This is the first in a weekly series of articles that will appear on BlogPAC.org, recognizing unsung heroes of the progressive movement–ordinary people who are working tirelessly to make America a better place. If you have suggestions about people who deserve more recognition for their work as progressive activists, please contact us at fighttheright-at-opendoor-dot-com.
Tomorrow we will announce our first $1,000 BlogPac Activist Hero Award. Please sustain our efforts by contributing to BlogPac.
In the late 1990s, Raven Brooks was a member of Texas A&M University’s elite Cadet Corps–a four-year military program similar to West Point. “I wasn’t very politically aware at that time in my life,” he explains. “I would have said I was a Republican, because growing up in Texas, in a conservative family, that’s all I knew….but I didn’t really agree with my parents–or my classmates–on many topics.”
Brooks graduated in 2000 as the Executive Officer (2nd in command) of his Air Force unit, but chose not to enlist. Instead, he moved to Dallas and worked at a computer consulting firm. “The job opened me up to other attitudes and views, because I had a chance to travel a lot. Once I started to meet people in places like New York and California, I began to get a sense of my own political identity.” After a few years, Brooks and his wife “got tired trying to stay in the closet about our political beliefs,” and he received a transfer to the SF Bay Area.
Brooks already knew he was a progressive, but he didn’t become an activist until the day after the 2004 election. “I was feeling disappointed and deflated. I really believed everything had come together and that people were going to vote to for change… and then it didn’t happen.” At work that day, he decided to hang out on Daily Kos to see what people were saying. “Some had rants. some wrote hopeful pieces. But one post really interested me: it suggested that we could fight back by `voting with our wallets’ — rewarding companies that support progressive causes, and avoiding ones that fund the Right.”
About a dozen people exchanged email addresses and kept the conversation going. Before long, they’d decided to form Buyblue.org. “We didn’t have a grand vision,” Raven explains. “We just thought, `Let’s get some information out there and give people a chance to reclaim a bit of the power they’d lost in the election.” Brooks volunteered as a tech–and began building their web site. “I would come home from my job and work from six to midnight, plus most weekends,” he recalls. “But it didn’t feel like a drag on my time. I thought we were creating something really cool. I was excited about the possibilities.” About a month after the election, their first site was up and running.
Buyblue.org was part of the first wave of high-profile progressive groups that emerged in the aftermath of the 2004 election. (“I call it `the Class of ’04,” Brooks says.) It offered individuals something they could do on their own to make a difference. Almost immediately, the media discovered them. First, progressive sites like Alternet picked the story up; then the MSM did. Suddenly, in mid-December, the group was everywhere: in the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Fox News, the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many others. The publicity helped the group grow…and created an unexpected personal problem: Raven had never told his conservative parents that he’d become a progressive activist; they found out by watching the Fox News report about his organization. “That was a pretty tense Christmas,” he recalls.
By January, Raven had become the head of Buyblue. “I had no idea I would be in charge of it,” he says. ” I just wanted to contribute the skills I had.” He worked tirelessly, recruiting volunteer researchers, updating the web site, and finding ways to market the group. “It was really satisfying,” he recalls. “I hadn’t been an activist before and didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like…but I felt like I was accomplishing something worthwhile–and it was a lot better than sitting there and yelling at my TV.”
What kind of impact has Buyblue had? “We’ve been contacted by plenty of companies–from Starbucks and Bed, Bath & Beyond, to small, local businesses that wanted to be included,” Brooks says, adding: “And I think we’ve played a part in raising the profile of this kind of activism with consumers. I see companies caring a lot more about their positions on social responsibility, the environment, and even sometimes their political donations these days than they did in 2004.”
In addition to his role with Buyblue, Brooks has now become Operations Director and head of web marketing for YearlyKos. And that may just be the beginning., “I know what kind of work I want to do now….I want to be involved in helping to build progressive infrastructure. I want to help explain computer technology to progressive groups and show them how to use it effectively.
“I’m a believer in progressive politics; I know the good it can serve. But if we don’t provide institutional support for progressives, the movement won’t win out–which means we’ll be letting our families and our country down. I’m not looking for instant results; it will take time, it’s a movement. But I hope ten years from now we can look back and say, `We really did something important.'”
RAVEN’S TIPS FOR ACTIVISTS
On the practical side, here are a few things Brooks has learned from his work, which he’d like to pass on:
If You’re Starting an Organization…
- “Get in touch with the New Progressive Coalition (NPC). They’ve got professionals who can help you set things up right. One of the biggest mistakes we made, in the very beginning, was rushing to set up a corporate structure to limit our liability. We didn’t really know what we were doing….consequently, we made decisions that came back to haunt us later. NPC is an amazing resource–USE IT! www.newprogressivecoalition.com)
- “Take advantage of technology. There are lots of tools that can help you become more effective with what you’re trying to accomplish. Think about what you spend a lot of time working on, and what doesn’t run smoothly, and focus on that. For almost any situation I’d recommend having a look at the following:
- Google Apps for your domain: get email, documents, spreadsheet, chat for your organization free.
- Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com/)and Campfire Now (http://www.campfirenow.com/): create a virtual office for your organization and stay on top of everything.
- Drupal (http://drupal.org/)and/or CivicSpace with Groundswell (http://www.civicspacelabs.org/): Need a website? There really isn’t an easier path to a powerful and fully featured site.
- “Take marketing seriously. When someone mentions ‘marketing,’ it’s often a turn-off because the first thing that comes to mind is creating a desire for a bunch of crap people don’t need. But if you study marketing techniques, you can use them to craft your group’s message, get it out there and extend your reach.That’s incredeibly valuable. As a start, I’d recommend the following books:
- The Guerilla Marketing Handbook, by Jay Levinson and Seth Godin
- Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, by Andy Sernovitz
If You Want to Buy Blue…
- “Check out the information on our web site.(www.buyblue.org). It will help you make decisions about which companies you want to support.”
- “If you disagree with a company’s policies but don’t want to stop buying their product, exercise your right as a consumer–pressure them to change. Contact them directly. Calling or faxing has maximum impact… but e-mail works, too. Tell them what you plan to do in response to their political position, and why. Stick to the facts. Tell them what kind of business you’ve brought them and who you’ll patronize instead. (Buyblue offers contact information.)”
If you want to become more active…
Register for the YearlyKos Convention. It’s quite possibly the best way to meet other passionate activists, network, and maybe start your own project. And this year’s convention will blow the doors off last year’s!
Finally – one last reminder: Tomorrow we will announce our first $1,000 BlogPac Activist Hero Award. Please sustain our efforts by contributing to BlogPac.