// Resource

In this episode of Brave New Words, discover how, through rounds of research and strategic implementation of findings, a coalition of grassroots and labor groups found a narrative that speaks to both race and class concerns.

As a markedly white state with a growing, politically-engaged Somali-American population, Minnesota seemed ripe for the race baiting and anti-immigrant appeals core to right-wing politics. Progressive leaders in the state confronted a familiar dilemma: pursue white working-class defectors by focusing on economic issues or mobilize a disenchanted base by putting racial justice front and center. But they chose not to choose.

From a 43,000 person celebration of the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Adha, to carefully considered door-knocking operations, to interactive social media memes, the Greater Than Fear campaign showed that we can simultaneously drive turnout from our base and persuade the middle.