See below for video and a few highlights from yesterday’s VA Women’s Summit panel with Delegates Cia Price, Jackie Glass, Briana Sewell and Kathy Tran.
Del. Jackie Glass: “We sit at number 26 [out of states in terms of best/worst places to live]. Meh…We are still in a commonwealth where four out of five women live in a county where they don’t have access to an abortion care abortion provider…We’re here to celebrate women and these women are going to pack a punch…I want you to think for me, what does sisterhood mean to you?”
Del. Kathy Tran: “To me, sisterhood is intentional…I think the Network Nova story really captures the intentionality that it takes to build a strong and healthy and vibrant sisterhood…In the General Assembly, I think of intentionality as being so core to the work that we have to do. We’re not going to move up on that index that Delegate Glass was talking about unless we have a policy agenda that really centers working people and women and people of color at its agenda at its core. And that takes intentional work to make sure that we’re passing things like paid family leave, universal child care, we’re expanding collective bargaining, expanding health care, addressing gun violence…That’s not going to happen if we have a Democratic majority that isn’t intentional in its work.”
Del. Cia Price: “I’m willing to bet that most likely the reason you are here is because you are desiring a change…I can almost guarantee you that the change you desire is either indirectly or directly tied to a policy decision. So whether it is the looming lack of bodily autonomy, whether it is gun violence hunger, lack of resources, protecting trans kids, voting rights, the fact that you as a parent matter, also banned books…we’re excited to see you here and we’re thankful that you’re turning your why into action. Sisterhood is leading…We are the faces of Virginia’s new sisterhood. But let me tell you, the way that these changes are shaking out in the House, we are also some of the faces that will be in the new Virginia leadership.”
Del. Brian Sewell: “Sisterhood is unifying…I need you guys to recognize that there is unity in those issues. So when you come to Richmond and you fight for your cause, I need you to show up for your sisters too…We need to recognize that if we care about our public education and our children’s education, that means that we care about our teachers’ work environment too. If we care about reproductive rights, that means we care about economic justice. If we care about economic justice, we care about climate change. If we care about climate change, we want to acknowledge that redlining still exists. So recognize that there is synergy in the issues, there is synergy in this room, and we all need to be motivated to take action.”
Del. Cia Price’s closing comments (turn up the volume on this part, you’ll love it!): “As a pastor and a preacher…I just want to close on Esther… Esther was cute, Esther was beautiful, and that’s how Esther ended up in the palace. But that’s not where the story ended. The story ended because Esther chose to get up, speak up and act up. And that’s how the people got saved. So we need you to understand y’all look real cute in this room, but we need you to get up, okay? We cannot fight fascism from the sidelines. And then when you get there, because you got up, we need you to speak up and use your voices, because you have a voice for a reason [Applause]. And then when you get there and you speak up we need you to act up, because manners will not save you. We have to fight fire with fire and we have to fight hate with love. But we have to get up, speak up, act up. Let me hear you say it – get up, speak up, act up! Get up, speak up, act up!”
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