Name: Amma Marfo
Volunteer position at SFOR: Marketing and Copywriting Committee Volunteer
A digital interview with Amma:
What are three words the person closest to you might use to describe you? Creative, funny, determined
How did you find out about this volunteer opportunity? A social media influencer! @thegirlwithamicrophone, the lovely Kate, is a friend of mine from college. I saw her talking about SFOR and got curious.
Why are you striking? I don’t feel like we have a choice. So many other venues for change feel too small or ineffectual for the scale of change we need. It’s time to prove the current way doesn’t work by stopping it in its tracks.
What top issues are you most passionate about? Racial equity and justice, gun control, reproductive justice
What does the word resistance mean to you? It means to loudly and forcibly push back against systems that help too few and harm too many.
Why do you think it’s crucial to organize a general strike right now? It’s been very hard to sustain hope these days, and so many people are fed up. I hope that by harnessing that fed-up-ness, we can show the powers that be that we won’t participate in the current system any longer. The collective breaking point has arrived.
What do you want this general strike to accomplish? I want it to show those in power that they don’t have the support to sustain a broken and inequitable system AND, more importantly, to show those who are struggling to thrive in the current system that they aren’t alone.
What gives you hope? I keep seeing more and more people acknowledge that the system we’re in isn’t working. And crucially, I see those upholding it worry about their ability to hold power. If the will of the people was with them, they wouldn’t try so hard to quiet its voice.
Do you have any reading recommendations (books, articles, etc.) that inspired you to Strike For Our Rights? It’s a silly answer, but the Haymarket Riot Drunk History segment is a fantastic intro to demonstrations that helped establish labor rights as we know them. The Alarmist podcast also has episodes on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Railroad Strike of 1877 that bring humor and history together to teach about these events in labor’s history.
Is there anything else you would like the world to know about you? I’m also a comedian! It’s one of very few things keeping me sane in this world, and writing jokes about what I see and how I feel have helped me work through hard times.
How would you like to sign off?
Let’s go. It’s time. I’m excited to strike alongside you.