Walking With Warnock Is a Family Affair

Bill Eville Thursday, January 7 2021 - 6:27pm

One summer, about nine years ago, when my daughter was three years old and the Rev. Raphael Warnock came for his annual visit, she grabbed him by the hand.

One summer, about nine years ago, when my daughter was three years old and the Rev. Raphael Warnock came for his annual visit to Martha’s Vineyard, she grabbed him by the hand and led him upstairs to her room to take him on a tour of her extensive dead bug collection.

Raphael reminds us of that moment while letting on that his son, now two years old, has a dead bug collection, although his is more specific.

“Lady bugs,” Raphael says with a deep laugh. “He collects dead lady bugs.”

It is New Year’s Eve. Pickle (her nickname) is now 12 years old and instead of showing Raphael her dead bug collection she is canvassing for him every day in Atlanta, going door to door to get out the vote for his historic U.S. Senate run, to poster the streets and, at this moment, to hand him a hat and noisemaker to celebrate the New Year.

My wife, the Rev. Cathlin Baker, and Raphael have been friends since they met as Union Seminary students in the 1990s — studying together, fighting for social justice together, marching together and growing together. Their relationship deepened, along with the whole family, as Raphael came to preach at the West Tisbury Congregational Church every summer on the Vineyard, and Cathlin preached twice at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

And so when the Georgia runoff election for the U.S. Senate was announced we made the decision to drive to Atlanta to help out in any way we could. We left the day after Christmas, bringing with us family friends Kyra Whalen and Jennifer Frank.

•

Election day is five days away and we feel honored that Raphael has chosen to spend a quiet New Year’s Eve with us, along with his sister Wandetta. The windows are open, we are masked and social distanced, but we are together.

Raphael tells us stories about the campaign trail, about all the people he has met around the state, about hiring a staff and learning the ways of campaigning (his first), and the origins of his puppy commercials which went viral.

In turn we tell him about watching training videos every evening and then being deployed around the city during the day, getting out the vote and helping to counter voter suppression.

Most of the neighborhoods we visit are poor, disenfranchised places where people struggle in ways I cannot imagine. In a former life I would have avoided these neighborhoods. Now I take my children there and burst with pride as I watch my 16-year-old son Hardy walk up to a stranger’s door to encourage him to vote. I am impressed with Hardy and to be honest I am a bit impressed with myself as a parent, offering up this experience to him. But my bubble quickly pops as a hard looking young man comes to the door and tells Hardy to get off the porch in expletive-laced words.

We beat a hasty retreat.

•

That is what the ground game looks like. Moments of anger or knocking for nothing — no one home yet again — offset with moments of beauty when a woman comes to the door and you explain that her absentee ballot has been rejected for any number of reasons but here is how to fix it and she puts her hands together in prayer and thanks you.

At one house Pickle and I knock on a door and then step back to create social distance while we wait for a response. But as I step I nudge something metallic. I look down and see that I have kicked a bullet shell casing. In fact, the front yard is full of bullet shell casings. Pickle and I back away quickly and move on to the next house.

As Pickle relates this story to Raphael, he suggests that we come to Savannah for the weekend. He will hold a rally there, in his hometown, with Vice President elect Kamala Harris, among others.

•

In Raphael’s puppy commercials he loves dogs and they love him. But at the moment I am not loving my own dog. We have traveled to Savannah with the dog (when we travel as a family we leave no one behind) but have now found out that dogs cannot attend rallies. I do the dad thing and say I will take it for the team and stay behind with the dog. And since the rally is set to be a long one, four hours or so, I drive back to Atlanta. Later that night texts from the kids roll in.

“Dad, after the rally we went out with Raphael to a restaurant.”

“Dad, people keep coming up to the table. Raphael just took pictures with two little boys.”

“Dad, the owner of the restaurant stopped by to say hello. She was at home but ran down the street when she heard Raphael was here. She told him her family is all Republican but she is for Raphael.”

