@SeanHun and I tabled for WCU during the No Kings rally on 10/18 from 10 - 1 (we called it quits after 12:30). These are my personal observational notes from that experience on what WCU could improve upon during future tabling events.
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Harpreet and I discussed on 10/14 while developing outreach materials for WCU (thanks to @Adri_Martinez for that as well!) about getting a custom-made table cloth for WCU. I’ve also discussed with Harpreet previously, initially back in November 2024, about maybe getting a professional-looking sign for WCU as well, for both holding forums at Oddfellows and tabling. Either way, having more signage would help make people notice our table more. @SeanHun and I scooched our table right next to Port City Food Not Bomb’s tables (thanks to @HipGnosis), and I feel that the few people who did come up to talk to Sean and I did so because of our proximity to FNB
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Back in early October I was able to write a basic article explaining “What is WCU?” by cobbling together things stated about WCU on our main website page and within fragments of the Member Handbook explaining the org’s function. My draft is found within a folder @Adri_Martinez created called Outreach Materials. The final version is down below. Thanks to @chima for the final edits and the layout design.
What is WCU.pdf (1.3 MB)
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@chima had sent me some sign-up sheets, but I didn’t print them out and @SeanHun and I forgot to ask people if they were interested in writing down names and email addresses on a piece of paper. I had assumed @chima would also be at the No Kings event and would bring the sign-up sheets. Some miscommunication/failure on my end to elaborate + I had only gotten four hours of sleep before arriving, having been at a private party in Sacramento the night before.
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There was a middle-aged woman who came up to our table at one point and when we explained about our tenant union work, she said that she is a homeowner, that while she thought we were doing good work, her tone implied that she didn’t think anything we were doing affected her. She then simply wandered away before @SeanHun or I could elaborate. @SeanHun and I had a productive conversation over that odd encounter, with @SeanHun suggesting some sort of resource for tenant union outreach, explaining why being a homeowner doesn’t make you immune to the issues tenants deal with, that homeowners are just as vulnerable as tenants and to showcase the similarities homeowners and tenants face, such as plenty of “homeowners,” especially first-time ones, don’t “own” their home outright, as they typically have to pay off a mortgage over a period of time from a bank or risk having their home liquidated. It would be more accurate to refer to some homeowners as “home debtors” or “home debt holders.” Similar to car ownership or any kind of “ownership” that requires a substantial long-term investment/payment, banks and companies tend to supply paying customers with a narrative that we fully own something, when in a lot of cases that ownership is conditional, that we are paying off something that we might be able to own down the road as long as we can continue making payments, or more often nowadays are merely renting out the services of some company for a monthly subscription fee. @chima and @Adri_Martinez created a Google Doc on 10/14 about potential outreach materials to make in the future. I’ve added @SeanHun’s suggestion onto this working list as I think it sounds promising and may be a useful resource to have in case we run into another Cal Villa situation where some people own their complex outright next to people renting. Essentially, it could be a flyer of some sort explaining “Why Homeowners Should Care”. I’ve already written out some notes for this outreach material. Design-wise, maybe it could be a flyer showcasing bullet points on how homeowners and tenants deal with some of the same housing issues, with maybe a fuller explanation on the other side.
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Overall, we had maybe half a dozen people who I felt really came up to talk to @SeanHun and I during the rally, who seemed somewhat interested. I think the odd encounter we had with the homeowner woman was a fair example as to the kind of typical response we should be expecting to receive from a Democrat astroturfing project like No Kings: middle-aged people/retirees who are somewhat comfortable financially and while hold and voice progressive opinions, only come out for symbolic “protests” and have no practical understanding as to how to carry them out in their community. I wouldn’t say tabling at this event was pointless, but, at least in my opinion, WCU as a whole needs to do a better job at preparing for these sorts of events, as I felt that @SeanHun and I were under prepared. Everything about us tabling there felt and looked last-minute, especially in visual comparison to FNB’s setup, which I think may have caused at least some potentially curious peoples to ignore us entirely.
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There were a couple of people from SEIU walking around, handing out flyers about medical career pathways. If we had at least one more person at the tabling event, and had strategized what each one of us was doing specifically, we might have done better with outreach when it came to looking organized. At the table, if we have more outreach materials and “merch” (stickers, buttons, etc.), somebody could handle that for interested folks while somebody else could be the main “spokesperson,” i.e., explaining what WCU is and answering people’s questions about the org. One or two other people could be going around handing flyers to people and persuading them to check out our table.
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I noticed that FNB’s table had a donation box. Perhaps that’s leaning too into mutual aid for WCU, but it might be helpful to at least suggest to interested people for donations. Of course, having had many a conversation with @chima about the limitations of mutual aid, that could run into people donating a few bucks and never committing to the actual work we’re trying to do. But maybe we could be strategic about it because if I’m being honest, it’s unlikely to find a certain level of commitment from people at liberal events like No Kings. If we found a way to garner at least a decent chunk of money from people at more liberal events, then I feel that might be a more productive use of our time going to those events. And when I mean “decent,” I’m really just meaning any amount of cash, for us to at least start building more reserves for printing costs, signage, snacks, etc. beyond membership dues. Personally, I would be willing to spend more for the org out of my own pocket for long-term investments if I weren’t strapped for cash. Perhaps I’m thinking too much as somebody who used to work for a non-profit, but I do think that there’s a distinction between pooling money from local people at events in a grassroots way and receiving money from an arm of the Democratic Party.
