Powerful women took center stage

As I looked at the faces of women, so many women, on the stage and in the hall at the Democratic National Convention this last week, I cheered through my tears'filled with emotions that are hard to put into words.

Change has been a long time coming. Lest we forget, this year we celebrated the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women in the United States the right to vote.

I came of age during the late 60s and early 70s, fighting for civil rights and women's rights in two movements.

For some of us, the change started when powerful women like Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, who was 'sick and tired of being sick and tired' raised her voice to address the exclusion of black folks from voting due to poll taxes, Jim Crow and Klan terrorism. I have not forgotten when women like Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan were seated in the House.

As a New Yorker I remember feisty feminist Bella Abzug, famous for her hats and this slogan: "This woman's place is in the House'the House of Representatives."

Yes, we've changed and we've made gains. But Republicans would like to turn back the clock on us.

Republican efforts to artificially mimic our diverse reality at their tea party gathering were for naught. Smoke and mirrors. Just look at the statistics on women in the House and Senate. See how many are women of color and their party affiliation.

Democratic Congresswomen take the stage at the DNC 2012 Anyone not wearing blinders could see the truth. I stood up and cheered as our women from Congress took the stage.

Part of the reason for my tears of joy and relief is that I have had a deep-seated fear that what we worked so hard to achieve for women over these last decades is being eroded, and I have been deeply troubled. The faces and speeches at the DNC renewed my hope, and erased my worries. We are forging a new movement.

I take the phrase 'Republican war on women' personally. Teaching women's studies opened my eyes to the reality that many young women (and men) in our country don't know women's history, and haven't understood'until very recently'that rights they take for granted are under attack. Simple things like access to birth control and family planning were not seen as critical. They didn't appreciate the value of winning and holding onto the franchise. Rarely had they considered that the hard won gains fought for by their grandmothers and moms to garner these rights may be erased.

I'm happy to report that they are awake now.  

I have never had a freshman class that is so fired up around the danger we face if the Romney-Ryan agenda becomes the national policy. I just watched them all register to vote when a NYPIRG volunteer came to class.

I suppose I have to tip my hat to the Teapublicans for the wake-up call that has taken place. You guys declared war, and you are going to lose it. Women across the U.S. and men who support us are going to make that happen.  

I can't wait to head to class and hear the feedback around the DNC. I've already heard what young folks had to say about the R's. Unequivocal thumbs down.

I want to encourage those of you who are reading to ensure that we keep up the pressure and get the word out. Not everyone spent their last few days glued to watching the Convention. The networks didn't air many of the important speeches that were made. Many of the 'pun-idjits,' as I call them, have spent their time either ignoring, dismissing or projecting a fictional narrative.

It's up to each of us to fight back'with the truth. To spread the word using every tool we have. To utilize the wonderful visual textbook on the DNC website and in the C-Span video library as our weapons in this war. To get folks registered to vote and out to the polls.

Today I'm highlighting some of the high points, for me, of the convention that may not have gotten the coverage they deserve. I won't post the phenomenal speech by our FLOTUS (video here), even though I'm tempted, simply because the TM couldn't ignore her. She got prime time coverage and rocked the house.

I want to thank, and focus on some of the other amazing women who stood up for all of us.

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