“Dad, we got to see inside of Raphael’s campaign bus.”

“Dad, we wish you were here with us.”

•

Back in Atlanta, we hit the campaign trail again, driving, walking, talking, calling, doing whatever our ever-growing network of staffers and volunteers asks us to do. The organization is incredible. It is Jan. 4 and as I walk the streets, seeing signs and posters and images of Raphael Warnock, I swing from excitement to anxiety every few minutes. We all do. We can’t sleep. We stress eat. We watch the movie Selma. We go to another rally, this time featuring President-elect Joe Biden. We are front row and there is our friend Raphael with the President-elect, and thousands of people are going nuts. Pickle and I invent a new dance routine and a man says to me, “Nice moves.”

I have never been told I have nice moves but here in Atlanta it feels like anything is possible.

•

On election day we all wake up at 5:30 a.m. to start the day as poll monitors. Cathlin puts on her white clerical color and I marvel, as I so often do, at this woman I have known since we were in high school. She has always walked the heartfelt path, the way of humility and justice and selfless courage. Raphael once introduced her as “My sister with the righteous rap sheet,” referencing her activism arrest record, and I beamed with pride. For so long I felt as if I walked with her from a bit of a distance where activism and standing up for what you believe was concerned, not wanting or knowing how to put myself on the line. But this morning I am side by side with my wife and my children.

At our polling location more than half the voters find out they are at the wrong location. We give them directions to their correct polling location, urging them to stay the course and get their vote counted. Every potential voter is determined and focused and I let myself begin to believe — just a little bit.

In the afternoon we knock on more doors. When I pick up more literature I meet a woman who attends Raphael’s church. As we talk she tells me she remembers Cathlin preaching at Ebenezer, remembers her words and her spirit. We are masked but there is no stopping our hug.

In the evening we head to a place called the Georgia Beer Garden, across from campaign headquarters. A few friends and family are gathering there to watch the returns with Raphael. People keep texting me. Their energy is frenetic. But in the bar, it is mellow. Raphael chats quietly with everyone, does not even look at the TV, and acknowledges it will be a long night or more likely several days before anything is known.

But as the evening continues the mood shifts — up, down, up, down and then up, up, up. Raphael and his team move across the street to prepare. Then we are told to come across the street too, to be part of this historic moment. We walk through a metal detector and head upstairs to the war room.

When the verdict is clear, the campaign manager whispering the numbers coming in from Dekalb county long before Steve Kornacki will deliver them on the news, a ripple moves through those of us gathered. It starts quietly, almost tentatively, but then explodes with cheers and clapping and tears.

Before making a speech to the room, before giving thanks, Raphael calls his 82-year-old mother in Savannah.

“Mom, can you hear me?” he asks. “This is Reverend Senator Warnock calling.”

The crowd erupts in cheers and then quiets down as Raphael listens to his mother on the phone. He turns to everyone.

“She says she is still Mama.”

•

The day after the election I wake before dawn. We were up very late but I can’t sleep. I drive to the coffee shop where I have gone each morning while in Atlanta to start my day. After I get my coffee and head back to my car I decide I don’t want to drive right now, choosing instead to walk.

Atlanta is a city of murals. I walk down Edgewood Avenue and pass a mural of the late Congressman John Lewis. A few more steps and I pass a mural of Stacey Abrams. Then George Floyd appears three stories high. I turn off Edgewood and head down Jackson which leads to Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King center. And all along the way are images of Raphael Warnock. My heart is so full that I decide to keep walking.

The sun is rising in Atlanta. I have my shoes on. And I am ready.

Comments

The beauty I needed today.

Nili Beth Morgan Vineyard Haven

The beauty I needed today.
Thank you.

Thanks for bringing us on

Patricia Chilmark

Thanks for bringing us on this historic journey with you Bill!

Nice moves, man, nice moves.

Paul K. West Tisbury

Nice moves, man, nice moves.

