On February 7, 2017 Elizabeth Warren stood at the Senate podium reading a letter from Coretta Scott King, that addressed years of civil rights abuses of Senator Jeff Sessions, who was awaiting confirmation for Attorney General of the United States of America.
“Mr Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens,” Senator Warren stated.
Mitch McConnell (let’s vote him out) demanded Warren stop reading. She didn’t. He demanded again. She continued until the GOP voted to silence her. When silenced, McConnell said “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless She Persisted.”
Elizabeth Warren spoke truth to power and when silenced, she stood strong and continued speaking truth to power.
As Michael Bloomberg was spending five hundred million dollars to buy the Democratic nomination, Elizabeth Warren again persisted. For a moment, Bloomberg provided relief to many panicking about Trump’s reelection (me too, initially). We soon understood the potential costs of electing a man who’s record of racism and sexism is a mini mirror of this president.
Elizabeth Warren saw the danger. She exposed the truth on the debate stage. The Media reported this as a boon to Bernie. Elizabeth Warren courageously stood up to Bloomberg and Bernie benefits? Somebody please explain that.
In 2015, Jason Gruber, a dear friend and activist, endlessly proselytized Warren. I didn’t get it. I couldn’t see past her primary-colored cardigan blazers. Because she moves through the world with subtly and I lack subtly, because she didn’t hit me over the head, because my vision was skewed, I moved past her.
This primary season, my wife asked me to look deeper. This is what I saw.
I saw a woman who believes America needs reshaping, who recognizes that the systems we’ve designed benefit a few while many suffer, so she created a wall of plans to do just that.
I saw a woman who isn’t radical in her ideology, who was a Harvard professor and a grade school teacher, who wanted to jail bankers in 2008 and who is working on systems to avoid the next financial collapse.
I saw a woman who knows that universal childcare would dramatically reshape our country, as every child would have a head start.
I saw a women who would pay for services with a two cent wealth tax for anybody earning above fifty million dollars. “Wealth Tax” is a name that made wealthy people feel villainized. As a brand specialist, I would have preferred a different name. Yet being up close and personal to wealth, I know the loopholes exist to benefit the wealthy. I live in a city where the most profitable corporation barely pays taxes. If Bloomberg has the means to spend five hundred million dollars to win American Samoa, he can afford a tax that would give Americans a way up. That’s patriotic.
Mostly, I again witnessed our conscious and unconscious bias against brilliant and driven women. A bias that lead to 84% negative media coverage of Hillary Clinton in 2016 vs 43% negative of Trump. Explain that.
Warren received both a combination of criticism and a media blackout.
Did you know she placed third in Iowa? Did you know The Root magazine, an African American online zine, ranked her highest out of any candidate in African American issues? Did you know she knows the exact cost of medicare for all and Bernie waves his hand when asked the same? Did you know that her campaign staff resembled all of America?
Of course, these are rhetorical questions. Point is America, when are we going to break free from our bias about women? I judged her in 2015 as too “school marmy”. Boy was I wrong and so superficially conditioned in my thinking.
If we keep missing women, if we keep judging women, if we continue to hold women to higher standards, if say yet again ‘that wasn’t the right woman but the next one will be’, old white guys will continue to determine our rights and our future.
How is it that we love our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives yet fear empowered women? I’m not talking about powerful women, because power requires other people. I’m talking about empowered women. Women who have defied the odds by breaking through barriers. Women who trust themselves to speak truth. Women who have endured objectification and are still standing.
Hillary was too shrill. Elizabeth didn’t listen. Kamala too angry. Amy was mean to her staff. C’mon people. We are bringing this upon ourselves.
When we judge women, we remain stuck in the status quo.
Perhaps you remember the debate moderators asking candidates about forgiveness or giving a gift? All the men on stage gifted their book. The two women on stage, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren asked for forgiveness. Spoke volumes to me.
Elizabeth Warren knows what we need. Hers are not lofty ideas. She crossed every T, every I is dotted and every penny accounted for.
This is who we let slip away. Let’s not do it again. Please.
For the sake of our girls. For the women who have been pioneering and blazing trials. It’s time follow. If you hungering for change, if you want a more just society, if you believe in peace, you will follow an empowered woman, champion her causes, wear her shirt and amplify her voice.
As Elizabeth reminded us on the debate stage, enough will never be enough. She will never quit. We must not either. We must never give up working towards the world we believe is possible. We must lend a hand and speak truth to power. We must show up at the polls and vote. We must care enough to persist even when persisting doesn’t feel like enough.
Change keeps rearing it’s empowered head and we keep looking at the man to see what he’s doing.
Be brave. Be bold. Trust women. I’m talking to women as well. We are more than good enough. We deserve to be heard and to lift each other up. It’s our time. LFG.
With love and gratitude.
:: Genessa
P.S. The only Easy Activism is to watch Elizabeth Warren being interview by Rachel Maddow. A complete mind, heart and dog connection. These two women are my spirit animal.