by Dean Briggs
“It wasn’t just me, it was a whole bunch of people. And the more I work as an activist, the more I realize how important community is. We all learn so much from each other. I could go into a meeting with a very cloudy idea about something, and based on what other people say, it jogs my memory, my thoughts, and crystallizes things.”
Hewon Hwang would prefer to talk about what other people did rather than her own role (this interview took place in early January). She led Indivisible Mass Coalition’s (IMC) recent letter-writing campaign to the Massachusetts Legislature strongly urging them to come back into session to pass urgent protective legislation ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. This effort spanned not only IMC local groups but multiple progressive organizations in Massachusetts.
Why did she decide to launch a letter-writing campaign?
Her inspiration was “those calls with IMC and other grassroots organizations,” and Indivisible national’s guidance for Blue Trifecta states (those with Democratic governorship and a majority in both branches of the state legislature). “We have a Blue Trifecta. How come we’re not doing anything to prepare for the incoming administration? I felt like the grassroots were being silent. We should be asking our state government to do more.”
“This was an opportunity. I know we were in a bad situation and was fearful of what would happen on January 20. But at the same time, part of it is a silver lining. People are paying more attention rather than saying, ‘Oh, everything ‘s fine, I‘m gonna go on with my life.’”
For Hewon, again community is key, “You get a lot of emotional support from the community. When you have a community, you talk to people, you talk to more people. Then pretty soon you have momentum.”
“So I reached out to my IMC congressional district 3 representative Shaw Yang, and to IMC Chair Deb Paul. Deb suggested, ‘Why don’t we corral other grassroots organizations?’” They contacted Jonathan Cohn at Progressive Mass, and Deb contacted a number of other organizations including Act On Mass, the ACLU, and Common Cause. “We basically invited everybody. It was bound to be chaotic, but that was OK. After our first meeting, it was Thanksgiving and everyone was out of pocket, but we knew we had to launch the campaign really soon because we were out of time.”
“Jonathan and I worked on a draft letter during the holiday. He used his connections to groups writing bills and put a draft list together. After the holiday we had a quick review process, and by the first week of December we were writing letters.” More than 15 activist organizations participated, sending letters to the governor, state representatives and senators, and copying the senate president and house speaker.
How were bills chosen?
“We focused on how to keep people safe in Massachusetts: The Safe Communities Act and ICE Out of Mass was focused on immigrants, and passing a law ensuring cell phone location privacy was about the safety of everybody in Massachusetts.”
What’s a tip for reaching people to write letters?
“Volume matters. Because of the holidays and how people get billions of emails, it’s hard to pay attention to all of that. So getting visibility, getting people to pay attention to, look at, think about, send a letter. That was the bulk of the work.”
What results did you get?
“I wish (the legislature) had done something, but they didn’t. And there was no response from Governor Healey. That is disheartening, but I’m not disheartened.”
“I think that as an activist, when you take an action, it changes you. Having people who haven’t paid attention before—taking action—is important. Some people have written lots of letters. For others, it was their first time asking their state legislators, their governor to do something. And for someone to have read through what the request was and having sent those letters, it does change you. I remember the first time I wrote to my state legislators. I have now built connections with my state representative, and I always hear back from his office.”
One insider told Hewon that after Trump’s inauguration, when the federal direction on immigration became clear, “that will be the time to push again.” Hewon, Deb, and other Indivisibles are working with five other groups on a strategy for the next push. They hope that more groups will join now that the issues are clearer.
“The takeaway from this is that anyone who has ideas and wants to do something—that’s what we try to do in our local Indivisible groups. We want to support each other in doing things that will matter, that will make our lives better, our community better. And so, if someone has an idea and wants to put energy in, we want to support them.”
To learn more about IMC’s state legislative actions, join our organization, and receive our newsletter Mass Action, click HERE.
Hewon Hwang is on the Steering Committee for Indivisible Acton Area and is co-founder of IndivisibleLAB (Lexington, Arlington, Bedford and Beyond).
Dean Briggs is a member of the IMC Communications Team.
