[street traffic noise] [music] JEAN GROW: Indivisible was founded in 2016 by two congressional staffers, and it has grown immensely since then.

It's really open to anybody, any walk of life, any age, any race, ethnicity, any person of good conscience who's willing to fight the rise of authoritarianism and try to build a democracy that really represents all of us is welcome and indivisible.

Today the group has over 3,000 smaller groups across the United States.

They're in every state and in Wisconsin we have 76 groups.

In Milwaukee proper, There are two but ringing the city and in Greater Milwaukee there are almost a dozen.

So in October of 2025 that was the second major march and there were seven million people in 2,700 roughly cities across the United States.

Indivisible had been on my radar for a while and since the current administration's return and then seeing ice officers who look more like frankly slave catchers on the street it has been horrifying to me and that really got me to think we have to do something and I have to be part of the we.

In November I decided to launch Indivisible Milwaukee and I wanted to incorporate Milwaukee's very long rich and deep history of activism as part of the group.

In my group, it's grown very quickly, to give you a little bit of a sense of who we are also make sense because there are two sort of aspects to my group.

One are individual people like you or I who join but also we are a hub for the diverse organizations that already exist.

So our mission is to support Milwaukee's spirit of political resistance.

Together with Milwaukee's diverse civic and community organizations we fight for social and economic justice for all especially for those who have been marginalized for far too long and we celebrate the creativity that magnifies that work.

But more importantly we are a hub for these organizations.

But what happens is those organizations need help they let us know I post it on our social media, I push it out to Indivisible Milwaukee's individuals, and then I push it out to all of the groups in the greater Milwaukee area which then pushes it out to probably a few thousand people.

So for instance, the other day I got a notice from Anita at Souls to the Polls they need drivers.

I pushed that out.

She was able to get more drivers.

Many of our members are verified trainers, legal observers, and marshals so we have training and nonviolence.

I think a pretty professional volunteer organization.

[music] JEAN GROW: Milwaukee has such a storied history.

When it comes to race relations, we have Vel Phillips and James Groppi.

On the other side, when we're thinking about people who have fought for labor rights, we have Jesus Salas and Ernesto Chacon.

The history in Milwaukee is rich, and if we can tap into it, I think we have a lot to learn.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Can you talk about the funding of your organization?

How it works to have the financial resources?

JEAN GROW: To be honest, funding is lean.

Indivisible does offer some grants, which you can apply for, but they're really of modest amounts, maybe $1,000 to get your organization off the ground.

So to really do the kind of work that we'd like to do, the boots on the ground that can really propel us forward, we rely on donations from members.

And we need it because beyond our hub, we also believe strongly in sharing knowledge, because as we all know, knowledge is power.

It's really important to us that we bring knowledge and not just march in the street.

Marching in the street's important, but I think we want to be more than that.

We want to support individuals and organizations.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Are there any actions that you are planning regarding specifically to immigration rights?

JEAN GROW: Well, for one, we do join the marches.

We are very supportive of the large May Day rally.

We have a designer on staff, which we offer if they need help.

And then just in general, regarding mutual aid, when there's a need, we will try to be there to help them.

That's a little trickier because it's not something that we can just put out into the Internet and have it happen.

It's a little more dicey, but we are there to help because we really believe that immigrants are just as much a part of our community as anyone else.

And honestly, with a rare exception, and that exception being our indigenous neighbors, we are all immigrants.

To target black and brown people and rip them off the street seems against everything that American represents.

It does not represent due process.

It does not represent the rule of law.

And it's really, in many ways, driven by the whims of an authoritarian trying to pit us against each other.

Pitting people against each other historically in an American context is not new.

I mean, we saw it in the civil rights movement.

We saw it in the Civil War.

And we saw it in the push to take indigenous lands for European immigrants.

It's not new, but it is also something that we must keep fighting for.

And we try to work as closely with Voces and Comité as we can.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Can you tell us about how those meetings happen?

I know that you have some plans for a north part of the city, the south side of the city.

JEAN GROW: Yes.

And I appreciate that you noticed that, because I think that it's very important that we try to bring our meetings to the people.

So rather than just establishing ourselves in one spot, we thought, well, let's go to the north side where there's one community or maybe two diverse communities that cluster.

And then in the next month, we go to the south side where we have a couple other communities tend to live.

We always try to have a Spanish interpreter or have someone speak who is bilingual.

We are really happy to have new members.

And we seek out diverse, especially young new members, because it's time for us to let the young people take over.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: We are so grateful for your efforts, not just for coming to this show, but also for all what you are trying to deliver for the next generations.

JEAN GROW: I just want to say I often think of my parents when I am having to deal with the things that we are all dealing with.

And my dad was a die-hard Democrat union president, and my mother was a rural Republican.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Oh, my goodness.

JEAN GROW: Yes.

But in our house, there was love and tolerance, and it seemed normal to me, and it crushes my soul that people with differing points of view today don't have a sense of love and care for each other.

And honestly, I have no doubt that if my parents were alive today, both of them would be a part of Indivisible Milwaukee, pushing back against the rise of authoritarianism.

So thank you so much for having me.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Un diálogo necesario sobre el papel de nuestra comunidad en la vigilancia civil.

Pueden encontrar más información sobre sus acciones en sitio del Internet de Indivisible.

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