Leading up to the 2024 presidential election, 5th Ward resident Emily Miller (Weinberg ’11) hosted postcard writing events for her two book clubs to help get out the Democratic vote.
When President Donald Trump took office for his second term and Elon Musk launched the Department of Government Efficiency, she and 6th Ward resident Savanna Essig-Fox wanted to take action, Essig-Fox said.
“We were meeting to be like, ‘We’re freaking out. This is awful. What can we do in terms of actions?’” she said.
In early February, the pair created posters that read, “Why does the richest man on Earth know our social security numbers?” and put them up in Metra stations, at Fountain Square and around Northwestern’s campus. A QR code on the poster took people to what is now called the Pink Poster Club website, which provides educational resources and suggests action items like calling legislators.
After this first poster, the two became hooked on postering. The Pink Poster Club also recruited members of their book clubs to join them.
In its two months of existence, the club has already printed five different posters on bright pink paper. Members have hung the posters around the city and passed them out to residents at places like school pick up. The club has also attended three protests, including the “Hands Off!” rally at Daley Plaza on Saturday.
The club’s name comes from the song “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan, because it has become “an anthem for being who you are,” Essig-Fox said.
Poster inspiration comes from issues club members think are important, Miller said.
When a new poster drops and postering efforts are underway, Miller posts updates on the club’s Instagram page, @pink.posterclub. The account has over 300 followers, some from other Chicago suburbs. Miller said people often message the account asking for a copy of the poster to hang around their towns.
The two founders also post on their own Instagram accounts and promote the work of Pink Poster Club to break through right-wing influence on social media, Essig-Fox said.
For Miller, getting people to mobilize through social media and posters is a way of reclaiming politics.
“Politics has been an ugly word, and I think it’s been done on purpose, like the idea that to be invested in politics is not for the ordinary person,” Miller said. “Politics is how we organize ourselves. Politics is about what happens in your community.”
The club, made up of mostly mothers, protests against threats to public education, women’s rights and the LGBTQ+ community to protect children’s futures and teach them about kindness, 6th Ward resident and club member Kelly Mack said.
As a small business owner and mother, Mack said making time to poster and attend protests is a sacrifice, but taking action has helped improve her mental health and not feel overwhelmed by the notion that “the world is burning.”
Essig-Fox emphasized that everyone involved with Pink Poster Club could be doing something else — work-wise or family-wise — but chooses to be involved because of what’s at stake.
Seventh Ward resident Lisa Leicht said she had never been very politically active, except when Trump first became president, which she protested in Washington D.C. Now, however, she’s a mother of three girls, whose futures she says she is now standing up for.
Being involved with the Pink Poster Club is “energizing” and “rejuvenating” in a time that otherwise feels isolating, she said.
“It’s not necessarily typical for me to be going out at 9 p.m. at night and wandering the streets of Evanston putting up posters,” Leicht said. “But these are unprecedented times, and it’s important to stand out and say that this is not normal.”
Email: a.prakash@dailynorthwestern.com
X: @anavi_52
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