Excerpt from the Fairborn Daily Herald
Activism came early to Eleanor Tripp, a student in Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology and a co-founder of Dayton Indivisible for All, which fights intolerance, racism and authoritarianism.
When she was growing up in the village of Siren, Wisconsin, Tripp would help her mother wage tobacco-cessation campaigns. Tripp and another teenage friend produced and starred in movie trailers designed to expose the dangerous products in cigarettes and show how cigarette advertising focused on young people.
She and her friend would go into gas station convenience stores and surreptitiously film the flashy cigarette signs and ads designed to catch the eye of young people with placement next to candy and ice cream. The trailers were shown at the town’s movie theater.
“I guess it was like mini baby activism back then,” said Tripp.
Flash forward to 2016.
Tripp is sitting in her forensic psychology class at Wright State discussing with fellow students the criminal justice system, legislation that would impact them as psychologists and their disappointment in the outcome of the presidential election. The discussion leads to a decision by the students to start a chapter of the Indivisible movement, which teaches its members how to effect political change by becoming peaceful but creative activists at the local level.
The students created a Facebook page, designed a logo, came up with a name and within the first week had hundreds of members. The group currently holds monthly meetings at a local church. The meetings have included presentations by local advocacy groups and generally feature a discussion of issues and legislative processes. Members have planned and taken part in a local women’s march, a health care rally and made office visits to lawmakers.
