Donald Trump’s election drove her, a nonpolitical person, to follow in her 'extremely' idealistic father’s footsteps
Some of you have heard me talk about my father in the past. For those of you who have not, if you are interested, read on — I promise, it's relevant!
William Herrick (1915-2004) was a larger-than-life person. His father died during the 1917 flu epidemic when he was 3. His mother was a hatmaker who had emigrated from Odessa around the turn of the century.
He and his sister and brother grew up in and out of foster care, and eventually my father’s older brother Harry took custody of my dad, and changed their names from Horowitz (originally Gurevitch, altered on Ellis Island to Horowitz) to Herrick to help them both find jobs. Their sister, much younger, returned to live with their mother.
My dad’s family (and my mom’s) were communists. My dad (seen above in a photo submitted by the author), extremely idealistic, went South to organize sharecroppers as a very young man, and got beaten up in the midst of that.
Undeterred, he later volunteered for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain to fight the fascists. He got a bullet in the neck in the midst of that. (The bullet could not be safely removed and it remained there his entire life. My brothers and I could feel it when we pressed the scar. After my dad died, my mother had the bullet encased in gold and wore it around her neck until SHE died.)
While in Spain, my father became bitterly disillusioned with communism once he learned about Stalin, and returned to America a virulent anti-Stalinist. He became a court reporter, and helped found the first court reporters’ union. He got beaten up in the midst of that, too! He also met my mother — also a court reporter and an artist — along the way.
Eventually my dad became a suburban guy with three kids. He rode the train to and from the suburbs into Manhattan while I grew up, working as a court reporter for the Supreme Court of New York. Meanwhile, he was writing about his life, and when I was 11, he published his first novel. With some money in his pocket, he quit his job (a few years shy of his pension: Oy!) and we moved upstate from the NYC suburbs, and soon thereafter landed in the Berkshires. He went on to write 11 novels and a memoir. I don’t think any of them are still in print.
Why am I writing about my father? Because I think of him all the time these days. Mostly because while he was alive, I had less than zero interest in politics. I avoided discussions with him because he would become overwrought so easily, and I was interested in other things — a source of frustration for him, I am sure.
And now here I am, almost eight years into these grassroots efforts with 31st Street, a never-before-political suburban woman who has been focused on protecting our democracy with actual action! I feel sad that my father has no idea I turned out to be something of an activist myself.
On the other hand, this brand of activism is privileged to be sure. I have never been beaten up, nor have I ever worried about that! I certainly have never been in danger of getting shot.
But aside from those obvious differences, I have never lived in fear in general. I don’t have to be brave to do the work of 31st Street. And when I think of my father, I am so grateful for that.
And I wish that he knew me now. He would be overwrought by MAGA and the state of our Union, but 31st Street and all its members would make him so happy.
Lisa Herrick is a clinical psychologist with a doctorate from the Catholic University of America, and a bachelor of arts from Swarthmore College. She works with people struggling with relationships — couples trying to improve their marriages, parents and children in distress, and clients who are going through separation and divorce. She has been in practice for 35 years. She had no involvement in politics at all until 2016, when she was so distressed by Donald Trump’s election that she founded a grassroots group that would focus on electing Democrats. She began 31st Street Swing Left (a chapter of the national Swing Left group) in her living room with thirty people. Over the last seven-plus years, the group has grown to include more than 2,100 members, they have raised over $12 million — more than $2.5 million in 2024 alone — and knocked on tens of thousands of doors to canvass voters. 31st Street supports state legislative candidates, and organizations that are focused on voter registration, protection and mobilization. Their motto is “Electing Democrats Through Persistence and Precision.” (Their website can be found at www.31stStreet.org). Herrick is married to Drey Samuelson, who has been working within Democratic politics for more than 40 years, including 28 years as chief of staff for Tim Johnson during his congressional career. She has two grown children and four grandchildren.