Wonderful story and a needed

Anne Tisbury

Wonderful story and a needed tonic during the horrors in Washington.

Thank you so much for a story

Angela Andersen West Tisbury

Thank you so much for a story filled with hope and heart. It is even more beautiful because it not only rings true but is the truth. We'll need more of just that.

Stellar, as always. I spoke

Dana Nunes Chilmark

Stellar, as always. I spoke with Cathlin in the grocery shortly before Christmas and she told me you were all getting ready to head to Georgia. Thanks for your good work and the biggest thanks for teaching your children that there’s more to life than painting their nails and breaking their toys. They were a part of history; this lesson will never leave them. Parenting doesn’t get much better than that.

Bill, Thanks for the

Tony Omer West Tisbury

Bill, Thanks for the wonderful story and for your family's work on the campaign. You guys no doubt put RW over the top.

I second Dana's final thought

tuni deignan Indianapolis

I second Dana's final thought, you gave your children a priceless gift.

Late reply, but I still want

Rita Edgartown

Late reply, but I still want to chime in.

This gift to your children was PRICELESS. It may even continue to influence them their entire lives. I can still remember working on campaigns with my mother more than 50 years ago.

Knocking on doors in a neighborhood that differs significantly from your own can be quite a learning experience, whether the neighborhood is browner than yours, wealthier, or struggling compared to yours. Exposure to what differs from your environment is invaluable, especially when you’re in action.

I did the same with my children & their friends. They will always remember being 3 black 7th graders knocking on doors in a white republican Philadelphia neighborhood. Some stereotypes were reinforced, some were shattered.

Thank you Bill for sharing

Nick T. West Sussex, United Kingdom

Thank you Bill for sharing this amazing experience with us and also for helping Reverend Warnock win this crucial election.

There are defining moments in

Harry Seymour Oak Bluffs

There are defining moments in our lives that reveal the time in which we live, and what there is in our hearts and minds. The Warnock victory is such a moment, marking still one more historical indicator of a nation’s progress toward equality and justice. The Eville family has shown what is in their hearts and minds by joining those who tirelessly devoted themselves to electing the first Black Senator from Georgia. For their roll, I am most grateful.

Thank you for sharing this

Karen Mashpee

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story- it’s what we all need to read today!

Thanks Bill for your great

Anna Alley West Tisbury

Thanks Bill for your great journal of your family's experience helping Rev. Senator Wornak get elected in this very important election. So amazing following Rev. Wornak's journey. I finally managed to get to church in the summer, two years ago when he was preaching to a sold out attendance at church where I had to sit in the parish hall, which was also packed, and watch him on the tv monitor there. He is special. So glad he and Cathlin are such good friends. I hope you all are returning home safely.

Cathlin's the catharsis we

skip OB

Cathlin's the catharsis we needed - Bill and Senator Warnock knew way before we did. Thank you SO much

Beautiful commentary and

Marcia Walton Atlanta,Ga

Beautiful commentary and thank you and your family for all your support for my pastor . I have been to your church many times to hear Rev Warnock preach in West Tisbury and I have heard your wife, Rev Baker preach at my church in Atlanta. The story of their long friendship is inspiring and beautiful. Thank you for all your support for Rev Senator Raphael Gamalial Warnock. Looking forward to seeing you all in the Vineyard when it is safe.

Wow! You guys were at the

Cathy W West Tisbury

Wow! You guys were at the center of history being made! Thanks for that wonderful inside look. That phone call to his mom. I'm so grateful he won.

Thank you for this beautiful

Susan Levine New York and VH

Thank you for this beautiful essay. Sadly, Reverend Senator Warnock's victory was quickly overshadowed by the horrific events in our capitol. Thank you for reminding us of the very important work done by folks on the ground in GA. And thank you for your writing, which often brings me to tears (in a good emotional way). I'm happy, too, that Rev. Senator Warnock has a Vineyard connection.

