"It don't matter no way."
Words.A New Episode.Other Goings On.Hi Reader , “It don’t matter no way.” That’s essentially how my barber responded last summer when I asked him why he doesn’t vote. From his perspective, his vote wouldn’t change anything, anyway, so why should he bother? I, on the other hand, was newly on fire for democracy! I had gone to my first protest a few months before. I was at the tail end of my civic leadership course, equipped with a new sense of my rights and responsibilities as a citizen. His apathy offended me. How could he not vote?! A young Black man whose ancestors had fought and died to have that right! A father to three daughters whose lives were shaped by policy! How could he see politics as such a lost cause that it would be a waste of time for him to vote? Yet, when I think about it… For most of my adult life, I'd been pretty checked out when it came to politics. Sure, I’d been voting since I turned 18. Still, over the years, I’d become more and more distant from the naïve little girl who thought she was going to grow up and change the world by becoming the Mayor of Detroit. At some point, I became cynical. I started to think of our political system as hopelessly rigged in favor of the powerful and wealthy. I stopped believing that getting involved in politics was a viable way to really make a difference. So, as a bright-eyed young professional do-gooder, it was easy for me to be seduced by the idea that it would be a better use of my time and energy to seek ways of changing the world outside of the system. It made more sense to focus on philanthropy and leave politics to those willing to play the game. Let them be the ones endlessly frustrated and/or corrupted. My sense of disillusionment with the dysfunctions of our political system had probably been closer to what my barber had expressed than I would have admitted pre-2025. For years, the idea of “American democracy” had rung hollow for me, too. And I know I’m not alone. Yet, what do we, as professional do-gooders, lose when we fail to view the work of strengthening our democracy as work worth engaging in? That's what Dr. Angel McKissic, Director of the Damon J Keith Center for Civil Rights at the Wayne State University Law School, invites us to consider in Episode 30 - Without Politics, We Can’t Win: Beyond Mutual Aid and Nonprofit Do-Gooding. After you've listened to it, I’d love to hear how/whether you felt seen, spoken to, or stirred by the conversation. Peace, Janai In August, I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to attend PolicyLink Summit 2026 with a delegation of 16 changemakers from Metro Detroit. The theme was "We Are the Founders: Writing the Unfinished Story of Our Democracy", which is why I knew I had to be there. In some cases, my takeaways weren't "new" ideas, but ideas worth re-remembering and holding onto as I work to manage overwhelm and frustration in the face of not just this political moment, but also all the f*ckery that got us here in the first place. The Power of Mindset The Summit was an invitation for us professional do-gooders to claim our agency and power by viewing ourselves as founders, designers, and architects in the ongoing work of shaping our democracy into one that works for all. That's different from being people who simply dissent or resist. That's different from being people who retreat into our various causes and programs outside of the system, leaving others to build and (re)shape our laws and institutions. By default, I thought of the founding of America as something the "Founding Fathers" did 250 years ago. But no. This nation's founding and re-founding is an ongoing work that has been and continues to unfold through the actions of countless people who've made up their minds that things need to change. From Charles Sumner, Fannie Lou Hammer, and Thurgood Marshall to Jefferson Davis, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Kevin D. Roberts, and many others whose names aren't recorded in history books but whose actions have helped shape this nation. The Power of Vision "What's the problem" > "What will it look like when the problem is fixed" I scribbled that note during a talk by Trista Harris of FutureGood on how to be a leader in the work of social change vs. someone responding to crisis after crisis. This idea reminds me of how there were moments when I found myself getting so discouraged and fed up during the signature gathering campaign for Michiganders for Money Out of Politics. At such times, I had at the forefront of my mind the number of people whom I could not persuade to sign the petition or how many signatures we had vs. how many we needed or what the odds looked like. But what if I had been anchored by a bigger vision of what I want Michigan communities or politics to look like in 40-50 years? Perhaps then I would have been able to tell myself something like, "what I stand for