Do We Really Stand Together With Our Sisters?

So does anyone remember the signs being held up around the country that said things like, "I hope to see all of you nice white women at the next Black Lives Matter event." ? There were many articles written about how many women of color were put off by the Women's March, and how it came from a place of privilege. Women of color did show up, but not in the same ratio as whites. Many of them chose to stay home, their own strike of sorts. In my google search of the topic my take away was that they didn't feel that white people were going to be out for more than that one day, or that we wouldn't put ourselves out there any farther than our own personal self interest.

To be honest, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to get women of color to join the team for the Anchorage Women's March. We worked really hard to be "inclusive." We wanted to represent as much of the diversity of this state as we could. We got wonderful people to join us, but we had way more people ignore or decline our invitations. In the end, it was mostly white women steering, and who came out. We were still "successful," It was wonderful, but we know we fell short of our goals. Maybe it was because we didn't have experience with doing this sort of thing before, maybe we just needed more time to get it right. I don't know.

So about five weeks ago when I heard about a commemoration march for the Selma, that was being led by Women of Color, I was so excited. Here was the end of the call to action.

*****Throughout history, black women have been instrumental in gaining civil rights for all Americans. We worked to gain the right to vote in the Suffrage Movement and was asked to march behind white women. We worked to gain civil rights in the Civil Rights Movement and was asked to march behind black men.

Now, we are leading our way to change. We are asking our allies to stand WITH us or stand BEHIND us.

Where will you stand on March 5th?

*****

I thought, now is our chance to show women of color that we white women have got their backs. The cause is righteous. People from all over the country came to Selma in 1965 to peacefully walk together to protest racial equality, to promote the right to vote for every American. It was a peaceful protest, marked with two murders, and many more casualties. The patriots that marched helped to bring about the Civil Rights Act. Most of the slogging and hard work years before was done by African Americans. Now our democracy is being threatened on multiple fronts, and the teeth of the civil rights act are slowly being extracted. That and gerrymandering are destroying our Democracy. We need to stand together now more than ever.

So I waited to hear about how National for the Women's March was going to support the march in Selma. I waited for 2 weeks, and nothing. I started checking in and asking, and heard more crickets. Then I started to push. We are not an exclusive movement. Women's Rights are human rights. We all rise together.. Those are all great slogans, right?! But why was nothing happening?

I found a few other women at National who were also in shock at the lack of support they were witnessing. That and other issues started Women's March National to fracture.

Then I decided to search for women in Anchorage who would be willing to organize the Salute March here. Again, I was shocked at the reticence in African American women to put themselves out there. But they did. An amazing group of women decided to take up the call.

Now we are a week into the campaign, and we have only 15 shares of the fund raiser. I am wondering where are the thousand Anchorage women that were supporting the the Anchorage Women's March at this time? Well I am assuming that we just haven't reached them yet. You are reading this, and you know.

Can you please help us out and spread the word, save the date.. Also please share the campaign fundraising page. . The statistics work out to $5,000 for every 1,000 shares in all campaigns. So even if you can't donate, each share turns out to be worth 5.00. For the Anchorage Women's March, the average donation was 50.00. We raised 13,000 that way. The cost for the Selma Salute is just over a third of that. As of right now we have 15 shares, and wouldn't you know it, we have 150.00.

I think that we can do this. Please join me in standing behind my sisters. Lets show America where we stand, and what we believe in;

Liberty, and Justice, for ALL.

campaign fund raiser.
Facebook Event Listing, March 5th, Anchorage Town Square 2 pm