This blog isn\u2019t about politics. I\u00a0don\u2019t use my blog in that way because whatever we believe, we all have the same\u00a0emotions: joy, depression, pride, shame, winner and loser. This blog is a\u00a0reminder about our history and how our ancestors fought for our rights. It\u2019s about\u00a0taking action. I was talking to a friend recently who was in her forties and\u00a0she didn\u2019t know what a \u201csuffragette\u201d was. If you don\u2019t know, let me tell you how\u00a0women earned the right to vote.<\/p>\n
In May, 1869, two American women,\u00a0Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, formed an organization called \u201cthe\u00a0Suffragettes.\u201d The word comes from the Latin which means \u201ca voting table\u201d or \u201cthe
right to vote.\u201d Women were not allowed the right to make a difference in their\u00a0lives at that time. As an offside, when women won their fight, women of color\u00a0were decades behind.<\/p>\n
In 1901, a little more than a\u00a0hundred years ago, three hundred \u201csuffragettes\u201d assembled to protest the ban on\u00a0women\u2019s right to vote. They took to the streets where they disrupted civic\u00a0meetings, smashed windows and set buildings on fire to get attention for their cause.\u00a0The police attacked and sexually assaulted them, beat them, arrested them for\u00a0civil disobedience, imprisoned and tortured them. When they went on a hunger\u00a0strike to continue their protests, they were force fed under the guise of\u00a0keeping them alive. Female wardens held the women down as doctors pushed over\u00a0twenty inches of tubing down their throats and poured in a pint of milk and
eggs. The women suffered physical and mental anguish and some of them never got\u00a0over it.<\/p>\n
To add to their suffering, when\u00a0they got out of jail, their husbands wouldn\u2019t let them back in the house. All\u00a0of this is dramatically depicted in the Carey Mulligan movie, \u201cSuffragette,\u201d\u00a0shot in 2015. Please watch it so you can learn about what went on and what it
means to us to cast a ballot.<\/p>\n
Did you know that the mother in the\u00a0Peter Pan film, Mary Darling, was a suffragette? She sang a song called \u201cSister\u00a0Suffragette.\u201d One of the lyrics is:<\/p>\n
Our daughters will adore us<\/p>\n
And sing in grateful chorus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell done, Sister Suffragette.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Darling told her family that\u00a0one of her fellow protestors chained herself to the wheel of the Prime\u00a0Minister\u2019s carriage and she was arrested. She told it in a lighthearted way\u00a0with laughter and buoyancy since it\u2019s a children\u2019s story but there was northing
lighthearted about the reality.<\/p>\n
In 1920, Congress ratified the 19th amendment to the Constitution, allowing women the right to vote. Many of the women who made this possible didn\u2019t live to see it, so they did it for you and for me. Each time I vote, I\u2019m standing on these courageous women\u2019s shoulders. Considering what they endured and the sacrifices they made, it would be shameful not to do what they fought for \u2013 the right to vote.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re thinking of sitting this\u00a0one out, I ask women to make their ancestor\u2019s sacrifices mean something. I ask\u00a0men to support the women in their lives to vote and to cast their own ballots.\u00a0A simple black dot on a ballot allows your voice to be heard. You can have a
say in your healthcare, social security, a woman\u2019s right to have dominion over her\u00a0body, taxes and gun control. When my mother was in her nineties, she stood in\u00a0line with a walker to cast her vote for Barak Obama. She was born before women were\u00a0allowed to vote so it meant the world to her.<\/p>\n
Let this blog be a kick in the\u00a0butt. I\u2019m pleading with women to honor those who came before us. I\u2019m pleading\u00a0with men to support the women in their lives to have a voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeeds, not Words,\u201d was the motto\u00a0of the Suffragettes. This is reminiscent of Michelle Obama\u2019s talk at the\u00a0Democratic National Convention when she said, \u201cDo something.\u201d If you don\u2019t like\u00a0the idea of texting or making calls or writing postcards for your candidate,\u00a0there are still some things you can do. You can have discussions with friends\u00a0and encourage them to vote. Donating a few dollars to your candidate makes an\u00a0impact. Let\u2019s keep in mind that unlike the women who fought for us, we have our\u00a0own money and we can do with it as we please.<\/p>\n
If you donated ten dollars, that\u00a0money adds up in the long run. For my part, I\u2019m making donations, talking to\u00a0friends, discussing the suffragettes on the radio and writing blogs to help\u00a0people understand how we got here and what\u2019s at stake. What are you doing?<\/p>\n
If you aren\u2019t registered to vote,
you can do it online at:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.lavote.gov\/home\/voting-elections\/voter-education\/what-to-do-before-an-election\/register-to-vote<\/p>\n
Go to register to vote and they will walk you through it. Registration
ends fifteen days before election day, November 5th so do it now. The privilege of being an American is hardly something to take for granted or complain about. It takes a short time to become familiar with who\u2019s running and what they believe. Politics may not make sense to you, you may not agree with what\u2019s going on, but if you\u2019ve lived in other countries like I have, you\u2019ll be proud to call yourself a citizen of the United States.<\/p>\n
I leave you with this. If you want\u00a0to support your candidate, vote. If you want to change things, vote. If you\u00a0want to have a say in your life, vote. If you don\u2019t give a hoot, vote anyway to\u00a0honor the women who fought and died for your freedoms. It\u2019s the least we can
do.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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