Wichitans gathered for a summit, Forward Together, on Wichita State’s campus on Saturday to engage with and bring hope to the Wichita Democratic community.
Forward Together, held by Wichita State Young Democrats and the Sedgwick County Democratic Party, was an all-day event that consisted of guest speakers on topics including immigration and public education. Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Representative from Kansas’ Fourth District, was the keynote speaker of the event.
“Events like this are important to remind people that a community exists where people have common decency and a common knowledge, that they have others who they can turn to and talk to,” WSU Young Democrats president Jenna Ghant said. “It’s a movement. It’s to mobilize folks. It’s also to show people we care, as you know, Young Democrats … we want to make sure that our values as people are well represented.”
Governor Laura Kelly was supposed to be in attendance for a VIP reception, but due to poor weather conditions, she was unable to come. Instead, Jeanna Repass, chair of the Kansas Democratic Party, read a speech Kelly had prepared for the event.
“Kansas has been on the right side of history since we entered the Union in 1861, since we held the first referendum on women’s suffrage in 1867. And just three years ago, when we became the first state to protect women’s fundamental right to make their own healthcare decisions,” Repass read. “Each of you in this room — especially the young people — hold the power to ensure that the Kansas of tomorrow stays true to the values upon which the state was founded.”
Some candidates from the Kansas legislature and Wichita city council were at this event. There were also current Kansas senators and city council members in the audience.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, but I liked it fairly well. It was educational. I liked our keynote speaker a lot more than I thought I would,” said Sam Lane, a Democrat running for Kansas Secretary of State. “I’m running for office, so for me this is figuring out how the process works.”
During the keynote, Glickman took questions from the crowd. Questions ranged from what democratic nominees should focus on to be electable to how to get young people more involved in politics.
“The media is no longer a centralizing factor in information … (and) I don’t think the universities in this country have done a very good job on civics education at all,” Glickman said. “I think the fact that most of the people in my era were subject to draft, subject to military service, highlighted their responsibility as citizens more than you probably see right now.”
One Wichita citizen, Mark Barlow, a self-described civic demonstrator, concerns himself with bridging a gap between older and younger generations and making sure people “don’t lose hope.”
“I am pretty independent. I work with anyone,” Barlow said. “At the end of the day, I see everyone around me as American, and following that, as a human.”
Barlow also works closely with Defend Democracy ICT and attends many protests around Wichita. He said he believes it’s crucial to bring “a civic message of importance to the student body to let them know we’re out here.”
“The young people are doing their young stuff. The old people are doing their old stuff. This is — without being critical — this is an old person event,” Barlow said. “This is people with money and they’re retired and they’re trying to put that money forward … I’m very happy that these people are here, we need much more of that.”
Repass also said the next time Kelly comes to Wichita, everyone who purchased a ticket for the VIP reception will be able to come back to an event similar to this and attend free of charge. Kelly’s letter left with the sentiment of “doing the hard work of connecting and organizing and motivating to take part in our democratic process.”
“I will tell you, anybody that tells you Democrats don’t know how to fight, that’s not true,” Repass said. “We know how to fight, we just tend to fight each other. We can change that.”
