“Politics is broken, and the people that broke it aren't going to fix it. And so it's got to be up to us. It's got to be up to the people to make those changes,” claims Ashleigh Strange from Pennsylvania. Here is her story – and those of women in Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada, who mobilised and made a difference. Across the country, women of colour took to the streets, embraced social media, challenged their neighbours – did whatever they could to make sure their voices were heard.
Ashleigh Strange, Pennsylvania
Voter turnout in the US consistently falls behind that of most developed countries. One reason for this discrepancy is that many Americans believe that an individual vote will have little impact on a major election.
In January 2020, Strange of Lehigh Valley Stands Up (LVSU) (part of Pennsylvania Stands Up, a resistance group born in 2016 following Donald Trump’s presidential win) began to seek out people who felt this way. People who felt their voices didn’t matter. By validating their claims of feeling invisible and listening to their stories, Strange was able to start pushing a different narrative.
