What’s next for progressive reform in DC?

Since the April 26 special election, I’ve been working on my jump-shot, growing a wicked Al Gore beard, and getting my money’s worth out of Capital Bikeshare. I’ve also been meeting with other at-large candidates, progressives, civic association activists, and concerned citizens who want to know where the reform movement goes from here.

I predict that in the next year, we’ll see an unprecedented amount of cooperation across the river, across ethnic lines, and across many issues from a new generation of activists, ANC officials, and candidates for office that will change the face of DC politics from what we saw this April.

During what I’ve affectionately called the “loser tour” of DC, I’ve met with a half dozen people who are looking at a run for the DC Council in 2012, and they have asked for my advice.

I, of all people, am not going to try to dissuade anyone from their dream of sitting in the John A. Wilson Building for 16 hours a day. But it’s worth reminding everyone that for every candidate who wins an election, there is another one, or 8, who experience the agony of defeat.

For those who believe in ethics and good government and can’t be talked out of running for office, you will get an eye-opening look at the inside of a DC political machine, from door knocking to raising money.

At its core, running for office is doing everything your mother told you not to. You have to wear your good clothes when you know you’re going to get dirty, you have to ask strangers for money, and you have to tell people how great you are — and in some cases do that in the third person.

On the upside, you will develop a thick-skin when you’re called “unbendingly liberal,” when you are told your campaign is “white-centric,” and when local papers endorse other candidates even though they admit you’re the best candidate.

Despite the outcome of the special election, I’ve come to fall in love all over again with DC, and I am optimistic for our future together.

Sure, when you look at the election results map of blue vs. orange (with a blob of Weaver green in the middle), your first thoughts may be of the racial and economic divide of our city. You may think of the Courtland Milloy column and the recent comments from Marshall Brown. You may think of the two phrases I can’t stand to hear anymore: “I am a native Washingtonian” and “I am a DC taxpayer.” So what is there to be optimistic about?

A lot, actually.

First, the characterization that new white residents — or in the preferred nomenclature, “Myopic Dog-Loving Cafe-Dwelling Bicycle-Riding Snowball-Throwing Twits” — don’t care about people of color and don’t have any connection to the black community is just false.

Look at the faces of people fighting to save DC’s social safety net; the people who are at the grassroots fighting for statehood; the people who are in the trenches promoting conflict mediation for youth, fighting against street violence. Serious numbers of white Washingtonians are daily activists for these causes.

Also, it is not insignificant that residents of Wards 2 and 3 are in favor of paying higher taxes to save programs like TANF, domestic violence shelters, and after-school programming for our poorest children.

Moreover, many white Washingtonians view the fight for education reform not in their backyard, but across the river. They are willing to pay up with their pocketbooks to build quality schools for our neediest children.

Secondly, and just as important, is the new generation of African-American and Latino reform activists who have a universal vision for the District. This generation doesn’t just see DC as just “east of the river” vs. “west of the park.” All across this city, people are engaged in old school models like civic associations and ANCs, and they are bringing them new life.

Young African American activists like Veronica Davis and Maceo Thomas are combing social media and community get-togethers into a powerful community networking coalition that is not bound to the old traditions of the political culture. They have reached deep to bring positive development, transit, and environmental issues to the forefront of the African-American community in Wards 7 and 8.

ANC commissioners like Tim Clark, Mark Stevens, and Sylvia Brown (to name only a few) have small political machines built on good government, economic justice, and smart growth at a time that the city needs them, now more than ever.

Martin Moulton, President of the Convention Center Community Association (or as I think of him, #39 of the DC 41), breaks all the stereotypes of what a community association president should be by caring about both people and bike lanes.

Place all those trends into a political food-processor and press blend. You’ll see that the next generation of activists will bend the racial and economic divides of this city. White politicos winning on social justice platforms, African Americans running on the environmental platforms, Latinos… well, just getting a seat at the table.

Last week I had lunch with a long time Ward 8 democratic muckety-muck who proclaimed the era of the DC old guard dead. He said that the machine that backed Vincent Orange in the special election cannot win a high turnout, city-wide race… if we are smart. He said that a powerful coalition of “myopic twits,” progressives, disenfranchised Fenty loyalists, renegade unions, small businesses, and smart growth advocates can run the table in the next citywide elections.

If we know each other’s stories, if we respect our diversity as our strength, and if are willing to fight the fights that need winning, we can have the city of all our dreams.