislators that echoes the Tea Partys strategy, Together We Will regularly updates a Google document that lists current legislation or other issues of concern, along with contact information for relevant Arizona legislators and a sample script for advocating a particular outcome. The calls to action include both Arizona-specific topics and those pulled from legislative calendars and announcements produced by national progressive organizations like Together We Will USA, Move On and The Action Network, Poloni-Staudinger said. Last week, items ranged from opposing Trumps nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary to pressing Sen. John McCain to help release Guadalupe Garca de Rayos, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who was deported last week after being in the United States for more than two decades.

One of the action items that remains on the list is a call for State Rep. Bob Thorpe to hold a public forum in Flagstaff. After seeing their phone calls, Twitter messages and emails to Thorpe either ignored or never returned, Together We Will has targeted the Flagstaff legislator with repeated calls to his office and a #wheresbob social media blitz that includes photos of Thorpes face on missing posters and milk cartons.

Typically elected representatives will meet with constituents and he's made it very difficult and has shut down all forms of communication, Poloni-Staudinger said. If he's not communicating then he doesn't necessarily know what we care about.

Group members also requested, and were granted, meetings with U.S. Rep. Tom O'Halleran.

When it comes to getting involved in the next election, Poloni-Staudinger said the group won't be directly campaigning or fundraising for particular candidates. Together We Will is registered with the state as a nonprofit and is filing as a social welfare organization with the Internal Revenue Service, she said. That federal designation falls into a campaign finance gray zone, however, and is often associated with dark money because it allows an organization to participate in political activities, though not to coordinate directly with candidates, but does not require them to disclose details about their donors.

Among those who were writing postcards Wednesday evening, most were wading into political activism for the first time. After feeling a new level of frustration and fear upon watching the Trump administrations first days, they said they felt compelled to get involved in some way.

I wake up every morning, worrying about the state of our world. Every morning thats the first thing on my mind and its the last thing when I go to bed. Thats never happened before and it doesnt seem to be going away, said Tracy Walther, who helped organize Wednesday's event. Ive always been kind of not optimistic about this process working but what else can you do? I feel like there is no other option but to try every single avenue.

Several others at Street Side Saigon echoed that sentiment, saying the postcards at least seemed to be something tangible they could do to inundate their legislators with the message that their constituents are not happy.

While their efforts may not have deep-pocketed donors behind them, Walther said she sees in herself and many others a new willingness to put in sweat equity of sorts.

The voice of the people does not cost a dime and were here and were ready and I think the people are willing to sacrifice that time. Ive never felt that before but now I do. Definitely, she said.

Being relentless is just one of the qualities that those resisting Trumps agenda can learn from the Tea Party strategy, Gemin said.

I think that they knew what they were doing and were remarkably organized, she said, later adding, the other thing, too, is dont get discouraged, just keep pushing.

Ann Kirkpatrick, the former U.S. Representative for Arizona's Congressional District 1, was one of the legislators caught up in the Tea Partys fierce opposition to Obamas Affordable Care Act. In one highly publicized video, Kirkpatrick had to leave a "Chat with Ann" event after being shouted down by anti-Obamacare attendees.

Though in Kirkpatricks case people got so aggressive that the county sheriff asked her to leave, the former congresswoman maintains that in-person events are some of the most effective ways for people to make their views heard.

People should use their voices in any way they can, Kirkpatrick said.

Poloni-Staudinger maintains that one major difference is Together We Will and others do not employ or promote the same aggressive tactics as the Tea Party.

The way Stewart Deats sees it, it was a very small, squeaky-wheeled group of people who got Trump elected.

Now its time for the silent majority, he said. You cant be counted unless youre heard.

Original post:
Tea Party tactics show up in Flagstaff protest strategies - Arizona Daily Sun