Ordinary People doing Extraordinary Things

Ordinary people, doing extraordinary things. It’s a theme in world history and, of course, in US History.

In my capacity as Ashley Bell’s Campaign Manager for her congressional run in NC-10th District, I was lucky to hear Dawn Blagrove speak yesterday. She’s the Executive Director of Emancipate North Carolina, and her biography is a lifetime of work that speaks volumes.

We were at an event called Freedom Rising, and while she spoke, I soaked in the words that no one person has ever made change alone. The Civil Rights movement was ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and she mentioned Martin Luther King Junior, Malcolm X, SNCC, and Rosa Parks, and reminded all of us that Martin Luther King Junior and Malcolm X made speeches that moved people. But Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Acts because of the will of the people. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times.

And it just slapped me like a ton of bricks. I almost cried. Not because I didn’t know it, but because we’re living this today. It is exactly why I make the content I make - to remind every single person that the people who came before us were regular people who built undeniable movements. They created lasting change we still feel today.

I’ve said it nearly one thousand times, the reason we continue to be divided, the reason the wealthiest and most powerful want us separated, be it by class, creed, religion, or otherwise is because when we join in community, when we work together; we remember how powerful we are.

And a people powered movement is a threat. It’s a threat to the status quo, it’s a threat to the worldview we’ve operated under for so long. That many of us were raised in and propagandized around.

And that worldview is that if you have money, you’re more important than others. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our strength doesn’t come from money or dollar signs (though we need it to live), it comes from the communities we can build and the bridges that get us there.

This moment in time calls for extraordinary actions from ordinary people. And it is truly happening all around us. It can be hard to focus when we know that our country is in a free fall into fascism, but we’ve stood up to tyranny before. And we’ll do it again. We deserve better, but we must demand it.

When I say that phrase, people love to remind me, we deserve what we got. The people decide to elect who they’d like, and the majority of Americans decided that Trump was the answer. Well Trump has a thirty something approval rating.

And I’ve decided that 30 something is the 30 something that wants to carry the torch of racism and white supremacy. Who wants the division in the country, and who wants people to stand on. Which leaves 60 to 70% of the country to rally. Not just for midterms, not just for 2026 or 2028, but for real meaningful change.

Voting will never be the end all be all and expecting one election to reverse hundreds of years of work in the wrong direction is delusional. It’s 2026, 2028, and beyond, but I know that we’re worth it, and we can do it.

We have to start with naming the problem. And it is the systems and structures of white supremacy baked into our government at every single level. It’s also the white narcissism, bordering on white psychosis, that comes along with our systems and structures favoring white Americans. We have to address our two tiered judicial system, the pay for play nature of our government, the corruption around us, the prison systems, the electoral system, and so much more.

The reason it feels so insurmountable at this moment is because we’ve allowed it to get this far. Hundreds of years of white supremacy and we no longer call it white supremacy. We don’t say it aloud these days like Governor Olin D Johnston said after the Smith v Allwright decision in 1944. He said, and I am quoting here from White Lies by AJ Baime,

“We will have done everything within our power to guarantee white supremacy in our primaries and in our State in so far as legislation is concerned. Should this prove to be inadequate, we South Carolinians will use the necessary methods to retain white supremacy in our primaries and to safeguard the homes and happiness of our people. White supremacy will be maintained in our primaries. Let the chips fall where they may.”

George Wallace is no longer screaming about segregation now or forever, but the sentiment is the same. And it’s the same because it’s hundreds of years old. It’s written into our laws, it’s quieter (yet very loud) within our society, but we have the capacity to change it. And I know that. It was reaffirmed listening to Dawn Blagrove yesterday. It’s reaffirmed in every conversation I have on this campaign, every door I knock, and every phone call made.

We deserve better, and have to demand it. And ordinary people have to lead the charge. We can do this, I can feel it in my bones.

My ask today is to join a campaign. Volunteer, get involved, host a house party, a virtual phone bank, something. I believe in US and WE THE PEOPLE, deserve better.