Phoenix Sanderell
Template:TOCnestleft Phoenix Sanderell joined Socialist Alternative in Columbus Ohio in December 2019. They use the gender pronouns they and them. “I joined SA because I was finally in a position to spend my time and money to join the fight to help myself, my family, and other people,” they said. “For years I’ve wanted to be more active politically, and now that I’m more financially stable, I’m finally able to do that. And I think SA is the best organization to get stuff done.”
Sanderell and their family were homeless for a long time. “Homelessness is like a crucible,” they said. “It changes everything you are. It changes everything about your life. It made me see a lot of things really clearly — made me see how much suffering there is in the world.
“All the despair I felt during that time has turned to rage,” they said. “I am righteously furious that my family had to go through that. Tens of thousands of other people have been through the same thing. Something has to be done about it! I want to be a part of the solution so that no one else has to go through what my family and I went through.”
The change that Sanderell wants to see the most is rent control. “I also want to see a living wage and drastic action on climate change,” they said. “I think a lot of that can be started at the local level.
“Socialism is about taking care of each other as a species,” Sanderell said. “The most basic biological function we have is friendship and community. We are lacking that in today’s society, especially here in the United States. Socialism seeks to change that so that we can lift one another up, and all of us can live better lives.”[1]