Roslyn M. Brock, the Chairman of the National Board of Directors at the NAACP spoke at the Women’s March on Washington. Here is what she had to say:
“The NAACP stands with you today in solidarity as a non-partisan organization of over half a million members across the length and breadth of the nation in 50 states, Germany, and Japan to declare that women’s rights are human rights. We send a message to our new government that we will not stop until women enjoy equal status. Throughout the history of this nation, women have worked to achieve full civil rights and have served as a conscience of this nation.
In 2008, 2012 and 2016, black women exercised their right to vote, larger than any other group in this nation. However, despite our best efforts, we learned a hard lesson in this last presidential election. Elections have deep and lasting consequences, especially for those who do not vote. The silence in America has been deafening for Black women and our families, who also feel forgotten and locked out of a prosperous society.
For centuries, we have been overlooked and most often times left behind, even in the movement to advance women’s rights. And I call upon you, my sisters, in the words of my ancestral shero Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a women?”
As authentic change agents for transformation, we must stand united to oppose the president’s nominees for US Attorney General, Secretary of Education and Human Services and Labor. We must also fight to ensure that the rights gained by women, minorities, the LGBTQ community and immigrants are not destroyed by an administration that seems bound and determined to take this nation back to a place where we are a house divided against ourselves and so my sisters,
I ask you today as we face the rising sun of a new day begun, let us boldly declare to this administration and to this nation that we will organize, that we will fight and we will march on to victory as one because courage will not skip this generation. Peace and Power.”