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People who seemed most interested were when @SeanHun and I brought up the Tenant Union and KYR forums that happened on 10/18 that same day. A few people did scan the QR codes on the “What is WCU?” flyer @chima designed to check the times for those events, but there were some technical hiccups, as I believe @chima was working on the website at that time that made some of the links unavailable briefly. Having something tangible to point people to, like saying “If you’re interested in … we do have a forum about later this afternoon” did seem to make people pay attention a bit more than just explaining what the org is. @SeanHun would have a better recollection as to if anyone from No Kings actually attended the forums we held later that day, as I intended to go to both, but fell asleep around one o’clock and missed both.
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Somebody I’ve become acquaintances with in a book club here in Stockton, who is partners with the club’s organizer, I did see at the No Kings rally, grabbing one of the tenant union flyers I left with FNB at the Delta Pride resource fair (I grabbed about half of the TU flyers to give out at our table). I’ve only been to this book club twice, but this person might show some level of interest as we talked about political philosophy the first time we met and I will reach out to him about it in terms of membership/just spreading the word about WCU. https://www.instagram.com/silentreadsstockton/
Main Takeaways
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It would help for WCU to invest in materials that make us look more professional during tabling events. More preparation and strategizing on what people individually can do while tabling (talk to people at the table, showcase outreach materials/other items, walk around handing flyers/telling people to check out the table, etc.) would also be a good idea. Perhaps having a quick guide as to what WCU members can do while tabling so we all feel like we have something to do/make the most of our time at an event.
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Since attending the Anarchist Book Fair in Sacramento on 10/11, I’ve been thinking more about what WCU needs to do/have in order to better our outreach and ultimately improve recruitment/membership. At least on my end with Education, I do believe it’s a good idea for us to have a variety of outreach materials, whether made internally or found elsewhere, to hand out/offer to people based on the kind of work we are doing at any given point. The “What is WCU?” flyer @chima and I created, I feel, is a good starting point, though it’s also something we should have made months ago. I feel that we are lacking in the department of having anything tangible to offer to people, even when it comes to introductory materials on a particular topic/issue we want to involve ourselves in. I’m also concerned just about the brand recognition of WCU, in that we still don’t have any real public awareness of this org, and I feel that is important to bolster if we ever want to see membership rise above 12 - 15 people, if that. Obviously, WCU is in a bit trickier position to pull this off compared to PCFNB, as FNB here in Stockton shares the same name as other FNB chapters around the country and around the globe, so there’s a built-in name recognition whereas WCU is starting from scratch. Our goals are also different from FNB, in that they focus more on mutual aid than we do, our goal being more in the vein of community outreach/engagement that politically educates/activates people about issues affecting local people. I’m not saying copy FNB, but they definitely have a better tabling setup than WCU does and I do feel that presentation does matter when it comes to tabling at public events, especially if we are trying to talk to more liberal types, which is just an inevitable reality if we actually want to see this org grow beyond the same handful of leftists.
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In relation to my last takeaway, I’m still invested in doing more writing/research on the local labor and political history of Stockton and San Joaquin. I think WCU writing up more articles connects with the need for more outreach materials, and the more we know about the local history, I think the better we’ll be able to connect the local working class population’s needs today to what has been needed historically. I’m currently doing research on the Stockton Port to learn about any potential labor stories, as a way of continuing the tone of the Spinach Strike article earlier this year. I’m also looking into Filipino labor in Stockton, as there’s a chapter on it in Little Manila Is in the Heart (2013) by Dawn Mabalon. The Haggin Museum recently had an exhibit on the local history of Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) that I managed to visit a couple of times over this last month to gather some notes on the company’s involvement in military manufacturing during WWI and WWII. CAT, Inc. has its origins in Stockton as the company was founded through a merger between the Holt Manufacturing Company that invented the original Caterpillar tractors here in Stockton, and the C.L. Best Tractor Company in 1925. I’m interested in writing something up related to CAT Inc.’s origins in Stockton and Stockton’s wartime involvement, and connecting that to CAT’s selling of Caterpillar bulldozers and other construction vehicles to the IDF to enable them to bulldoze and destroy Palestinian homes in Gaza and the West Bank. An article that comments on Stockton’s involvement with the military-industrial complex and how a global company that originated here is deeply complicit with Israeli war crimes would be a good way of raising BDS efforts here locally. That article idea is still a very broad idea, but I feel confident that there’s something there as I’ve wanted to write something up about Stockton’s contributions to modern warfare for a few years now. Mainly, over time I want to learn more about specific labor struggles that occurred in/near Stockton, and to learn more about the demographic makeup of working class peoples here historically based on their cultural/ethnic backgrounds and the kind of work they usually did. These are the 3 things I’m mainly focusing on at the moment concerning local research, and I intend on posting more frequently about my findings as forum posts for the Education Committee for those interested and would like to help out.
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@Adri_Martinez and @chima mainly started listing some ideas for outreach materials back on 10/14, but I would appreciate more members to add any ideas they might have that they feel might be a useful resource. For example, @Tanner’s recent efforts concerning LUSD I’d be interested in helping create outreach materials for about the low pay in education, especially for classified hires, myself having done para professional work at various schools over the last few years. Our working list can be found here in this Google Doc.