Why Hope Still Matters

“If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something."

- Howard Zinn

It’s been a year since our grassroots campaign for State Senate, and I want to say thank you once again to everyone who believed in us. We entered a race awash in over $4 million dollars in special interest spending—and we competed with little more than bold ideas and the commitment of volunteers who knocked on thousands of doors.

Despite limited our resources, we earned votes in all 73 precincts across the 20th District—even though we were really only able to campaign in about half of them. That meant people found our message, and it resonated with them. I will always be deeply grateful for their support and their votes.

If you ever want to feel better about the world, try knocking on a stranger’s door and asking them what matters most to them. You’ll find that most people aren’t driven by ideology. They just want common-sense solutions. They want to live in a city that is safe, clean, and affordable. They want good schools for their kids, reliable city services, and a fair, functional criminal justice system. They want a city that works—for everyone. They are everyday people with good hearts, and they will always give me hope.

I know it’s hard to be hopeful right now in the midst of the Trump Administration “flooding the zone” but this administration will end. Our country may never be the same, and damage will certainly be done, but it will end. That’s why it’s more important than ever to not only protect and support one another— but to also begin to imagine what comes next. What do we rebuild? What kind of future do we want?

That’s where the hope comes in.

From 1999 to 2009, a few friends and I published a site called Keepgoing.org. Long before social media, we used it to post our original fiction, essays, and music. You had to know HTML just to post anything online back then—but more than anything, Keepgoing was about our optimism, it contained our golden hopes for the future.

I believe we need that spirit once again.

The new Keepgoing.org will focus on ideas for what Chicago’s future can look like—and how all of us can take small, meaningful steps toward that future. It won’t ignore the challenges that we face, but it will offer real ways for people to make a difference in their community. Not by doom scrolling, but by showing up. By putting your phone down and engaging in your community.

That’s how we rebuild. That’s how we keep going.

That’s why hope still matters.