Why do people sometimes choose not to participate in politics, even when they care deeply about the subject matter? This study examines the elusive phenomenon of political non-participation using a case study of the Stop General Iron (2018-2022) organizing campaign in Chicago’s Southeast Side. A suite of interviews with both participants and non-participants in the campaign allows the researcher to compare and contrast interviewees’ perceptions of state, society and self that shape their decision to participate or not. The results illustrate the decisive role of interlocutors’ estimation of their own skills, or the “value” they believe they bring to an organizing campaign. I term this variable personal efficacy. These results both expand on and complicate prior scholarship on political participation in marginalized communities.