This week President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was confirmed after a 50-50 stand off. The tie was broken by Vice President Mike Pence’s vote. Democrats put up a hard fight, pulling an all-nighter to urge republicans to vote against Sessions. Despite the outcome, what took place on Tuesday night became a rallying cry for the party, as well as an entire gender.
When Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren took the podium on Tuesday, she began to read a letter written by civil rights activist Coretta Scott King in 1986 opposing Sessions becoming a federal judge, which reads in part, “Civil rights leaders, including my husband and Albert Turner, have fought long and hard to achieve free and unfettered access to the ballot box. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge.”
Warren was quickly interrupted by presiding Senate chair Steve Daines for “demeaning” Sessions, violating Senate Rule XIX. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell then prevented Warren from returning to the podium. McConnell spoke of the incident, saying, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
It was McConnell’s poem-like words that soon turned into a meme all over the internet. People began posting pictures of influential women throughout history with the hashtags #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak.
Warren’s actions inspired so many women, and rightly so. She stood up in the face of adversity for what she believed was right. We live in a very divisive time where it is so important to understand your beliefs. There is a movement of more and more women rising up to bring attention to gender inequality as well as inequality against other groups of people, and Warren has definitely contributed.
Now is the time to fight. With Trump’s cabinet filling up with several people seemingly unfit for their jobs and with histories of prejudice, we cannot be silent. The old saying, “America: Love It or Leave It,” should be, “America: Love It or Change It.” This is our country, and we have the power to make it how we want it. There have been so many powerful women trailblazing the way, and we should follow in their footsteps. Elizabeth Warren has become one of these women we can look to as an example, and for that Senator Warren, I say thank you.
