Building Waves, Building Power: The Fight for Belonging, Justice, and Democratic Integrity

In The Night Watchman, by Louise Eldritch, the referee, Ben Fernance, who is also the county commissioner, makes announcements and welcomes the crowd to the boxing match. Plenty of neighbors from farms and towns within a a hundred miles join the mostly Indian crowd. Mr. Jarvis believes it won’t hurt to exagerrate the warrior spirits of the boxers.

While out setting snares, Patrice tells her brother Pokey to set the snare right above the place where the rabbit jumped. Pokey tells her to quit bossing him, loops the wire, and fixes it to a low branch over the spot indicated.

Barnes feels like his heart is broken in three. Juggie’s son makes her touch a cradle board, telling her it’s smooth as silk.

Barnes trims down on Valentine’s watch, and she observes that he’s getting scrawny. In contrast, he knows that he’s a bulky man.

On Wednesday night, I may have just won my first contested election. It has taken 44 years of trials, and when I was finally genuinely ready to let it go if I didn’t succeed, I won with 72% of the vote.

I ran for Salt Lake County Chair of Caucus Chairs for the Democratic Party because I have learned that there is a lot that we can learn from one another and I want to help facilitate that knowledge transfer.

I have been involved with the caucuses for 11 years, since I first ran for office in 2014. The caucuses are of the core of Democratic party. Stronger caucuses mean a stronger party, and the intersectionality that we share helps build solidarity. I appreciate the opportunity to belong to a number of caucuses.

And that is the first strength of issue and identity caucuses, providing a place for people to belong. Multiple places. Whether its a shared identity or shared values, the members of our caucuses build community when we can meet on common ground to share experiences of where we are now and where we need to go.

Caucuses are also a place to craft messaging for our values. The platform would be meaningless if we did not each bring our perspectives and values to the table. The party platform was the first place I looked when I was deciding which party to affiliate with. The Democratic party platform needs to continue to clearly differentiate the party values and what it is fighting for, and that needs the input of the caucuses. That’s why, as a National Delegate in 2016, I advocated for two important planks to be added to the national platform: 1) Religion is not an excuse for discrimination, and 2) Support for medical healthcare for all LGBTQ+ people.

Our caucuses, particularly our leadership, advocate for values—in the streets, in committee rooms on the hill, and one-on-one with our legislators. We know that silence is not an option, and we turn out for each other wherever and whenever we can.

They do community service. They help, they educate, they advocate. And they build up our communities

Over the last eleven years, I have seen caucuses struggle with a number of issues, including, but not limited to, community engagement, board attrition, fundraising, and endorsement stacking. On the Stonewall Dems, we decided it was time to shore up our endorsement process using examples from the Black Caucus and the AAPI Caucus.

I want to share the knowledge of the brilliant solutions that some of the caucuses have found with those who are still looking for a solution. It is my belief that we can help each other be stronger together. We can continue to grow, to be active and engaged together. And together, we will make a difference. Thursday night, Jennifer Miller-Smith was re-elected to the Chair of Caucus Chairs for the Utah Democratic Party. Michael Stevens, Chair of the Utah Democratic Black Caucus spoke of growing the caucuses through regular meetings and fundraising to grow and support candidates. Eric Biggart, Chair of the LDS Dems, vying for a return to the position, spoke about processes to bring the caucuses under the control of the party, formal recognition, and formal dissolution. He also spoke about using VoteBuilder to identify prospective members. Jennifer Miller-Smith spoke about her slogan “Your Caucus, Your Way,” and all the energy and initiatives she has put in to support the caucuses, finding ways to change the way things are done as necessary to support the needs of the caucuses.

One of the Vice Chairs seemed to be on the attack against Jennifer, asking her how she would address the endorsement process. This person was the campaign manager for one of the state executive committee candidates, and expected the caucuses to all use the same endorsement process, demanding it. Together with their candidate, they caused disruptions in several caucuses whenever her candidate's endorsement by a caucus seemed to be threatened. The candidate took offense when a statment she had made in her endorsement request to the Disability Caucus was questioned by Jennifer at the meeting, feeling like she had been singled out, since no one else had that follow-up question.