Thank you, Bill Eville and

Alfred E Badger Oak Bluffs mass

Thank you, Bill Eville and family for your dedication and support!

Thank you so much for this

Elisa Speranza New Orleans

Thank you so much for this story. I woke up angry and exhausted and this gave me hope—and reminded me of one of the many reasons I love the Vineyard.

Why would you wake up angry

bigbeet connecticut

Why would you wake up angry and exhausted?

Bill, I throughly enjoyed

Mary Wolverton Vineyard Haven

Bill, I throughly enjoyed reading the wonderful account of your family's participation in such an historic and important election. What an amazing event for all of you to be a part of, and for your children to experience a world vastly different from the safe and secure vineyard. You all should be proud and we join you in the celebration! Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank

Sally Apy Edgartown

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Gives me hope.

Thank you Mr. Eville for your

Michael Monterey

Thank you Mr. Eville for your and your family’s contribution to restoring our democracy, and giving power to the powerless, and for giving us a poignant glimpse into the inside of a historic campaign. This was much needed after what we witnessed on Wednesday. Thank you.

Thank you Bill for sharing

Helene Barr West tiz

Thank you Bill for sharing this extraordinary experience with your family and senator-elect warnock’s family. Beginning with the children’s bug collections and the puppy commercials to walking in the early morning in Atlanta passing by the murals of John Lewis. Stacey Abrams and George Floyd you offer us visions of a better,safer more generous world.

Thank you for sharing this

Mary Beth VH

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story and photo.
The hope and gratitude it gives is so welcome. Similar to what we all felt when we encountered Rev Warnock at WT church.

So inspiring and heart

Tamara Chin Vineyard Haven

So inspiring and heart warming! Thank you for taking that drive for America!

Thank you for sharing this

Alison Wilmington, Delaware

Thank you for sharing this moving, inspiring & heartwarming experience - a reflection of all that is good in the human heart & our common humanity.

And it is the perfect antidote to the headlines of divisiveness & polarity & an example of how to be in the face of that. It would be if benefit to all of us in the US to distribute this widely.

I love this Bill - wish I'd

Alison Mayer Atlanta

I love this Bill - wish I'd known you were here in Atlanta - I would have kept the dog for you!! Next time ❤️

Thank you, Bill, for showing

Cynthia Riggs West Tisbury

Thank you, Bill, for showing us what it takes to keep our nation strong.

Thank you Mr. Eville for this

Margaret Bush Ware Los Angeles, CA

Thank you Mr. Eville for this wonderful article depicting your family's journey with and for Rev. Senator Raphael Warnock. I have been traveling to Martha's Vineyard for the past 20 years (COVID-19 kept me away in 2020). I look forward to hearing the Senator speak at your Church this summer, so please keep the Gazette informed! I'm an avid reader of the periodical. Looking forward to the changes his contribution to the United States government will make.

What a beautiful experience

Elaine Weintraub West Tisbury.

What a beautiful experience and your kids will carry this teal history with them forever. Blessings to you all amd such a joyful result in Georgia.

What a wonderful story Bill.

Helen Setera Edgartown

What a wonderful story Bill. I feel like I was there in spirit with your beautiful family. Feels great to be part of a pivotal moment in history.
Bravo my friends!

You had me from "dead bugs".

Michael West Vineyard Haven

You had me from "dead bugs". Bless you and your wonderful family.

Hi Bill,

Annie Woods San Francisco

Hi Bill,

Thanks for a beautiful rendition of this very special day.

Your story was the Epiphany I

Mary Fuller Bourne, Ma

Your story was the Epiphany I needed after watching the terrible events in Washington. Your great story renews my faith and hope for peace in our country. Thank you for sharing.

That felt good, thanks.

Mike Horrigan

That felt good, thanks.

Thanks to you and your for

Claire Ganz Chilmark

Thanks to you and your for family for all you do. Wonderful story.

We are fortunate to have a

Jennifer Riseborough-Coor, Cambridge & Chilmark

We are fortunate to have a family like yours living on the Vineyard.

