On HERstory…
Some of my earliest memories are wrapped in the unconditional love and warmth of Black women. Whether I was being reprimanded for forgetting to do my chores or being celebrated for excelling in school, my life has been shaped by countless women I’ve encountered over the years. These experiences have created an unwavering advocacy within me for the issues they face and the triumphs they’ve conquered throughout herstory.
From Ida B. Wells' audacious dream of laying bare the scourge of racial terror, to Dolores Huerta's clarion voice summoning a Nueva Causa into existence, to the Black Lives Matter movement's modern-day Matriarchs demanding we confront the devaluation of Black bodies - women (and more specifically, Black women) have been the ones insisting we keep faith, even when hope seemed blasphemous.
We owe the 19th Amendment's hard-fought guarantee to the unflinching tenacity of warriors like Mary McLeod Bethune, Zitkala-Sa, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Adelina Otero-Warren, who refused to let their multi-hued hues be erased from the narrative of freedom. It was Rosa Parks' defiance and Claudette Colvin's audacious teenage resolve that sparked the fires of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was Diane Nash, through her deft, strategic brilliance, who empowered young people to seize the sacred decimation of Jim Crow.
From the mothers of the Movimiento, who agitated for educational justice for their children, to Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and her queer kin, who stonewall'd the status quo - the radical dreams of the marginalized feminine have always unseated our highest and mightiest hypocrisies.
And today, we bear witness to the unyielding power and influence of a new generation of herstory makers. From the conscientious and poetic rhyming of Amanda Gorman to the stalwart advocacy of Mari Copeny. I’m even reminded of some of our very own Branch members who are trailblazers in their own rights; from challenging us to reimagine our justice system to teaching our communities how to grow their own food, while also being on the frontlines of protecting our scholars in CCSD. ;-)
Let us honor Women's History Month every single day by venerating the strength, the courage, the wisdom and the compassion of those women who’ve made meaningful strides in improving our world and enhancing our local communities. It’s their work and commitment that remind me of the unconditional love, warmth and intention it takes to chart a new path and create meaningful impact.
In service and in love,
QM
