Grassroots Democrats will be hosting their inaugural ‘action’ meeting on May 4. In the Laramie Plains Civic Center.
This event is meant to reach out to the community to create an action plan on current political issues affecting the community of Laramie. Tanner Ewalt, co-organizer of Grassroots Democrats, working with one of Laramie’s local House Representatives, Carly Provenza, said “We have been getting a lot of community members reaching out who are scared for any reason you can imagine right now, whether that be related to immigrants, farmers who have had contracts canceled, government workers who have lost their jobs, or just normal people who don’t like everything that’s going on. A lot of them came to us asking what to do.” This organization was created to see what the community wants and to pull the community together on these issues.
“Hopefully the event will have a nice slice of the community, all the way from a college kid who just moved here, to an 80-year-old who had been here since they were born. This will help each other connect humanly and talk about the problems facing them. I think a lot of our politics are hindered by people’s assumptions, like the queer community for example. I, myself, am queer, and, especially in this state, the queer community is very defensive so questions about our identity will usually get a somewhat hostile answer. Older people who mean no harm but are confused because things have changed, aren’t as comfortable asking. This results in assumption, and taking whatever a national talking-head is saying about trans people, instead of asking an actual trans person,” said Ewalt. Ewalt hopes this event can break down assumptions while educating each other on experiences like being an immigrant at this time, being a part of the queer community, being a farmer who lost their farming contract because of USAID, or being a woman scared of healthcare changes. “I hope by seeing that person as a person first, and not the issue first, you can see how it’s harming them and expand it to relate to them,” added Ewalt.
People considering attending the event can expect three different segments. The first segment will be an introduction to the group, and ice-breakers to get to know the community members there. In the second segment, the group will be split into tables and asked why they are there. This will be a more personal introduction and a chance for the community members to share their concerns and connect with each other. To end the meeting, community members will be educated in organizing a club or event.
While the name of the organization is called ‘Grassroots Democrats’, this event is open to any political party. Ewalt said, “All political affiliations are welcome. We want Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Centrists, Leftists, and everybody who is upset by what is happening right now. We want to give them a space where they can meet their community, they can see their neighbors who are scared, they can share why they are there.”
This organization wants to focus more on the ‘Grassroots’ part of their name, named to describe where they are. “Yes, it has Democrats in the name, but this group is made and guided by the people who are in it, which is the people of Wyoming,” said Ewalt.
Grassroots Democrats will have their inaugural meeting on May 4 in the Civic Center Ballroom at 4 p.m. This event is open to any and all community members, including all political parties.
