2024 Move The Needle: Resources 

Guest blogger: Truly Render, Move the Needle moderator 

You’ve been moving the needle with community organizers Patricia Berry and Jessica Letaw every Sunday this 2024 election season, gathering perspective, resources, and energy to support Blue votes in your Red community in a way that values—and leans into—personal relationships (even when you don’t see eye-to-eye with those you hold dear).

This blog post brings together a collection of information mentioned during the 2024 Series of Move the Needle: Tools for White Women, Femmes and Thems Voting Blue in Red Communities.

National HelpLines

The nature of this work is deeply personal—and may reveal urgent support needs.

PFLAG List of Support Hotlines for LGBTQ+ https://pflag.org/resource/support-hotlines/ 

National Domestic Violence Hotline:
1800-799-SAFE (7233)
Text START to 88788
https://www.thehotline.org/ 

Harris-Walz Campaign Tools

• Vice President Harris | Share link:  tinyurl.com/2024HarrisTalkingPoints 
• Governor Walz | Share link: tinyurl.com/2024WalzTalkingPoints 
• Indivisible weekly zoom: Women Wednesdays for Harris

 

Voter Engagement Tools

• Vote.org is a great non-partisan resource to check your registration, learn about your polling place, and explore your ballot. 
• Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683

 

Books

If you’re interested in deepening your relationship with the content through the books mentioned during Move the Needle, we encourage you to check them out of your local library or purchase a copy from your local independent bookstore. You can also place an order for any of the books on our list from our favorite local indie shop, Booksweet, a Black-owned, woman-owned independent bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan (with shipping worldwide). 

Additionally, in our Comfort and Safety conversation (part 2), we were joined by Hillary Baldwin Steller, LMSW, a somatic experiencing practitioner, general somatic wisdom badass, and speaker. In addition to sharing My Grandmother’s Hands (a book on our booklist), Hilary’s session suggested the use of somatic therapy cards as a tool to strengthen body-brain communication to help us move through difficult moments.

Social Media

• NYT columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom’s Insta Reel on Donald Trump’s political rhetorical strategy: distrust via communication driven by memes and meme culture. Follow McMillan Cottom at @tressiemcphd

Broadcast Media 

• August 19 to 22: 2024 DNC [livestream recordings]
• August 29: Harris-Walz interview on CNN [2 parts] | Transcript 
• September 10: Presidential debate [ABC Replay]
• October 1, 9 to 10:30 pm ET: Vice Presidential debate 

 

Quotes

We love a good quote. Some quotes cited in MTN conversations that keep us grounded:

• Cited in our September 2 conversation on Having Loving Politics at the BBQ: “White women make up 39% of the voters in the united active voters in the United States. We are the largest plurality. We are also trending upwards in votes for Trump. White women went for Trump 47%. In 2016 and 53% in 2020.” – Jess Letaw, Move The Needle co-host.

• Cited in our August 25 conversation on deep listening: “Listen not just to the text of what a person says, but what they mean.” – Marshall Rosenberg(1934-2015), founder and Director of Educational Services for the Center for Nonviolent Communication. Find Rosenberh’s book, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships in our book list.

• Cited in our August 18 conversation on boundaries: “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.” – Prentis Hemphill (They/Them), therapist, somatics teacher and facilitator, political organizer, writer, and the founder of The Embodiment Institute. Find Hemphill’s newest book, What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World, in our book list.

• Cited in our Inviting Chaos to Tea conversation: “The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong, and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. Those women are my superheroes.” – Author Elizabeth Gilbert

Articles + Blog Posts

Sharing is caring—and the articles and blog posts listed below are some great expressions of care from the MTN team.

• Q: Can my husband find out who I’m voting for? A: No. Learn more in this August 2024 Salon.com article. 
• Author Tema Okun wrote a vital article on White Supremacy Culture in 1999–and continues to revisit the conversation and text today:
  • The characteristics of white supremacy
  • White supremacy culture: still here

• Social justice organizer, poet, author, and facilitator Tawana Petty’s graphic of co-liberation
  
• In our Comfort and Safety conversations (part 1 and part 2), we shared a number of great articles, including: 
  • White Bodies and the Energies of Race by Resmaa Menakem

  • Indigenous authors on healing, resilience, and somatics 
    • A great book not featured on this great round-up: Somacultural Liberation An Indigenous, Two-Spirit Somatic Guide to Integrating Cultural Experiences Toward Freedom by Roger Kuhn

• • During our Storytelling conversation, we shared journalist and TED Talk curator Chris Anderson’s how-to article on storytelling as a powerful communications tool.

  • During our conversation on Combating Misinformation and Disinformation, we shared a still-relevant-today article from 2020 by author Sarah Smarsh: How is arguing with Trump voters working out for you?

• During our November 3, pre-election conversation, Inviting Chos to Tea, we shared a blog post by author Tara Brach: Inviting Life’s Difficulties to Tea. 

Join Us in Future Conversations + Watch Recordings

The 2024 Move the Needle series ran every Sunday at 8:30 pm ET through November 10, 2024 via Zoom and Instagram Live.  Follow us for future conversations!

• Instagram: @jessicaletaw and @thesaltyfundraiser
• Recordings of this series are available via YouTube at Patricia Berry’s YouTube channel: tinyurl.com/MoveTheNeedlePlaylist 
• Add yourself to our mailing list: MoveTheNeedle@patricia-berry.com 

Learn more about our work:
Patricia Berry: https://linktr.ee/patriciaberry
Jessica A.S. Letaw: https://www.jessicaletaw.com  

Thanks for moving the needle with us, friends!