Karen Handelman

In the late 1980s, Karen Handelman and a couple of her friends got in a car and drove from college in Michigan to Washington D.C. to march in protest of restrictions on reproductive rights.
Thirty years later, Handelman relived the moment, this time accompanied by her daughter, as she took to the streets to participate in the Women’s March on St. Louis. For Handelman, however, the march was only the beginning of a series of actions she is taking to oppose the actions of the Trump Administration.
The results of the election shocked Handelman. She did not take Trump as a serious candidate during the campaign and was completely distraught to hear that he had won the election.
“I don’t think he’s fit to serve. I don’t think he has any experience. I don’t think countries need to run like businesses, and really, my biggest concerns were the hate that he was projecting and kind of brewing,” Handelman said. “I would say it was like someone had died. I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t know it could happen. I didn’t know what to do. It was kind of debilitating.”
However, soon enough, Handelman’s shock turned to motivation to get involved in political activism.
“Facebook went from being a social tool to being a political tool almost overnight. I realized we can’t just sit here and be afraid, upset, or angry, but we have to do something,” she said. “I don’t think any of us know exactly what the plan is but we’re just doing stuff and hoping it’s making a difference.”
This “stuff” for Handelman began with more protests following the Women’s March. She attended the travel ban protest and two protests in front of Senator Roy Blunt’s office in downtown Clayton. Her actions soon grew deeper than just participating in demonstrations.
In fact, Handelman started spending hours per day sending emails, calling senators, and finding more ways to get involved.
“Some people are still in that paralyzed phase,” she said. “To me, it’s overwhelming in the other way: it’s overwhelming in that there is so much to do. I’ve actually kind of neglected my work life a little bit.”
The Women’s March published a list of actions called “10 Actions, 100 Days” following the actual March on Washington. The first action was to write postcards to senators. Handelman got the idea to make this a social event and to get more people involved. After organizing with her friends, she sent the invitation out to five mailing lists and soon had more than 100 people in her home for the event.
That day was the foundation for Handelman’s “list,” an email list of over 250 people that brings the group together to follow each of the Women’s March actions and notifies them about other ways to be politically active and resistant.
Furthermore, in February, Handelman sat down with Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman to discuss prospects for future actions. One of the results of these meetings was the Government 101 class taught by Newman at CHS.
Newman taught the course twice before, but Handelman figured that more people would attend if the class was offered at night.
In a group of three or four people, including Newman and Handelman, CHS was booked to host the class. More than 300 people showed up that night.
Following the class, in Early March, Handelman jumped on the opportunity to host an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Webinar Viewing party.
The ACLU asked locals to host viewing parties in their homes to get the community together. Handelman, a University City resident, took the offer and hosted people in her home to watch the ACLU suggest their own ways of resisting the Trump Administration’s actions.
Currently, Handelman is still active in her involvement in the resistance. The “list” still exists, but she is also a part of a small group working towards more broader goals.
“We have started to do some behind-the-scenes work,” Handelman said. “We’re trying to figure out how to take all these groups in their own silo with whatever type of resistance they’re doing and how to bring them all together.”
This group is specifically focusing on the upcoming local elections in 2018.
“The goal is to bring everyone together so we in someway are a unified force and ready for 2018,” Handelman said. “What we’ve decided we know needs to change is that we have to get good people elected [in Missouri]. We’re not big enough to affect the whole country but we think we can do good work on a local level.”
Despite all the hate and frustration Handelman is attempting to counter with her various actions, she does feel that one good thing has come out of the recent election.
“It’s like the world woke up in November. Every person that might have been sitting on the sidelines complaining is now doing things. It’s waking people up and it’s activating them. I hope that’s here to stay.”