We’re not done yet: Women’s Convention energizes new wave of feminist activists

Oct. 28--Part pep rally, part revival meeting, the Women's Convention at Detroit's Cobo Center started Friday morning with raised fists and deafening cheers as more than 4,000 women from across the country showed their solidarity and devotion to the fight for women's rights.

Among them, Dawn Banks: "My world was shattered when Donald Trump was elected president," said the 63-year-old from St. Charles, Mo. "Women's rights were suddenly in the cross hairs. I thought, 'My God, I have to come out of the democratic closet.' I started with the Women's March on Washington (in January) and I haven't quit since then."

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Her front-row seat in the opening event gave her a great view of Tamika Mallory's opening comments. Mallory, one of the founders of the Women's March -- which organized the Women's Convention -- rallied the troops, taking a swipe at Trump, referring to him as the orange man in the White House and calling him out for the divisiveness he creates and urging women to stand up for each other.

"When we hear that our Muslim brothers and sisters are under attack, we need to stand up," Mallory told the cheering crowd. "When we hear that our Mexican brothers and sisters are under attack, we must stand up. ... When we hear that women are under attack, we must stand up."

Mallory promoted basic tenets: "Your feminism does not represent me if it is only about our right to get an abortion," she said. " If you do not care about the fact that I can't even have children because I'm too poor, then your feminism does not represent me. ...

"If men are not a part of this movement, your feminism does not represent me ... because I have an 18-year-old son that I cannot leave behind. If your feminism does not include how gun violence (impacts) ... our communities, it does not represent me."

And then, alluding to the argument that erupted when the Women's Convention named Bernie Sanders as one of its speakers -- many women found Sanders a poor choice for the convention because he is a man and, in the end, he withdrew from the convention -- Mallory said: "... if your feminism is the difference between Bernie and Hillary, (Clinton) it does not represent me. ... I want to know what you are doing on the ground in your community. Who have you saved? Who have you lifted?"

With that, the women were energized.

The first day of programming led the weekend event with more than 50 sessions on a variety of topics -- from water quality to immigration to reproductive rights and grassroots advocacy.

The sessions on environmental issues and sexual assault had Jamie Whitley, 37, a science teacher in Petoskey planning her next activist steps.

"It makes me want to go back and hug some of my female students and make sure they know what their rights are," Whitley said. "And I think females in science can bring some light to issues facing the environment."

In one session, dozens of women shared their personal stories of connecting with communities to influence state and federal lawmakers.

Pollster Celinda Lake said women have to get together to have their voices heard, and they can do that by voting and running for office themselves.

"Whatever level race you're interested in, we've got to get some new people, preferably women, in office," she said. "And work to get out the vote because 29 million progressives who voted in 2016 plan to not vote in 2018."

No one needs to tell Christine Ingles to get more involved. The day after the November election last year, she went to Washington, D.C., to protest and she has been back five more times, including the Women's March in January.

"I'm very involved in a lot of different groups; I've been arrested three times," she said, after protesting inside the offices of three Republican U.S. senators over the efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "After this weekend, I'm hoping to see groups get together because we've got to get more unity because there are way too many things to do."

Sahiti Karemoudi, 32, of San Francisco flew to Detroit on the red-eye for the Women's Convention.

"I think it's an amazing opportunity to be part of the first women's convention in decades. It's really great to see all the energy," she said. "Being from the Bay area of San Francisco, we are always politically active. ... It's great to hear from people who live in Iowa and Ohio and Michigan. And I really love Detroit, so I was really happy to come back."

Conference-goers learned about everything from finally getting a woman's face on the $20 bill to tutorials on how to lobby Congress and state Legislatures on issues of importance, and how white women can help end white supremacy and violence against black men.

"We have to face the fact that we're complicit in a lot of anti-black violence whether it is violence done in our name, whether it's violence that's done to protect our honor or violence that we physically enact," said Sophie Ellman-Golan during a session geared toward how white women can help end violence against African Americans.

"When white women say we feel unsafe because of scary black men, really bad things happen to those black men," Ellman-Golan said. "That's not to say that our feelings of safety don't matter, but we have to reconstruct the way we think about safety, versus the safety of the larger community."

The systemic racism in water crises in both Flint and Detroit, where one city's water system was poisoned with lead and another was faced with thousands of water shutoffs because of the inability to pay high water bills, was on display in another session.

"You can't live without water, you can't survive without water. Water is a human right," said former Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. "We're here not to declare ourselves as minorities. We're not inconsequential and we're not an anecdote. We're women."

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Nancy Underwood, 34, of Prospect, Ky., brought her 11-year-old daughter, Lorelai Lichtsteiner, to the Women's Convention. They sat in on a session called "Women on 20s: Change the Face of Money" about the campaign to get abolitionist Harriet Tubman's face on the $20 bill.

"I came to show my daughter how important it is to speak up for what's important to you, and for minorities and (to) be a strong leader in your community," Underwood said.

The mother-daughter pair listened as Women on 20s founder Barbara Ortiz Howard spoke about how too many women don't acknowledge that they can be leaders and agents for change, and that having the face of a woman on money can be empowering.

"What does it mean when boys are on the money and girls aren't?" Ortiz Howard said. "Girls are important, too."

The women and their supporters also healed Friday by sharing visceral and emotional stories of sexual assault and harassment.

From actress Rose McGowan, who said she was assaulted by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, cajoling women to speak up and name their abusers, to a woman who said she had just quit her job because of rampant misogyny. Women spoke out in several sessions Friday, finding relief in their shared revelations.

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Others, like Qiana Monroe of Chicago, were hoping to find a way forward following the activism she saw at the Women's March on Washington.

"I just want to find an outlet and not drive myself crazy with this administration, and all the horrific things that go on on a daily basis," said Monroe, 39. "It's everything, but also specifically what happens with women's rights, and just constantly having to fight for reproductive rights."

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, [email protected] or on Twitter @michpoligal.

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