We Hear You, We See You

Women United March 2019 Speeches

******We can’t wait for Women United March 2020! For updated information and volunteer links please visit womenunitedmarch.org ****

WUM kicked off Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in First Ward Park with a Speaker’s Forum.  In addition to our co-keynotes Justice Anita Earls and Rabbi Judy Schindler, speakers included national and local elected officials, a poet, community organizers and activists, and local and statewide organizational leaders.   We are assembling the texts from their speeches and posting them here. Check back often, as we will be adding more in the coming days.

Thank you to Brenton Bent for producing and sharing with us this video featuring images from the Speaker Forum and The March.

The views expressed by the speakers at the Women United March are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the co-sponsors: Charlotte Women’s March and National Coalition of 100 Black Women-Queen City Metropolitan Chapter.

Photos courtesy Lisa Stockton Howell, Mary Staton, Jon Strayhorn,Tracy S. Watts

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Laura Meier, Co-President of the Charlotte Women’s March, and Renee Hill, board member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women-Queen City Metropolitan Chapter.

When Charlotte Women’s March reached out to NCBW- QCMC we did not hesitate to accept the call to be involved in organizing this year’s March.  While our focus is on advocating for Black Women and Girls, we know that we will all do better if we stand together. (click for full speech)

Congresswoman Alma Adams, US Congress, 12th District of North Carolina

In the last 12 months or so, women have become the most powerful force in America. Born out of agitation, Women’s marches have evolved from a demonstration to determination. Women feeling their power in a brand new way …(click for full speech)

Rabbi Judith Schindler, Director of the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace & Social Justice

Journeys to justice are not easy. They don’t happen when we show up one time. They don’t happen when we show up once a year... (click for full speech).

Stefania Arteaga, Co-Founder, Comunidad Colectiva

As I was getting ready to speak today, I did something many women of color do, I questioned myself…. I asked and wondered which part of myself I was going to leave hind to make everyone feel comfortable. (click for full speech)

Susan Harden, Mecklenburg County Commissioner

One year ago I announced my candidacy for office at this march. I had never run for elected office before. And guess what? I won! (click here for full speech)

Hannah Hasan, Poet, Co-Creator EpochTribe

There is a history there that reflects a truth that will ensure that black women and white women can never really work as one to change the world until there is an acknowledgement of what is in the ground… (click for full speech)

Myka Johnson, Core Organizer, Charlotte Uprising

Early this morning, I stood in front of the mirror anxiously trying to decide if I was going to shave the budding hairs around my lips and along my chin… (click here for full speech)

Rebby Kern, Dir of School Outreach, Time Out Youth

My pronouns are the/they them. I am non-binary, biracial, pansexual person working to create more space for trans and queer youth in this world. In Charlotte. Across the Carolinas. I am the Director of School Outreach at Time Out Youth Center, the LGBTQ youth center serving the Charlotte area and surrounding counties. (click for full speech)

Dr. Gina Navarrete, Co-President, Charlotte Women’s March

Like many of you here, I wasn’t really involved in politics or activism before the 2016 election. But in January 2017, like many here, I WOKE! And began to volunteer… (click here for full speech).

Video of Gina’s speech

Pamela Pearson, Attorney, Chair-Board of PPSAT

Centering the voices of women whose experiences are at the root of the causes we fight for has never been more important. That’s why we are proud to fight alongside with sister movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #Metoo…. (click here for full speech)

Jessica Schorr Saxe, MD, Chair, Healthcare Justice-NC

I represent Health Care Justice—NC. I am here to talk about justice and about health care. Martin Luther King had something to say on this topic. He said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane…” (click here for full speech).

Misty Uribe, Survivor Fellow, Spokesperson for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

Survivor is a word my family and I began to use when my 8-year- old son had to watch his friend, -the next-door neighbor’s son, shoot their other 11-year-old friend in the face… (click here for full speech)

Ash Williams, NC Organizer, SisterSong

The place where my work comes together is at the intersections of reproductive justice, community organizing toward Black non-binary and Trans liberation, and combating the prison industrial complex. With that said, I am a Black Transfeminist, which is also to say I am an abolitionist. (click for full speech)

Thank you Patrice Funderburg for sharing with us this video of some of the speakers!

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#WomenUnitedMarch, #CharlotteWomensMarch, #NCBWQCMC