Wellstone Action!

posted by Jennifer Haut-Prokop

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Here at Wellstone Action, we pride ourselves on going to places where other national training programs simply don't.  (Take Idaho, for example, a state where we will return for the third time this spring.)  So when Camp Wellstone alums, Marilyn Hemingway and Jamarr Brown approached us and pleaded, "Bring Camp Wellstone to South Carolina!" we took their request seriously.  After all, South Carolina was one of only five states we had never trained in (Wellstone Action has now held trainings in 46 states, and we have alumni in all 50).

For Marilyn and Jamarr, they saw a critical need for a camp in their home state.  Marilyn, now a three-time alum, first came into contact with Wellstone Action when she attended a training in Eau Claire, WI, back in 2006.  At the time, she was managing a congressional campaign in South Carolina's 1^st District.  A volunteer on that campaign was signed up to attend, but couldn't make it and offered Marilyn and the candidate the chance to attend.

Jamarr attended his first Camp Wellstone in North Carolina in 2009.  He and Marilyn knew each other from their work together on the campaign-while Marilyn managed, Jamarr was the deputy manager.  Marilyn came back raving about the Eau Claire training, telling Jamarr it was practical, strategic, and so applicable to their work.  From that time on, she tried to get anyone else to attend a Wellstone Action training with her, and finally, the opportunity came for Jamarr in June 2009. 

In Durham, the two attended the Citizen Activist track together and when they weren't in session, they were strategizing with trainers about how to bring this camp to South Carolina.  "I walked out of the training thinking we had to bring it to South Carolina," Jamarr said, "Whatever it takes."  They immediately began implementing their outline in the car on the way home.  And from the moment they launched the "Bring Camp Wellstone to South Carolina" page on Facebook and quickly drew over 150 members, we knew they were working hard to build the progressive base in support of the training.

In my interaction with Marilyn and Jamarr, I knew they were true organizers.  They accomplished all the necessary tasks to run a camp:  creating a fundraising plan, reaching out to various campaigns, securing a location for camp, and spreading the word across the state.  Because this was our first training in the state, we did not have the connections, but Marilyn and Jamarr did.  "At home, we reached out to party members, community activists and started to educate them about Wellstone Action and the need to bring them to South Carolina," Marilyn said. 

Over the weekend on February 12-14^th, on a rare snowy weekend in Columbia, close to 60 people gathered to take part in the historic Camp Wellstone South Carolina.  Like many of our trainings outside the major cities, it was a camp strongly hungered for.  I asked Marilyn what it meant to have the camp in her state:  "I believe Wellstone is a seed that has been planted towards the growth of progressive change in this state.  South Carolina for so long has been governed by conservative politics and as citizens we continue to pay a huge price for maintaining the status quo.  Wellstone is not the total answer, but it is one of the seeds that allows participants to have the confidence and to know there are other progressives working hard in the state."  Jamarr echoed her feelings, telling me that participants' eyes were opened.  He described South Carolina as very much a who-you-know state, and even though many attendees have worked on campaigns, they are usually the folks on the ground, knocking doors, on the phones, attending rallies; they are not on the inside politically.  The training gave them new energy.

To close out the weekend, trainer Ben Goldfarb asked participants what they were going to commit to after the training.  People who were not as politically involved said they would go to their precinct meetings or spread the word about what they stand for.  One participant, Christy Glenn from Greenville, South Carolina, said she was going to make sure everyone in her apartment complex was registered, and she held true to her commitment.  She had e-mailed Jamarr back within a week reporting that she had knocked on 152 doors.

Christy attended the Being a Candidate track.  She originally heard about the training through Facebook and wanted to attend to "...test the thought waters.  I have contemplated running for office and thought Camp Wellstone would be a great opportunity."  She cited that she got much more out of the training than she expected.  The most valuable lesson she took away was advice given to candidates about how it affects their personal and family life.  Before the training, Christy says she wasn't involved in anything political, but now, she's on a mission to educate voters and make sure they are registered.  She is also still contemplating a run for school board. 

Jamarr reiterated, "Eyes were opened.  You don't have to be the chair person.  Just as a citizen activist, a citizen participant, there is so much you can do and so much you need to do."  We know in South Carolina, a state with a conservative stronghold, there is much work to be done, but we also know we can count on our newly graduated alumni to work towards that change.  At the camp in 2006, Marilyn kept hearing the quote "You are the leader that you have been waiting for," and she keeps it as a constant refrain in her heart and mind.  She has devoted herself to constantly seek learning:  "I will be the leader, so count me in!" she says. 

Progressives in South Carolina, you can rest assured, Wellstone Action can't wait to return!