is bigger than this person standing in front of me telling me this won't make a difference, it's bigger than this disappointment or setback, it's even bigger than this campaign. I'm going to rest when I need to, but I'll keep going". That's the kind of vision we were encouraged to aim for and to anchor ourselves in at the Summit. The Power of Gathering Well. Part of the magic of the conference was that it brought together 3-5k beautiful, justice-oriented souls from every corner of the country around a shared cause. Just to be amongst such an assembly was enough to make one's heart feel lighter and more hopeful. There was power in being reminded that we were part of a much larger community than we tend to see or think about in our day-to-day work. There was even more power in being with this community as we participated in an experienced clearly curated with great care to engage us as whole humans. They understood what kind of environment we needed to show up as our least skeptical, most inspired selves. That involved bringing beauty, and great food, snacks, and speakers into the space. That also meant saying the thing. As Dr. McAfee admonished us do-gooders before we were to go from listening to visioning in our breakout sessions, "this is where dreams come to die". We knit-pick ideas to death. We get into our identity-based silos and lose focus on the ALL. We talking about the problems and what we don't want but don't spend time defining what we want to see. By the end of his speech, I think we all understood the assignment! A NEW EPISODEIn Episode 30, I’m excited to share my very timely conversation with Dr. Angel McKissic. She’s a scholar, community organizer, and restorative justice practitioner. She’s also the Director of the Damon J Keith Center for Civil Rights at the Wayne State University Law School. Angel had so many gems to share during our conversation that I decided to divide into two episodes! Tune into Part 1, to hear us discuss:
After you listen to this interview and become super curious about Angel’s work, you’ll want to:
Connect with me, too!
And check out www.MopUpMichigan.org to learn why you should vote YES on Proposal 2 this November. * Listen to I Want to Change the World on
Don't forget to rate, review, and share the podcast :-) Other Goings On#1 Election SeasonHow are you planning to engage between now and November 3rd? If you're reading my newsletter, I'm guessing you're already registered to vote. There's so much more that you can do, though, to make a difference this election season:
Not sure what you want to do or how to plug in? Have questions about how you can vote early, etc.? Let's chat! #2 My firm is launching a new series!Collaboratives are often applauded in the social impact sector. Yet, a lot of them go nowhere. My business partner, Peter, and I have seen this a lot. And we're ready to talk about how to make them better. We've collectively learned a lot about what it takes to make collaboratives work from the school of "learn-by-doing"over the past 35+ years and across Detroit, Chicago, and beyond. In our upcoming Rethinking Collaboratives webinar series, we're excited to share what we've learned about the keys to success for getting a collaborative off the ground, getting it unstuck when momentum stalls, and leading it effectively.
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Janai Gilmore
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Words. A New Episode. Other Goings On. 2025 Detroit Mamavist Fellows Meet Up Hi Reader , From "me" to "we" that's been the story of my journey into activism. Going from an intellectual understanding of concepts like "democracy" and "equity" to getting out in these streets, getting political, and connecting with people from all walks of life to advocate for change. What I didn't understand as I dedicated my education to the study of social inequality and then started my career as a...
Words. A New Episode. Other Goings On. Hi Reader , Before 2025, I had a pretty fixed image of what my role in changing the world was and was not. That’s because I had a pretty fixed image of the type of person I was and was not. I was not a “go-to-a-protest” type person. I was not a “go-to-Lansing-to-advocate-to-legislators” type person. I certainly was not a "door knocking,- phone banking,- or-approaching-strangers-at-community-events-for-a- political-campaign" type person. In short, the...
a young, smiling program manager @ the office in January 2020 Hi Reader , The tension is real for many of us professional do-gooders. We want to change the world. AND we want to pay off our student loans as quickly as possible. We want to be part of the revolution. AND we want to be able to retire one day. We want to dismantle (or at least reimagine) capitalism. AND we want to be able to pay our bills. It’s common for us to hold competing (if not downright contradictory) desires like these as...