Women Activists From The United States

"This is the era of just redemption. We feared it at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves so while once we asked, "How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? " Now we assert, "How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?""

"Among the firsts in Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” is the concept of democracy that it assumed. Democracy, according to the twenty-two-year-old poet, is an aspiration—a thing of the future... Both times the poem raises “democracy,” Gorman pairs the word with “delay,” which tells us that democracy is a thing expected, anticipated—not a thing that we have built, or possessed, but a dream. This is not the way that politicians or even political theorists usually use the word “democracy,” but it is one way that philosophers have used it. Jacques Derrida, the French deconstructionist, used the term “democracy to come.” Democracy, he wrote, was always forged and threatened by contradictory forces and thus is always “deferred,” always out of reach even in societies that adopt democracy as their governing principle. Gorman’s poem is, explicitly, a text about the future. She exhorts Americans to look not at “what stands between us / But what stands before us.” She says, at the beginning, that “we know, to put our future first,” and she ends with a verse of promises and challenges as rousing as any ever written."

"In 1863, deep in the Civil War's magnitude, Abraham Lincoln declared a day of gratitude Shared by one heart and one voice of America. A proclamation for a nation in a nightmare, This Thanksgiving dared Americans To chime their thanks at a time when many believed They had no thanks to give."

"To be American is to be a kin To a courageous hope: The trust that even if just for a moment We can, we must, close rank as people, One heart, one voice, one mind, created equal."

"When day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry. A sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace. In the norms and notions of what "just is" isn’t always justice. And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it. Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished."

"We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried that will forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division."

"We've been called radicals, terrorists. We've been dismissed as an impossible fringe movement. But now we are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-faith mass movement united in demanding change, in demanding accountability, in demanding that our police, our government, our country recognize that Black lives do indeed matter."

"And since it is patently impossible to free people who not only don’t want to be free but who will emphatically insist they are not oppressed, I am through trying. I have had my last argument with your straight Sisters as to whether men or ‘the system’ are the oppressor. If you choose to think ‘the system’ runs by remote control from the planet Pluto, then more power to you. p. 117"

"The thing I find most disturbing regarding womyn in general is the seeming impossibility of their thinking clearly when it comes time to deal with men. Womyn with advanced university degrees often seem utterly unable to dot an i when they are confronted with the realities of man’s barbaric treatment of womin. To put it bluntly, I find it absolutely terrifying to see just how effective men have been in eradicating womyn’s sense of self, a condition that seems to prevail in at least 90 percent of all womyn all over this male-infected globe. p. 19"

"It's all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self love deficit."

"I fall in love myself, and I want someone to share it with me. I want someone to share me, with me."

"If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs, / The bark on the tree was as soft as the skies. / The wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, / And cries to the moon, / If only if only."

"If you forget to come back for Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity."

"It's all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you."

"You should go to America. That's where my son is. That's where your future is, not Myra Menke. Her head's as empty as a flowerpot."

"I was taught by both of my parents to work hard, to be passionate about whatever I did, and I felt that I did that and kind of got to where I am today because of hard work and passion and determination"

"I have always considered myself to possess a sixth sense, and my mother always told me to tap into my gut, my intuition"

"Any achievement that I accomplished, many people attributed to the fact that I was his daughter"

"Conscience protections are important for all of us. We enjoy the freedom to differ in opinion from one another. But, whatever view you may hold on this, or any other issue, I think we can all agree the government should not make our choices for us."

"Far too often movements revert to a position in which membership and joint political work are based on a necessarily similar history of oppression—but this is too much like identity politics. Instead, I am suggesting here that the process of movement building be rooted not in our shared history or identity but in our shared marginal relationship to dominant power that normalizes, legitimizes, and privileges."

"You know what else I'm sick and tired of? I'm sick and tired of men making laws about our bodies and our choices and our lives without consulting us."

"Twenty-six U.S. states, including Utah in Article IV, §1, and the majority of countries around the world, formally protect women in their respective constitutions. The U.S. Constitution does not. The lasting need for the ERA is more clear now than ever. Women have no anchor in the U.S. Constitution. Currently, when the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a case under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, laws that discriminate on the basis of gender do not get the highest level of protection that other classes do, like race or religion. In effect, this means it’s easier to pass and keep sex discriminatory laws on the books. Laws we rely on to protect us, like Title IX and Title VII, are on the chopping block. Ratifying the ERA would finally place women’s rights permanently in the U.S. Constitution at the highest level, and will help protect all marginalized genders and families."

"The ERA is just another way of stating the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We can amend the U.S. Constitution to match Utah’s own and affirm gender equality as an American value once and for all. Let’s beat out the other states, make Utah the 38th and final ratification needed, and again take our place on the right side of history."

"I am disappointed in the outcome, but not surprised since the disciplinary process has been entirely opaque and inequitable from the get-go... Fortunately, men do not control my happiness, nor do they control my connection to God. I am proud of what I have done... We will continue to act with integrity and courage. Mormon women and their legitimate concerns cannot be swept under the rug or summarily dismissed by one 'Court of Love.'"

