“Times like these demand that we do not go to sleep.” – Andrea Gibson
“It’s a trap to believe change is impossible.” - Hillary Clinton
“Every friend group has that one person who stays informed, knows how to get things done, where to get the yard signs, where to donate, etc. BE THAT PERSON!” – Elissa Slotkin
“Hate that is spewed is usually not heard by the people it’s directed at. But it IS heard by the daughters and granddaughters, sons and grandsons of the hateful person.” - Pink
“Sometimes girlfriends have to blow shit up to bring about change. It’s not bad behavior, it’s a form of deep self-love.” – Connie Britton
“This moment is the moment for unity. Let’s women be part of history. The world is watching.” – Kirsten Gillibrand
"As white women, we are the best messengers for convincing other white women. Talk loudly to everyone in your orbit about why we should vote for Kamala Harris." - Shannon Watts
“This race is about control versus freedom.” – Leah Greenberg
“Nothing really matters if you don’t vote. There is no other option than to see this through.” – Megan Rapinoe
It’s going to be hard, but we women can do hard things.” – Sue Bird
“We chose freedom.” – Kamala Harris
This past Sunday, more than 44,000 Black women took part in a four-hour Zoom call with Win With Black Women to support Kamala Harris, raising $1.4 million for her presidential campaign.
That inspired gun violence prevention activist Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, to ask white women to show up by attending our own Zoom call. She said Black women have been the backbone of the Democratic Party, with over 90% of Black women voters supporting Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. White women make up approximately 39% of the electorate, but in 2020, 55% of white women voted for Donald Trump, compared to 44% for Biden. Shannon Watts believed it was time for white women to unite and do everything within our power to help elect Kamala Harris.
She issued an appeal on social media for women to come together for White Women: Answer the Call, and last night 164,000 women logged into Zoom and broke it! It was the largest Zoom gathering ever, according to Watts. The kinks got worked out, and the call did come together. I was there, thanks to a good friend in Kansas City who had told me about it earlier in the day. (Thanks, Diane!) The call raised $2 million and tens of thousands of new volunteers.
The speakers (activists, celebs, politicians, a poet, athletes) were even more enthusiastic and hopeful than I’ve been since Joe Biden passed the torch to Harris, and I’ve barely been able to keep my feet on the ground! I jotted down the above quotes, thoughts that really grabbed my attention. In a nutshell, here was my takeaway from the call.
Things we can do:
Donate money. And then donate again. (Four million dollars was raised in the hour after Biden spoke. The goal of this group of women is $10 million by Labor Day.)
Speak up to others you know: your book club, parents of your kids’ friends, neighbors, every friend you have.
Be a leader: start a coalition, host an event, round up people to write letters to voters in swing states.
Make calls, write postcards, stuff envelopes.
Travel to battleground states and knock on doors.
Get involved in your local Dem club.
Use yard signs and bumper stickers to let people know who you’re supporting.
Follow the lead of Black women, who’ve been carrying the brunt of the load as activists for decades. They know how to do it. Seek out and share content from BIPOC.
Use your social media to repost things Harris has said. Use it to speak your mind and know that you’ll piss off and/or offend others along the way. Learn to let those kinds of responses roll of your back and keep speaking!
Know why you support Harris and be able to talk about it:
Issues like gun violence, reproductive rights, climate change, voter rights, LGBTQ+ equality. Looking forward with hope instead of looking backward. Freedom. Whatever it is you feel strongly about.
Project 2025:
It’s a 900-page document written by the Heritage Foundation. It’s a MAGA wish-list to basically overhaul over the federal government. Things that would be affected very negatively include civil rights, restricted access to abortion, the sabotaging of Medicare and Medicaid, the sabotaging of food assistance, the dismantling of major federal agencies that benefit/protect people and the earth alike. Benefits will be given to corporations and the very wealthy and Trump will be given unprecedented power. The document outlines, step by step, the actions that would be taken. Of course, Trump is distancing himself from Project 2025.
Learn what you can about it and be able to share that knowledge with swing voters, people who may not usually vote, people who don’t trust politicians, people who weren’t planning to vote in this election.
Things to remember:
We women are good at organizing, getting the word out, building campaigns, fighting for what is right, assembling grass roots movements. Put these skills to work!
We win by organizing and acting together. We are on the precipice of something big and great.
It’s important to win up and down the ticket.
We women can be the torch bearers.
We white women have privilege. We need to use that privilege to do what we can to help with injustice.
What’s next:
This Monday night there will be another Zoom gathering. This one will unite Black and White women into one unified coalition. The Women for Harris Organizing Call will take place from 7-8 PM ET July 29th. Use this link to sign up: https://mobilize.us/s/rhv87s
Come be a torch bearer. This is our moment. Let's look forward to celebrating putting the first woman in the White House. Let's be able to say we left everything on the field after doing so!
Please pass this post along to your people. I hope to "see" you all Sunday night!
PS - If you think your voice can't/won't bring about change, watch the movie The Power to Dream (recommended on the call by Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe). Eddie and I watched it after the Zoom ended. We loved it and were mightily inspired.
*** Note: as of Friday afternoon, $8.5 million has been raised!
