“Hands Off!” rally organized by Indivisible and others on April 5 at West Side Park, Champaign. Photo by Stuart Levy
Indivisible began at the national level after the 2016 election. A few Democratic congressional staffers decided that there needed to be a grassroots movement on the left similar to the Tea Party movement on the right. Since then, the Indivisible movement has grown by leaps and bounds. Thousands of local Indivisible groups have sprung up all around the country. And in many states a statewide umbrella group has formed, also organically from the grass roots, that is the hub for the local Indivisible groups in that state.
Indivisible Illinois is the umbrella group for the Indivisible chapters in Illinois. I am on the Indivisible Illinois Executive Board. Just like all of the other grassroots group leaders and general members, even though we are elected, we are volunteers. We connect the chapters together. We connect individuals to chapters near them. And we also help new chapters grow and thrive. Indivisible Illinois does this to help empower progressive advocates. The more community, communication, and collaboration we have, the more power we have.
Indivisible Illinois works on educating about progressive issues, and lobbies legislators on issues that are important to us. We are also involved in electoral politics. This includes organizing canvassing, phone banks, and postcard campaigns, as well as going to our legislators’ offices. We encourage progressive advocates to run for office as well.
There are times that we find that we need to be out in the streets protesting and/or encouraging our elected officials. We now find ourselves in the midst of one of those unprecedented times. We need to show up and let our elected officials know that they either need to fight for us, if they share our values, or we will fight against them, if they do not. There are now rallies and marches happening all over the country so that we the people can make our voices heard.
April 18 rally at UIUC Alma Mater statue for the right to protest. Photo used by permission
In Illinois, there has been an explosion of new Indivisible groups since the inauguration, especially in Central Illinois. Many of the leaders of these groups have never organized politically before. Despite that, all of the Illinois Indivisible groups have pushed our Democratic members of Congress to host town halls, and have attempted to push our Republican members to do the same. Since the Republican congresspeople are not showing up, there have been empty-chair town halls in Mary Miller’s and Darin LaHood’s districts. Indivisible groups throughout the state have been hosting rallies and marches frequently since the inauguration. Some are in protest. Some are to ask our Democratic members of Congress to do more. Some are outside of Tesla dealers in response to DOGE dismantling our way of life. In some communities, there are weekly rallies. These include places such as Alton and Edwardsville, where you would not expect to find any protest.
Indivisible nationally, in conjunction with many other national progressive advocacy grassroots organizations, sounded a nationwide call to action to tell this administration “HANDS OFF”! On April 5, there were marches and rallies all across the U.S. Many national organizations coalesced for this day. As I mentioned, we have more power unified than as separate entities. In Illinois, demonstrations were scheduled in cities and towns and villages of all sizes. There were rallies from Dixon and Freeport in the north to Carbondale in the south; from Chicago in the east to the Quad Cities in the west. Champaign County Indivisible hosted a rally in Champaign-Urbana.
If you are interested in learning more about Indivisible Illinois, and how to get involved, you can visit our website and/or join the Indivisible Illinois Facebook group.
If you would like to join the local Indivisible group, you can email champaigncountyindivisible@gmail.com and/or join the Champaign County Indivisible Facebook group.
Marci Adelston-Schafer is a retired RN. She is on the Indivisible Illinois Executive Board, and serves as phone bank lead. For the last 8 years, she has worked on campaigns of various local Democratic candidates, and helped with organizing and reorganizing multiple groups and committees.
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