It Never Ends

Persisting

The picture was taken by photographer, Jacob Moscovitch at a St Louis rally for abortion rights eight long years ago. The woman in the photo with me is Veronica…I just stood next to her at a town hall for local representatives a few weeks ago.

You’ll notice the sign I am carrying says, “Governor Parson, SHAME on YOU.” The fight for abortion access in Missouri has been going on so long that Governor Parson termed out and has been replaced by Governor Kehoe.

The Missouri GOP supermajority passed a cruel abortion ban in 2018. We lived under tyranny until Missourians collected enough signatures to put abortion access on the ballot in 2024. It won.

We have had a Constitutional right to abortion for over a year and a half, but until just last week, women in our state could not access abortion. A Jackson County judge finally ruled that Missouri women must have the right to medication abortion.

Per the Missouri Independent:

Medication abortion will be available in Missouri for the first time since 2018 after a judge determined most of the state’s challenged abortion regulations are unconstitutional, including laws requiring hospital privileges, complication plans, and special clinic licenses.

But it doesn’t stop there. Even after the majority of voters approved bodily autonomy for Missourians, Republicans refuse to listen to the people and plan to put abortion back on the ballot in November. Likely with confusing language and ballot candy due to a maniac serving as the Secretary of State. His name is Denny Hoskins.

His ballot summaries are the stuff of nightmares, purposely confusing voters.

I have been at several rallies with my friend Veronica over the years — the terrible news is that we have been protesting together for nearly a decade. Terrible because we have to keep protesting the same things in the same state. Abortion access. Public school funding. Access to the ballot. Democracy in general. And recently we have met up at anti-ICE and anti-data center meetings and rallies.

We are both part of a group of mostly women in the St Joseph area called Persisterhood. I like the name — it makes sense. Sometimes it seems that is what we are best at. Sisterhood and persisting.

I mean, we are living in a state that would test the patience of Job…

The Persisterhood group is made up of mostly women (and a few men) of all ages. Most of the women active in the group and in leadership roles are retired, but several are in their 20s and 30s, and that makes for a nice mix of expertise and experience. We also have folks from nearly every walk of life, but there is a theme of retired teachers and professors that I see in so many activist groups — public speaking and organizing and multi-tasking comes a little easier for some retired teachers.

Ask me how I know.

There is a misconception about teachers, though…well, about some teachers. It’s common for folks to assume the patience and tolerance of people in the classroom. I have to say, we aren’t all patient. We aren’t all passive or obedient either. We come in all personalities.

I was a high school teacher for most of my career, but I did spend quite a few years teaching 8th grade English. For the most part, I enjoyed it.

One year, though, there was a schedule change, and I was moved to 7th grade. I have to say, it was the worst year of my life. No shade to the 7th grade teachers of the world, but I was not cut out for teaching that specific grade.

I remember teaching a lesson once, and I heard a loud noise that sounded like a screeching goat from the back of my classroom. It happened once, and I let it go. It happened again, and I addressed it and had the young man stay a minute after class to talk about the distraction.

He was mortified because he really was a good kid and never made trouble. I will never forget asking him why he acted out in class and made such a loud noise during a lesson…I asked him why he would do that. And with every fiber of his being, and in complete honesty, he said, “I don’t know why I would do that and I hope I never do it again.”

I talked to a peer at the end of the day, and she directed me to a study on middle school aged children and their brains. It told me all I needed to know, but I realized I just wasn’t cut out for goat noises during lessons, so I made my way to teaching high school.

The point…not every teacher has an abundance of patience or the ability to deal well with irritation. It’s the same with organizing.

And that’s where another Persisterhood member, and former teacher, Nancy comes in.

Nancy has been organizing protests and rallies against a proposed data center in our area. She has led several local folks to attend city council and county commissioner meetings. She took the lead on handing out signs and T-shirts and information about data centers, and she led a rally in our small town last weekend.

I did not attend, as I was speaking in a nearby town with local candidates, but I did read her messages in our Persisterhood group chat. She said there were several people in attendance, and that a man she didn’t know arrived to protest the data center. He stood right next to Nancy in his Make America Great Again hat.

Remember the patience of Job? Well, it’s not me, but thank goodness it is Nancy.

There is no way I would have been able to calmly protest next to a red hat. I have no patience for MAGA, and it’s not because I haven’t tried. It’s precisely because I have tried. Many times. Over and over.

A red hat on the street feels like a screaming goat from the back of my classroom. I can try to overlook it once, but I can’t keep acting like it’s okay. I can’t be quiet about it either. I can’t not address it. I can’t walk away.

And that’s exactly why we need so many organizers, and so many that have different personalities. Some that are better at reaching folks who differ widely from our own beliefs. Some who can make inroads.

Some who can hear a screeching goat and let it go.

That ain’t me, and that’s okay, because I work with Nancy and I work with Veronica and I work with dozens of other activists doing the work on the ground every single day in a state that would make a lot of other people look at moving somewhere else.

I don’t have to be everything, because I am not doing this alone.

I have stood next to Veronica for nearly a decade now, holding signs that somehow never seem to go out of date or lack relevance.

I get to work alongside Nancy, who shows up with a steadiness and a patience I admire more than I can put into words. It’s more than I can do.

I get to be part of a group of women who just keep showing up, over and over again, in a state that keeps asking more of us than it should. More than many can bear.

Missouri keeps testing us, but we keep finding each other and holding on for dear life, leaning on each other. Resisting. Persisting.

And that’s about as much as any of us can say.

~Jess