During the Stonewall Dems meeting, the Vice Chair managing the campaign disrupted the endorsement of Susan Merrill for Vice Chair, claiming that she had understood that the vote was to be based on plurality. She insisted afterward that the endorsement process should be standardized. Led by the Progressive and Women’s Caucus, in concert with the Stonewall Dems, most of the caucuses impacted by these behaviors came together to make a statement to the candidates to respect the differences in and leadership of the caucusess. Behind the scenes, I worked with a parliamentarian to protect the endorsement that Susan Meriil had won fairly by our rules and distributed notice in detail about how the endorsement process would work at the next meeting. It went smoothly.

The caucuses have different rules for endorsement because they are dealing with different issues and need to be able to identify the best candidates to endorse that would support their values. In addition, each caucus is a separate entity, and some of them are formally recognized PACs. The campaign manager clearly had a vendetta against Jennifer, voting for anyone but her. What disturbs me the most is that this person does not seem to take responsibility for their part in the disruptions.

In Jade City, by Fonda Lee, Summer has barely begun. Bero carries a tray of dirty dishes to the kitchen sink. Keeping his voice low, he tells Sampa, “He’s alone now.”

Shae’s grandfather is no longer the Torch of Kekon. Kaul Sen asks her if she is seeing another foreigner she doesn’t want to bring home. Irked, Shae tells him, “No, Grandda.”

Saturday, I helped out at the ACLU of Utah booth at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City. It felt good telling people about the ACLU and how they could help. And it also felt good to see people sign up for action alerts and volunteering. I have a deep appreciation for the staff and volunteers that showed up to be there for the LGBTQ+ community. I am hoping more board members will see the value in signing up to help our volunteers.

There are Pride events springing up all over the state this month, and the ACLU just doesn’t have enough volunteers to attend them all. One of the ones they are missing is West Valley City’s first annual Pride Festival. Since it’s just up the road, I plan to be there.

I was honored to be given a sponsor pass to mingle with other sponsors of the event. There, I met and spoke with Executive Director and half the board of the Utah Pride Center. As I walked the grounds, I bumped into someone that I may be developing a relationship with, and met with friends and acquiantances at the Pride at Work booth, the Utah Democratic Party booth, and the Rocky Horror Shadow Theater booth. I thought to myself that maybe we should be getting people to sign a pledge to vote. As much as people want to have a blue wave, a wave first requires having enough water, and then a seismic event. We have to fill the reservoir first, and the direction of the wave is dependent on the seismic event that created it. It takes force to make waves; if not seismic, then gravitational.

I was going to march with ACLU yesterday morning, but I woke up with a stiff back, and a spike of mild pain to my knee. For my own health, I took into account that I probably would not enjoy a four-mile hike in this weather, so I stayed home and spent the time recovering. From about 2 pm to 5 pm, I enjoyed reading my book at Legendarium while live music played in the background.

The last couple of weeks, I have been watching the unrest unfold, and it seems like we can’t get off this path toward a military dictatorship. I admired the nonviolent protestors standing up to ICE agents, but am perturbed by Trump’s response to nationalize the California National Guard in Los Angeles, bypassing posse commitatus. This is what he was waiting for—an opportunity to deploy the US Armed Forces against civilians. We have played right into his hand. Our work now is to try to get the military to stand down, before things turn violent and bloody. Maybe the answer lies in the Trump/Musk breakup. They are bilaterally withdrawing support and funds from one another. Let the defunding of the oligarchs begin.

With the 2026 elections coming up, maybe we can get a congress that will demand that Trump disengage the National Guard with a threat to invoke the article that states that the President con be removed from office for committing high crimes or misdemeanors. Since he is a convicted felon, he is subject to that article. In addition, we need the U.S. Marshal to answer the call to remove him from office should her refuse to leave, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to recognize his loss of authority. I am hoping that we can find a peaceful solution before this explodes into a violent conflagration.

In times of unrest and uncertainty, it is easy to feel powerless—but our history, our community, and our shared values remind us otherwise. We are not spectators to the tides of change; we are the ones who fill the reservoir, who shake the ground, who guide the direction of the wave. Every act of courage—from defending our caucuses' autonomy to showing up for Pride, from voting with intention to building alliances rooted in justice—brings us closer to the democracy we deserve. Let us continue to show up for each other with resolve and compassion, knowing that the strength of our movement lies not only in resisting tyranny but in lifting one another through the storm. The path ahead may be daunting, but we do not walk it alone—and together, we are unstoppable.