Mothers heed a political 'wake-up call' across the region

A growing number of mothers across the Lower Hudson Valley are giving political activism a shot to support change on a national level and in their own communities.

Women cite a lack of civility in public discourse, a lack of respect for women in the workforce — as highlighted by the #MeToo movement — police treatment of black men, anti-immigrant rhetoric and concerns about over-development in their neighborhoods.

One motive binds them: a wish to raise their children in a more inclusive and just nation.

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Five mothers shared why they were moved to create or join causes in the past year:

Jenn Castelhano, Lewisboro

When it came to politics, Castelhano, 35 and the mother of two, was “blissfully inactive” most of her life.

Up until Election Day 2016, her political activities had been limited to signing up for a planned celebratory event organized by Pantsuit Nation, then a “secret” Facebook group of Hillary Clinton supporters.

Defining moment: The election results jolted her out of her complacency, she said.

“Watching the way Trump treated people and still win put in concrete terms for me that enough people were willing to overlook those things and still vote for him. I thought this is not something we can continue to sit back against,” said Castelhano. “I felt like the best I could do for my children and my family is to get involved and change that narrative going forward.“

Castelhano now co-leads Action Together Northern Westchester, a group which seeks to get people more politically engaged in local issues in northern Westchester County. She curates information on local and national issues to help “bridge the gap” in knowledge and educate people on civic engagement.

“There was a lot of energy out there, but people were not sure how to go about it. Many people were scrambling to find out who their representatives were,” Castelhano said.

She next helped organize “meet and greet” events with local candidates as a precursor to getting voters to the polls, said Castelhano, who worked on county Legislator Kitley Covill’s winning campaign last year.

Tonia Conner, Yonkers

Conner, 51, a mother and grandmother, created the group 100Sistas to bring attention to police brutality. In April, she co- organized the Black Women’s March with Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley in Tarrytown.

Defining moment: When two black men, Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile, outside St. Paul, Minnesota, were shot and killed by police officers in a span of two days in July 2016, sparking widespread protests across the nation.

Conner, 51, said she was worried for her son.

“It is scary to be a black man in America. My grown children were having anxiety attacks. I’ve been mad since Trayvon Martin, but my children struggling with this changed everything,” she said.

The next day, she asked on her Facebook page if she could get “100 sisters” to march with her from City Hall to Trevon Park in Yonkers, where she lives.

They showed up.

“That march sparked something in me,” Conner said.

She said 100Sistas feeds the homeless in Yonkers on weekends and mentors young girls once a week.

“I feel I have an obligation to be the voice of the voiceless,” said Conner. “If I don’t do anything, how can I complain? Too many of us are sitting down Facebooking and tweeting and nobody is doing the work. I want my grandkids to know that their grandmother fought for social justice.”

Shani Bechhofer, Monsey

Eleven years after moving into the town of Ramapo, Bechhofer said she was frustrated by the seemingly free rein developers had in her town.

“They were not managing growth intelligently. There was no integrity or competence in town government,” said Bechhofer, who belongs to the Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey. “There was also no civility.”

Defining moment: The tenor of the 2016 election season, which she said in some ways seemed to be modeled after Ramapo, especially in the aftermath of town Supervisor Christoper St. Lawrence's arrest.

“The election was an absolute spectacle. Neither candidate seemed to have any integrity. It was a low point,” she said.

Last year, she mounted an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Town Board.

But don’t count Bechhofer, an education consultant, out just yet.

“I will be running again," she said. "People want justice. The whole #Metoo movement has been about justice. Society yearns for a just world and that is why I ran. If we want to benefit from democracy, we also need to shoulder the responsibility.”

Nalini Rau-Murthy, Yorktown

As a mother of three grown children, Rau-Murthy, 59, said she was troubled by the world that awaited her children once they entered the workforce.

Defining moment: Rau-Murthy said it was the shock of “things being articulated against women” during the 2016 presidential election.

“It was horrendous to hear that men could get away with mentally and physically abusing women and not be held accountable for their actions,” said Rau-Murthy, referring to Trump’s Access Hollywood tape.

Rau-Murthy, who lives in Yorktown, said the only way she thought she could help her children was to become more active in the public sphere.

“The only thing which will protect them other than the values we give them at home are the values of the society, the values of their workplace. If they are going out into a society where the women are disrespected, it’s not a good environment for anyone,” she said.

For the past one year, she has held and attended “meet and greet” events for local candidates, attended town and school board meetings, volunteered at homeless shelters and town clean-up efforts. She also has also become educated about local issues.

“Where there was such apathy before, the energy now is incredible among women and the youth,” Rau-Murthy said. “Something good has come out of this administration.”

Ivy Pool, Chappaqua

Clinton supporter Ivy Pool, 39, who had worked for years in the public sector, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the results of the election and, in particular, about the anti-immigrant rhetoric that had dominated much of the Trump campaign

Defining moment: “It was a wake-up call for me,” said Pool “I felt it was time for us to take ownership of our own future. I am American and believe it’s the greatest democracy in the world and I felt like we had to fight for it.”

Pool said she decided to jump into the political fray by running for the New Castle Town Board in November.

She won.

“Campaigning was all new to me and it pushed outside my comfort zone, to go door-to- door asking people for their votes,” she said. “I hope more qualified candidates, women in particular, will step up in all levels of government.”

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is the new audience strategist and a member of the Editorial Board for The Journal News/lohud, part of the USA Today Network. She also serves as ombudswoman for the paper.

Twitter: @SwapnaVenugopal