People Building Worker Power Institute MARILYN WILBUR

While canvassing Phoenix neighborhoods in 2022, Marilyn Wilbur kept a wet towel around her neck and a bottle of water in her purse. In the nation’s hottest city, the daily temperatures soared over 100 F between May and September, and Marilyn often had to wet her towel to keep cool. Between knocking on the doors, Marilyn occasionally sat in her car, blasting the cool air conditioner in her face. Then she would go back.

When Marilyn could do her work inside a shopping mall or in the shade of colleges such as Arizona State University and Glendale Community College, voter registration was a lot easier. However, during the pandemic, people came out less and kept more to themselves. “2022 was the hardest year to do the voter registration work,” she tells us. Growing voter suppression affecting people of color did not help either.

“It’s no secret that white neighborhoods offer more voting polls options. In addition, since you can no longer vote in person on Sundays in Arizona, Black people have fewer voting options. Historically, Black churches rented buses to drive their Black members to the voting polls. Today, that option is no longer available to many folks who may work six days a week or not have a reliable mode of transportation,” Marilyn said.

Growing up in Holdenville, Oklahoma, Marilyn experienced her share of racism. As a young child, she learned never to cross to the white side of the railroad tracks. But Marilyn did not want to turn away from her community; she wanted to change it. So, she became the first Black female police officer in Holdenville. At 26 she joined the Air Force and was deployed ten times. Three years ago, 20

Marilyn joined Worker Power to preserve her country’s democracy through community education, voter registration, and economic policy.

Over the past three years, Marilyn spoke to and educated hundreds of voters about the issues that directly affect them. “I met many people who badly wanted to vote but were unsure how. They were afraid to fill out the ballot wrong. Some didn’t know how to find their polling place. Some didn’t even know they were registered to vote. People of color are often conditioned from birth to think their vote doesn’t matter. But it does, and current elections keep proving this. Arizona’s General Attorney Kris Mayes won the last election by just 280 votes.”

Ever the tenacious advocate for workers’ rights, Marilyn decided to expand her knowledge by attending our Campaign School two years into her service with Worker Power. She wanted to learn how to run strong field campaigns, and this free, month-long in-residence training program dedicated to educating the next generation of organizers fit the bill. Classes included instructions around voter registration, how to build a successful campaign, antilabor politics, current political issues, and day-to-day operations of Worker Power campaigns and field organizers in them.

Following her graduation, Marilyn’s expectations were unmatched. “Attending Campaign School was helpful on so many levels. First, I got better acquainted with the root causes of economic inequality and the history of the civil rights movement. Second, I was surprised to learn how closely they were related to the labor movement. Third, it was great learning more about my colleagues and organizers, their lives, and the work they had done previously. This newly gleaned knowledge helped me put things in perspective and made me realize that all the good fights won in the past were not given to working people; we had to fight to win them.”