Thank you for sharing. Your

Karen Kushi Santa Monica, CA

Thank you for sharing. Your family proves that we are all in this together. If we can each do our part, whether it be big or small, 2021 will be brighter!

Yes, such a beautiful story -

Deborah J Mayhew West Tisbury

Yes, such a beautiful story - the story itself, but also Bill's usual wonderful writing! It reminds me of my own growing up in WT in the 60s, when my Mom Shirley Mayhew and the other Mom's in our tiny village were so active in the civil rights movement, and gave us kids a lesson in political activism. They went to march down South, and we hosted a contingent of black American civil rights activists from Atlanta here on the Island. We did not fully understand it all at the time (barely teenagers) but nevertheless it left a lasting impression and a foundation for a set of values. Your kids are lucky to have you providing an even more direct experience of civic involvement. Proud to learn of Rev. Warnock's affiliation with the WT Church!

Wonderful inspirational story

Alex Millspaugh Carrabbassett Valley, ME

Wonderful inspirational story Bill. Need that now.

A highlight of my local

T E Hopkins Oak Bluffs

A highlight of my local activism has been walking the CropWalk with Pickle and Mom. This family is an inspiration to us all!

Bill as always you and

Donna Boles Oak Bluffs/New Jersey

Bill as always you and Cathlin are about doing the right thing. It is impressive how you not only allow your children to experience real life situations but you have also harnessed the importance of their participation in such. They not only participate willingly but also feel the responsibility and importance of putting their voices on the table! Kudos to you and Cathlin for enlightening them in a responsible manner. Safe travels home and many hugs for assisting Rev Warnock in his successful senator journey. We definitely need more God loving servants in our political houses. Happy New Year!

Thank you for this lovely

Tracey Reeves Atlanta

Thank you for this lovely commentary. As a native New Englander who has traveled to the Vineyard many times-so much so that it has become my favorite place on the planet-I appreciate your relationship with the Reverend and Senator-elect Warnock.

Thanks for sharing that

Dee Hamden , CT

Thanks for sharing that insightful narrative ! I met Raphael Warnock one Summer many years ago as he walked into Deons at the VFW and wanted to know if this the place ! He was warm and friendly and of course told the elder Dee and I he was there at the UCC church. We all had good food and an engaging conversation ! Dee who is 90 plus felt something special about him ! I recently reminded her he was now the first Black Senator from Georgia ! I just remember how kind and down to earth he was !

Bill - thank you so much for

jacqueline novogratz new york

Bill - thank you so much for this gorgeous journal. your family helped make history and I continue to learn from you. Your humility and resolve has moved me mightily. Love Jacqueline

Amazing writing, as always!

Jane Tisbury

Amazing writing, as always! Thank you for sharing your family’s experience with us. You must be so proud. Now I will wait for the next story involving chickens, bunnies etc. They are my favorites!

Thank you so much for coming

Leslie Bryan OB and Atlanta

Thank you so much for coming down! We Georgians so appreciate all of the help and support we received from around the country and are proud of what we all accomplished together.

Such a beautiful, moving

Alison Shaw

Such a beautiful, moving story, Bill – it truly moved me to tears. Thank you to you, Cathlin, Hardy and Pickle – what an amazing experience for all of you, and most especially for your children.

Another great piece, Bill,

Tom MacFarlane Philadelphia

Another great piece, Bill, and your story is one I’ve been sharing with my students down here every chance I get to keep their hopes up as they look on in outrage and anxiety. Rev. Warnock will bring so much to the Senate. Included in what I am sure are his own many direct experiences of the system’s glaring double standard is being arrested himself in the Capitol while praying in peaceful protest just last year. We all so badly need his heart, wisdom and personal story there right now.
I love the deep connection that your family has to him and how you’ve extended the circle now to all of us. Thank you!

Walking With Warnock Is a Family Affair

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