"Being silenced this way feels as though a physical gag has been placed in my mouth each Sunday, and the pain of knowing my feelings and ideas are unwelcome is sharp. I am deeply saddened that my beloved church is considering forcibly ejecting me for living out what I was taught in a primary song as a child: "do what is right, let the consequence follow"... In fact, Mormon doctrine teaches that we have Heavenly Parents: Mother and Father... Knowing that our Heavenly Parents are both male and female teaches me that our potential as women is limitless... To remain relevant in today's world, religious institutions will thrive by tackling tough questions of gender equality, engaging with concerned women and helping move us all forward, together. We will be reverent and we will be respectful – but we will not be silenced."

"I couldn’t really read all the words because I was crying and sobbing, but my eyes focused on, 'We have chosen to excommunicate you.' I guess I'm a delusional optimist because to the end I thought they would do the right thing.... It's not that I won't abandon my cause. I can't. The church that has excommunicated me has taught me to live with integrity... They're asking me to go to church every Sunday and pretend I don't think there are problems with gender equality... I think it's a hideously painful blow to any woman has ever looked around her and recognized the plain and simple truth that men and women are not equal in our church."

"The founder of a Mormon women's group who was accused of undermining church teachings was excommunicated Monday by an all-male panel of judges who said she can only return if she abandons her cause... Kelly is a lawyer and a co-founder of Ordain Women, an organization that wants equal standing for women in Mormon church, which reserves its top leadership positions for men and does not permit female lay clergy... The bishop informed her that the excommunication — one of the highest-profile cases in the church in years — would last for at least a year and be lifted only if she showed "true repentance" and gave up her activism... Kelly, who chose not to appear at the disciplinary hearing, said that while it was a "tragic day," she would not be silenced. She said she plans to appeal, but is not hopeful because the church leader who would consider her case is the same person who initiated the excommunication process against her."

"On Sunday, I will be tried in absentia for apostasy by the leaders of my former congregation in the Mormon church... for the simple act of opening my mouth and starting a conversation about gender equality in the church and the deep roots of this institutional inequality. My grave situation is another example of how silencing women has long been a top communications priority for patriarchical institutions, both literally and figuratively. In the Mormon church, all positions of authority and leadership require ordination to the priesthood – and no women can be ordained, though the vast majority of male members, age 12 and up, are. This means that no women can lead any official rites and ceremonies, despite the fact that there is no specific Mormon church doctrine explaining why women are not ordained..."

"[N]o more FDA telling me what I can do. … If I want to use, you know, hydrogen, chlorine dioxide, any of the therapies, hyperbaric oxygen, I want to use to heal, that's my job. …"

"Dr. Judy Mikovits a well known former virologist and health activist has released an explosive new book entitled Plague of Corruption which she co-authored with Kent Heckenlively which exposes the alleged criminality of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from the onset of the HIV outbreak in the early 1980s until today’s COVID-19 pandemic. When she was part of the research community that turned HIV-AIDS from a fatal disease into a manageable one, she saw science at its best. But when her investigations questioned whether the use of animal tissue in medical research were unleashing devastating plagues of chronic diseases, such as autism and chronic fatigue syndrome, she saw science at its worst. If her suspicions are correct, we are looking at a complete realignment of scientific practices, including how we study and treat human disease. She claims her reputation was destroyed by the Health and Human Services. and the head of President Trump’s Coronavirus task force, Dr. Fauci. Dr. Mikovits also scrupulously dissects “shelter in place” and every aspect of the way COVID-19 is currently being managed by governmental authorities."

"Dr. Mikovits discovered that 67% of affected women carried a virus—called Xenotropic Murine Leukemia related Virus—that appeared in healthy women only 4% of the time. XMRV is also associated with prostate, breast, ovarian cancers, leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Many women with XMRV bore children with autism. In 2009, Drs. Mikovits and Ruscetti published their explosive findings in the journal Science. But the question remained: how was XMRV getting into people? Other researchers linked the first CFS outbreak to a polio vaccine given to doctors and nurses that resulted in the “1934 Los Angeles County Hospital Epidemic.” That vaccine was cultivated on pulverized mouse brains. Retroviruses from dead animals can survive in cell lines and permanently contaminate vaccines. Dr Mikovits’ studies suggested that the XMRV Virus was present in the MMR, Polio and Encephalitis vaccines given to American children and soldiers. XMRV is so hazardous that the mere presence of mouse tissue in a laboratory can contaminate other tissues in the same room. Dr Fauci ordered Mikovits to keep her mouth shut. When she refused, he illegally confiscated her work books and hard drives, drove her from government work and blackballed her from receiving NIH grants ending her science career. XMRV remains in American vaccines."

"… SARS-CoV-2. … Only the sick with co-morbidities are at risk of dying from the infection. …"

"Vaccine is immune therapy, just like interferon alpha’s immune therapy. So, I’m not anti-vaccine. My job is to develop immune therapies. That’s what vaccines are."

