Imagine this:
You post an article on Facebook about
the fact your state is at risk of losing the only clinic to provide abortions. In
your post, you express outrage and think it’s wrong. Your employer feels
differently. They call you into their office and
explain how your post is against their moral code and they fire you. You try to
defend your position and they simply don’t care. You’re fired. No more
paycheck. No more health benefits.
You’re angry. You can’t stop thinking about it, “They Have
NO RIGHT!!” You start researching and find you’re not alone. Other women who
worked for the same company have been fired because of content on their
personal Facebook pages.
You get an idea. You decide that you
will organize a group of women and you will gather on public property close to
where you used to work and peacefully protest.
Five of you gather and hold your signs. You’ve alerted
some radio stations and local TV media in the hopes they will pick up your
story. Within minutes, police show up and tell you that you must leave. You
argue that you are on public property and you are breaking no laws. Before you
even know what’s happening, you are all being arrested and taken away in handcuffs.
You are stripped of your clothing and treated like a
criminal. They throw you into a cold, dank cell and leave you with nothing but
your thoughts. You are angry. You are scared. You are raging and you cannot
BELIEVE the injustice! No one will listen to you and you haven’t even broken
the law. How can this be happening?
As a form of protest, you decide to go on a hunger strike.
Days pass, you haven’t eaten anything. Prison doctors put you in a straight
jacket and say you’re mentally ill. They restrain you and force a large, cold,
metal contraption in your mouth keeping it open, making your mouth bleed
and then they stick a long tube down your throat and into your stomach where
they pour raw eggs. They do this to you time and again until you vomit blood.
Does this seem extreme to you? Do you think it’s something
that would never happen? It DID happen to Alice Paul. In fact, worse things
happened to Alice. She didn’t post anything on her Facebook page because she
was not protesting about free speech, she was picketing President Woodrow
Wilson in 1917 so that women would have the right to vote. She broke no laws.
All she wanted was equality for women. Equality for you and for me.
She endured physical torture so you can vote today. In
1920, the nineteenth amendment was ratified into the Constitution and because
of Alice and her undying determination, women won the right to vote and it was
legally secured. There were many other women who fought with her and also
suffered greatly for your freedoms. Shouldn’t the right to vote be granted to
everyone?
Here’s the thing, people of all ages don’t vote. 94 million Americans didn't vote in 2012. They
don’t pay attention to what’s happening—and there is a lot happening these days
that threaten your rights as a woman. People complain their vote doesn’t count
for anything. It does. It IS important. If it wasn't important, why would some people try to keep other people from voting? I know it’s very easy to focus on the
things in your life that feel more interesting or take your immediate
attention, like school and friends and work. When I was in my twenties, I paid
ZERO attention to politics and I didn’t vote. I was even a registered
Republican because I didn’t know the difference between the two.
No one taught me about Women’s Suffrage. I didn’t learn
about it in school. EVER. Why? Why didn’t the schools I attended tell me about
this? This is important history. The incredible and heroic efforts women made
are by and large ignored. That’s a shame and it makes me sad. That is why I am
writing a book for young women. Voting is extremely important. Why else did men
(and some women) fight so hard to keep women from doing it? Think about that.
Think about this too: women are not equal in the Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was
never passed. We were short three states. Thirty-eight states are needed to
ratify it. Only thirty-five did in 1972 and then it was dropped and a deadline was attached. It expired. Equality for women EXPIRED!
Don’t you think America should legally recognize women as equal in the Constitution? I do.
If you know ANY young women, please
send this blog to them. Make SURE they know about Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and
Women’s Suffrage. Please. There is a wonderful movie starring Hilary Swank
titled Iron Jawed Angels and it chronicles the efforts of Alice Paul and Lucy
Burns. Please watch it. It’s shocking and well done.
Vote in every election.
Vote in every election.
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Kimberley A. Johnson (BIO) – A.K.A. The Anti Coulter is the author of The Virgin Diaries and an activist for women’s rights. Like her on Facebook, Twitter or follow her on FB HERE. |
