Rep. Pressley: Women in America Today ‘Not Fully Free, Still Shackled’

EXCERPT:

PRESSLEY: "Thank you, Mr. Chair. The great poet and pioneer or righteous rage, Audre Lorde, once said 'I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when our shackles are different from — are very different from my own.' The year is now 2020, and here we women are still in so many ways not fully free, still shackled. Today I rise to affirm the humanity and the dignity of all women. I rise in strong, unapologetic righteous support of H.J.Res.79, which will strike the arbitrary deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, an amendment that should already be the law of the land. Women are strong, hardworking, bright, and resilient. We are the backbones of our families, our communities, and our democracy. We do not live in shut boxes. We live in an intersectionality of lived experiences and identities. Our issues are everyone’s issues because our destinies are all tied. Tomorrow’s vote on H.J.Res.79 is a vote for the preservation of our collective humanity.”