Tuesday night, millions of Americans tuned in to the Democratic National Convention to watch First Lady Michelle Obama deliver a rousing, moving, speech on behalf of President Obama’s re-election efforts. We also heard from such other esteemed leaders as Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, women’s rights leader Lilly Ledbetter and North Carolina governor Bev Perdue. Then Wednesday night, the Democratic Party gave women’s health activist Sandra Fluke a primetime spot to draw a stark contrast between the anti-woman policies of the GOP and the pro-woman (and indeed, pro-human) policies of the Democratic Party. And then Massachusetts Senate candidate and scourge of the Right Elizabeth Warren took the stage. Clearly it’s been a good couple of days for women in leadership on the national Democratic stage.
Meanwhile, in Memphis this week, strong women leaders were coming together to fight for the rights of women in our own backyard. The Shelby County Democratic Party gathered Tuesday night at the Candy Factory building in Downtown Memphis to recognize the strong women in our own community who are fighting for important issues like women’s health, pay parity and leadership. State Rep. Jeanne Richardson gave a rousing speech of her own to the gathered women of all generations, as well as men who believe in the same issues (we’re Democrats; we actually have those!) Jeanne talked about how far women have come, yet how much work is yet to be done, and emphasized that this is a local fight we have to engage in. In Tennessee, our legislature is run by, for the most part, conservative Republican men who don’t remotely represent the constituents of this state. This is unacceptable. We must support our Democratic women already in positions of power, and we must expand our candidate recruitment efforts. To make these changes, we have to do the ongoing work of supporting strong women who are already in positions of power, those who would like to be, and the younger generations who will grow up to be our next great leaders. We can’t afford to lose people like Jeanne Richardson and Beverly Marrero. We need their voices, and we need the voices of the next generations of women who they inspire.
The Shelby County Democratic Party is committed to this fight, but we can’t do it alone. If you didn’t make it the other night, we hate that we missed you and hope to see you at our next event. But you can still show your support by investing in the work of the SCDP. By clicking below and contributing $50, $100, or more, you will help to ensure that the SCDP can continue and expand our work to move women’s equality forward.
Thanks again for your continuing support of the Shelby County Democratic Party.
Liz Rincon & Evan Hurst
