Taking A Stand Against the Status Quo

By Lauren Caggiano
For Fort Wayne Ink Spot

Just a few years out of college, Fort Wayne native Jalyn Radziminski speaks with the confidence of a woman twice her age. The founder of Count US IN, an advocacy organization whose mission is to elevate citizens’ voices and foster inclusive, equitable political participation.

In its 2020 summary, the group writes: “By showing that everyone’s voice matters, Count US IN encourages a more substantial and diverse voter turnout while educating and emboldening the statewide community. We empower people whom the U.S. power structure historically has suppressed. Those groups are Black, LatinX, Asian, Native American, women, LGBTQIA+, those who live with disabilities, students, seniors, immigrants, individuals distressed by poverty, those affected by incarcerations, and working-class members.”

Highlights include sponsoring online educational events, voter registration and engagement, as well as election day observation to prevent voter suppression.

I recently sat down with Radziminski, who graduated from Atlanta’s Emory University, to learn how her past brought her to this point and how her work is challenging the status quo.

1) What led you to advocacy?

I knew that I wanted to get involved with human rights. It was in college at Emory University where I started to see the different possibilities of how I could take action, to promote understanding across communities and just advocate for the well-being of people of different backgrounds.

I learned so much so fast about civil rights there. I studied all these different strategies at the grassroots level that were a means to help people protest and mobilize to advocate to their representatives, and I just kept thinking, “this is incredible.” Then I ended up studying abroad in human rights programs.

It was that experience that underscored how the black community is oppressed — racism was globalized. And that made me all the more committed to figure out how I could build coalitions to address all these different human rights topics in the local community. That's when my brain started shifting more towards that kind of work.

2) You served as a political fellow with Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight organization? What was it like to work with and for such a political dynamo?

It was humbling and it also pushed me out of my comfort zone. Politics has so many different moving pieces all the time. For example, I saw the power of mobilizing and creating an ecosystem of support while unifying elected representatives, everyday grassroots members, leaders, community members, churches. I've never seen any group mobilized on so many different levels before in such a welcoming way. Those were like the big things that stood out to me.

3) Why Count US IN?

Ironically, when I was working as a political fellow, I didn't get my absentee ballot until the day of the election. I felt so dumb and just so upset, because I did everything I thought I was supposed to do. I requested it a month early to vote absentee. This led me to wonder how I could advocate for all of these Georgia voters, when I couldn’t vote absentee myself.

So that really threw me in a loop. And the year prior, I couldn't vote absentee in college, due to a different situation. That was my second time in a row essentially not voting. Then I called my mom and I found out that her voting location in Fort Wayne was shut down three hours early without notice. It was at that point I knew I had to do something.

4) Who or what inspires you to continue doing this work?

I would say now, my community inspires me to do this work. At first, I thought about Stacey Abrams. I thought about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I thought about a lot of historical figures like Fannie Lou Hamer. I think about those who really fought and advocated for voter turnout, especially in the black and disabled community.

Talking to college and high school students really fuels my fire right now. They’re the up-and -coming young generation. They are there ready to go — they're hungry to learn, they want to take action, and they’re what keep me going. Really, it's all for them, because they're the future.

For more information on Count Us IN go to www.countusindiana.org.