Rhonda Lindner expresses hope for democracy by asserting, “If every Wisconsin voter who wants to vote and who should vote, votes… democracy and the will of the people will stand.”
Rhonda Lindner is the Education Director at Tikkun Ha-Ir and concurrently works as the statewide Interfaith Organizer for the WI Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign (WIVEC).
Hear the full November 2, 2024 episode here.
TRANSCRIPT:
REV. PAUL BRANDEIS RAUSHENBUSH, HOST:
I am at First United Methodist Church of Madison, and we are just after we had our big press conference. And I’m here with Rhonda, who is doing amazing work getting out the vote across Wisconsin. Rhonda, say a little bit about, who you are and what you all are doing in Wisconsin.
RHONDA LINDNER, GUEST:
I am Rhonda Lindner and I am the statewide interfaith organizer for the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign, which is pretty self-explanatory. It is a campaign that organizes events and actions of voter engagement, voter education, and voter protection through the lens of congregational organization and clergy leadership. So we organize through all denominations, people of all faiths, even people of no faith; and we also partner with many statewide organizers in the Voting Rights Coalition, including the League of Women Voters, All Voting Is Local, The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, as well as local get-out-the-vote organizations.
PAUL RAUSHENBUSH:
I love that last bit about how you are collaborating with all these other organizations; no one’s doing this alone. It’s all about, who do we partner with? How do we find the way to amplify our collective power, and get out the vote?
You also have another hat. Talk to me about that.
RHONDA LINDNER:
Sure. So I also am the educator for an organization called Tikkun Ha-Ir, which is Hebrew for “repair the city.” We are a Jewish social justice organization that is based in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a beautiful city. My family and I moved to Milwaukee in 2020. It is a beautiful city – if you had the economic means to enjoy it. Milwaukee is also the most segregated city in the United States, and it’s a very small city. So we can see what needs to be repaired.
So Tikkun Ha-Ir works in the fields of food justice, we have a tremendous program that serves vegetarian meals from July through October. We also work with housing justice, and environmental justice, and of course, racial justice. And Tikkun Ha-Ir knows that all of these lanes come together through civic engagement, through voter engagement. So it’s a partnership of WIVEC and Tikkun Ha-Ir.
PAUL RAUSHENBUSH:
And how did you get so passionate about this? Where’s the fire come from? Because it’s clear you’re doing amazing work. And that work is tiring and it takes a lot out of you. But you have so much energy and you’ve been such an important part of our visit here. So where do you feel like your fire comes from?
RHONDA LINDNER:
So, before I came into this work – I’ve only been doing this since January of 2022 – I worked 27 years as a public school English teacher – so I taught middle school English for almost 27 years. So that’s a job that requires endless energy. And I would say that, when people describe me, they often describe me as non-stop energy. And in this job, certainly, I feel like I’ve become an emotional adrenaline junkie.
I came to this work because in teaching, I found that the work I did with my little philanthropy club called Builders’ Club, meaning building a better community, was creating a lot more passion and fire in me then the teaching of English. And as I was saying to some of your coworkers today, in a profession like teaching, you should always maybe leave the profession two years too early instead of two years too late. And I admit that when I left, I felt like I shouldn’t be leaving, but clearly it was something I needed to do.
I came to this work really in a personal way, to honor my in-laws, who we lost tragically many years ago, and to live out the vision of the person they really wanted me to be. And I do that work to honor them.
PAUL RAUSHENBUSH:
Wow. Very moving.
What is your hope for Wisconsin? I mean, Wisconsin is your home now. And it’s one of those states where it’s so divided and so very close. How do you understand this moment in Wisconsin’s history?
RHONDA LINDNER:
So I get asked this question a lot in various ways, and I answer it by saying I’m so lucky to work in the field of nonpartisan engagement. And that means that we listen to people, what they care about, what they’re concerned about, what they’re frustrated about; and what challenges them, what moves them, what inspires them. And in these conversations, we are just looking to engage people to vote. And we do not have a specific position on how a person should vote. I know your audience knows that nonpartisan means we do not endorse candidates or parties. And I think that has really helped me to move throughout this season by just listening to people and by sharing my belief that no matter how people vote, that our country is founded on democracy.
And with it, in addition to getting out the vote, is also a group that protects the vote. We have poll chaplains surveying all over Wisconsin. We have almost 70 poll chaplains who will be there on Election Day to be a pastoral, peaceful, positive presence. They’ve been trained to recognize situations that may be dangerous, and they’ve also been trained to know when to step in for any sort of de-escalation.
People ask, what are you going to do November 6th, and are you going to sleep in? And I said, absolutely not. I will be out there making sure that every vote is counted. When I go into high schools and universities, I ask the students to register to vote. I say, I promise: you vote, and I’ll make sure your vote is counted. And at the end of the day, if every Wisconsin voter who wants to vote and who should vote votes, and if every vote is counted, democracy and the will of the people will stand. And I believe that there are tremendous people who are willing to do whatever it takes to make democracy work for all of us.
PAUL RAUSHENBUSH:
Rhonda Lindner, thank you so much for being on The State of Belief, and all the work you’re doing here in Wisconsin.
RHONDA LINDNER:
Oh, thanks for having me, and thanks for coming to Wisconsin.
