Here we are again.

Eight years ago, in response to a deep urge to do something meaningful for our democracy, communities, and children, Learn Together, Live Together (LTLT) was born.

We held our first meeting in December 2016, and by November 2017, we had become an official 501(c)3. We celebrated with an event featuring former U.S. Secretary of Education John King.

In the years that followed, our grassroots movement for school integration in DC grew. We partnered with groups like EmpowerEd, Kindred, PAVE, and the Integrated Schools DC chapter to advance a message of diverse and equitable schools for all.

Our momentum peaked with LTLT’s #RetireSegregation event on the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education at Sousa Middle School, the site of DC’s school desegregation case. It was a powerful day, filled with optimism and vision for real progress.

That was 5 years ago. After that, LTLT quietly faded.

For those who know me well, you know why. For those who don’t, my mom’s battle with cancer took a significant turn. I stepped away from work and DC to care for her during her final six months. In 2020, my world – as many’s did – began to spiral—my mom passed away, COVID hit, George Floyd was murdered, and other personal losses followed. I fell into a period of grief and depression that I only began to emerge from in 2022.

There has been a lot of joy in my life since then—becoming a yoga teacher, working for the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD), and marrying the love of my life. But as life moved forward, the spark for LTLT hadn’t reignited.

Until yesterday. A familiar feeling has returned. LTLT started with Trump, and here we are again.

I’m not sure what should be done or if LTLT should have a role, but if you’re reading this, I’d love to reconnect. I want to hear what you’re thinking and feeling, and if you see a path forward for LTLT.

While we’re just beginning to analyze this election, a few things stand out:

We are a deeply divided country, but the widest growing divide is education. Voters with higher levels of education tended to support Harris, while those with less education favored Trump.

According to exit polls, 61% of voters with advanced degrees supported Harris, compared to only 37% for Trump. Among voters who never attended college, 62% supported Trump versus 37% for Harris. Moreover, Trump improved his performance among voters who never attended college, increasing from 54% in 2020. Harris maintained similar levels of support as Biden in 2020 among those with advanced degrees (61-62%).

Harris and Trump both had a diverse coalition of supporters behind them, but more working-class voters turned to Trump this time than in 2020 and 2016.

Trump won 54% of working-class voters, compared to 44% for Harris—a significant shift from 2020 when Biden won 47% of working-class voters, compared to 51% for Trump. Harris’s performance among non-white working-class voters shrunk to 30 percentage points, down from Biden’s 46-point advantage in 2020. Trump improved his performance among Latino/Hispanic voters, about 13-14 points compared to 2020. While Trump’s performance among Black voters remains consistent from 2020 to 2024 (12-13%), that’s up from only 8% in 2016.

Harris pulled off an amazing campaign—raising a record-setting over $1 billion and signed up over 170,000 volunteers in her first week to help with phone banking, canvassing, and other get-out-the-vote efforts. But online, Trump eclipsed Harris on every social media platform (thanks for the data, husband!), including on Instagram (28.8M followers v. 19.6M) and TikTok (13.9M followers v. 9M), where the youngest voters (18-24-year-olds) use these apps as a search engine over Google (67% and 62%, respectively). Google remains the main search engine for all other older age groups (25-65+).

So, here’s what I’m seeing: 1) an education divide, 2) working-class people of all races struggling and seeking change, and 3) the power of social media to shape public opinion and its use as a source of news and information, especially for youth.

Our levels of education segregate us, race and class segregate us, and social media and our news sources segregate us.

What are you seeing?

I’d love to hear from you,
Jenna

Jenna (Tomasello) Roberson
Co-founder, LTLT
jenna@learnlivetogether.org