Women Unite for ‘She Speaks’

30 women speakers joined women across the country for a virtual assembly.

Women from across the country came together on Monday, August 28, 2023, to honor female leaders from 1963 and to draw attention to issues that persist today.

On the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, 30 women speakers joined women across the country for a virtual assembly to fight for the same demands that were made 60 years ago–demands that our nation’s leaders have yet to fulfill.

Speakers for the event included Hanna Broome of AME Zion Church; Rev. Kazimir Brown of Repairers of the Breach; Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union; Rabbi Sheila Katz of the National Council of Jewish Women; Roz Pelles of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School; Ai-Jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance; Joy Reid of MSNBC; Karen Georgia A. Thompson of United Church of Christ; and members of Black Voters Matter, Beloved Community, and the League of Women Voters.

“Women refuse to stay silent as we fight back against the most pressing issues harming our communities today,” declared Hanna Broome. “Right now across the country, extremist lawmakers are using state capitols to subvert our democracy and erode voting rights, denying living wages, and suppressing access to healthcare, all while concentrating this rich nation’s wealth into fewer and fewer hands.”

Moral Monday Call to Conscience with Bishop William Barber.

“Sixty years ago, the agenda of the March on Washington was to raise the minimum wage 75% to a living wage, expand and protect voting rights, secure healthcare for all, and expand the Labor Standards Act to end racial discrimination,” noted Bishop William Barber, who is expected to speak at the event. “Today, we are not finished with that agenda.”

“Right now, 73 million women make up our nation’s poor and low-wealth population. And millions of these women continue to be impacted by voter suppression,” he added. “At a time when poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in our nation, these women are calling on all people of moral conscience—regardless of race, gender, or political affiliation—to join the fight for the moral soul of our nation and call out these attacks on our rights. We need all voices in this movement. This 60th anniversary is not an occasion just for nostalgia, it is a moment for action.”

Learn more about She Speaks at shespeaksmoralmonday.org.

Read the full article by Jessica Corbett at www.commondreams.org/news/women-march-on-washingon