I am so honored and excited to have been elected National Organization for Women Charlotte Chapter President. The Installation and champagne reception were very well attended. The Installation was done by our former Charlotte Mayor, Jennifer Roberts. Below is the speech that I gave at the Installation about my vision and goals for NOW Charlotte:
Thank you for electing me and this outstanding slate. We are humbled and ready to get to work. Just a
little about myself. I am the daughter of a minister and an educator. Both of my parents were engaged in issues of
equity and justice. My dad was a voice during civil rights and my mother was an
advocate for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (which recently
took a big blow). Both were very vocal about equity for women. Having grown up
in this environment, I often tell people that activism for justice is in my
DNA. I was very blessed. I have spent my
life in education while all the time advocating for the marginalized students. I spent my career in high poverty schools.
I was asked
to share some of my vision for NOW.
First of
all, let’s clarify feminism. I like the definition given by Bell Hooks in
“Feminism is for Everybody.” She defines feminism as “a movement to combat systemic
and institutional oppression. I like that definition because it is simple and
it implies that all sexist thinking is a problem, whether those who perpetuate
it are female or male, adult or child. It is also broad enough to include an
understanding of systemic institutionalized sexism. Chimamanda, in “We Should
All Be Feminists,” says her definition is that a “feminist is a man or a woman
who says “Yes there is a problem with gender as it is now and we must fix it.”
Love that! Simple and to the point. The
National Organization for Women is the largest organization of feminist
grassroots activist in the US. NOW states as its mission to take action through
grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate
discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls
in all aspects of social, political and economic life.
My vision
for NOW Charlotte can be summed up in 3 words. The first is intersectionality. The term intersectionality
is an academic term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw that has made its way into the
mainstream. Though acceptance is increasing, that does not automatically
translate into implementation. Intersectionality dictates that different
identities, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, etc. cannot be
put into separate little boxes because they are all interconnected. We all have
multilayered facets of life that challenge us. There is no one size fits all in
feminism. All injustice and inequity are intertwined. Intersectionality demands
that we discuss how all these identities affect experiences with oppression.
Truth telling must happen. People who have been victimized and marginalized and
excluded and oppressed must be given a platform to speak and to lead. We must
create a listening space because if we haven’t created an opportunity for
people who are the victims of bigotry to have a voice, then our solutions will
not be very informed. And sometimes, as we listen and become more enlightened,
we find we need to change our own behaviors. Audre Lorde said “What woman here
is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her own heel print on
another woman’s face?” Intersectional
feminism is understanding that when we are told women make an average of 77
cents for a man’s dollar that it is even worse than that. Latino women make 54
cents, Afro American women make 64 cents and Native American women make 59
cents. My vision for NOW is to take real
strategic action to become more intersectional. We must all reach out to our
marginalized sisters. Above all, we must
listen, acknowledge and validate their voices and bring their challenges to the
forefront.
The second
word is inclusive. Along the same lines of intersectionality,
there are certain identities of which feminism has recently strived to be more
inclusive. Inclusivity means intentionally creating safe spaces for people of
marginalized identities. It means the blending of different backgrounds,
experiences and perspectives. It means respectfully and actively listening to
people of groups to which we do not belong. We must step back, listen and
learn. Inclusion recognizes what we have in common as it makes room for the
differences among us. We must be inclusive of all races and of our non-binary
and transgender community. And I hope we
will bring more men into the movement. Please note that we are National
Organization FOR Women, not OF women. We have and encourage male membership. The
best feminist I have ever known was my father. He is why I stand here today. Research
shows that most men don’t really understand what the gender issues are today,
so we must work toward demystifying the feminist movement
And have you
seen Black Panther? Wakanda refers to the “allyship” as “an empty, neoliberal
concept that rarely results in transformational change.” They say they do not want allies. They want
co-conspirators in solidarity. That is exactly what we need. We need
co-conspirators in solidarity in our movement. Feminism will better succeed
with collective effort.
Finally, the
last word is social media activism. And
this one will be a real challenge for me, but I know all these young feminists
are going to help us all with social media. Many people find an online community through
twitter and other social media. Friends are made on social media. Some of you
are here tonight because we met on fb and became friends. Support and education
takes place on social media. Social media has been integral in the Blacks Lives
Matter movement. The first Women’s March in 2017 that brought millions of women
across the world together in solidarity was organized on social media. The
internet allows activists to find community and understanding as well as
exchange stories and ideas. Over the last few days, I have communicated with
Now chapters in LA, Houston, Pittsburg and Baton Rouge through social media to
exchange ideas and find out what their chapters are doing. Even those of us with limited social media
knowledge, can share NOW meetings and events on our own fb pages. We all need
to check our NOW fb page regularly for updates and opportunities. Just as we
strive for inclusive and intersectional justice, we must continue to change with
the times. Social media is vital to
modem feminism.
And on a final note, we especially need all
our members to show up for events and volunteer to help table an event. This is
an important election year and we need everyone engaged and everyone to volunteer
to go and help with events. We will post
opportunities on our facebook page and have signups at all our meetings as well as
send out emails. There are events during the day that our employed members
cannot attend, so our members who are not employed, we really need your help. Once you have done it, you will find how fun and
energizing it is to talk to other like minded people.
I heard a
story about a farmer who found an abandoned eagle egg and brought it home for
his hen to sit on. The hen sat on it and
the eaglet was born. The eaglet tried to walk and act like the other chickens
on the farm. Then one day he looked up and saw an eagle in flight. He thought
how wonderful it must be to fly like that and wished that he could soar like
the eagle. He never knew that he could.
We may not know what we are capable of as an organization, but I believe
we can soar and change the world. We may not feel powerful alone but when we
come together we are a mighty voice. There is an old saying that as individuals
we are a drop but together we are a mighty ocean. If we work together with the strong
conviction that we are in this together and nobody can get there unless
everybody gets there, we can make a difference in Charlotte, in Mecklenburg, in
North Carolina, in our country and in the world. Again, Thank you for this wonderful
opportunity. Thank you!