"I wouldn't use the word “created,” but you can’t say "naturally occurring" if it was by way of the laboratory. So, it's very clear this virus was manipulated. This family of viruses was manipulated and studied in a laboratory, where the animals were taken into the laboratory. And this is what was released, whether deliberate or not. That cannot be naturally occurring."

"One of the main problems of our time is the public loss of confidence in the scientific community because of a too often corrupt coalition of governmental and corporate entities. Judy Mikovits's and Kent Heckenlively's book delves into the midst of this rampant corruption, which hides from the public scientific truths which might go against these corporate economic interests.""

"Somebody didn't go to a market, get a bat. The virus didn't jump directly to humans. That's not how it works. That's accelerated viral evolution. If it was a natural occurrence, it would take up to 800 years to occur. This occurred from SARS1 within a decade. That’s not naturally occurring … I'm sure it occurred between the North Carolina laboratories, Fort Detrick, US Army Research Institute of Infectious Disease, and the Wuhan laboratory. (Mikovits' response to question: Do you believe that this virus was created in a laboratory?)"

"Why would you close the beach? You've got sequences in the soil, in the sand. You’ve got healing microbes in the ocean, in the salt water. That’s insanity."

"Hopefully, this is the wake-up call of all America to realize this makes no sense, and we win because it will take down the whole program with information like this. And for me, it’s the great news that the doctors are waking up and saying, “Wait a minute.”"

"For five years (on a gag order). If I went on social media, if I said anything at all, they would 'find' new evidence and put me back in jail. And it was one of the few times I cried. It was because I knew there was no evidence the first time. And when you can unleash that kind of force … to force someone into bankruptcy with a perfect credit score so that I couldn’t bring my 97 witnesses, which included the heads – Tony Fauci, Ian Lipkin – the heads of the public health in HHS, who would’ve had to testify that we did absolutely nothing wrong."

"No warrant, literally dragged me out of the house. Our neighbors are looking out going what's going on here. They searched my house without a warrant, literally terrorized my husband for five days. They said 'if you don't find the notebooks, if you don't find the material which was not in my possession but planted in my house … it was intended to appear as if I took confidential material, names and intellectual property from the laboratory, and I could prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that I didn't. The heads of our entire HHS colluded and destroyed my reputation. The Department of Justice and the FBI sat on it and kept that case under seal, which means you can't say there's a case, or your lawyers are held in contempt of court. So you can't even get a lawyer to defend you. So every due process right, was taken away from me and to this day remains the same, I have no constitutional freedoms or rights."

"I’m not anti-vaccine. I just think we need to use them safely. And besides, we’ve got great political support. Senator Harry Reid (then majority leader of the United States Senate) is a good family friend of my bosses, we’ve got support in the Obama administration, and the scientific community is behind us."

"When Frank Ruscetti was out of town, I received a call from Dr. Fauci and he demanded that I give him our manuscript on the isolation and confirmation of HIV, while it was still in press. I refused to do that because it’s unethical. These manuscripts are confidential and only authors can give him a copy … He threatened to fire me for insubordination but still I refused. It’s unethical When Frank Ruscetti returned a few weeks later, he gave the manuscript to Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Fauci purposely delayed the publication of our manuscript in order that his crony, Dr. Robert Gallo, could copy our work and submit a competing manuscript and get it into press before ours. On May 4, 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo famously published a series of papers demonstrating that a retrovirus he’d isolated was the cause of AIDS."

"He (Anthony Fauci) directed the cover-up. And in fact, everybody else was paid off, and paid off big time, millions of dollars in funding from Tony Fauci, Tony Fauci’s organization, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. These investigators that committed the fraud continue, to this day, to be paid big time by the NIAID."

"It is a conflict of interest. And in fact, this is one of the things that I’ve been saying and would like to say to President Trump. Repeal the Bayh-Dole Act … That act gave government workers the right to patent their discoveries, so to claim intellectual property for discoveries that the tax payer paid for. Ever since that happened in the early ’80s, it destroyed science. And this allowed the development of those conflicts of interest. … And this is the crime behind letting somebody like Bill Gates with billions of dollars — nobody elected him. He has no medical background. He was no expertise. But we let people like that have a voice in this country while we destroy the lives of millions of people."

"The game is to prevent the therapies till everyone is infected and push the vaccines, knowing that the flu vaccines increase the odds, by 36%, of getting COVID-19."

"The most biologically and culturally diverse place on the planet is under massive attack right now. The itself could be gone in a matter of the next 10 years. […] Unfortunately, one of the biggest causes of deforestation—definitely in the Brazilian Amazon—is agribusiness. Cattle, cattle grazing, and soy production in particular. […] People who were standing up against the lobbyists and the interests, the special interests, the cattle industry, the agribusiness industry, what was happening to them? A lot of people who were speaking out got killed. […] There’s people who were putting themselves out there and saying cattle ranching is destroying the Amazon. […] A lot of people will speak up, but a lot of people just keep their mouths shut because they don’t wanna be the next one with the bullet to their head."

"I grew up in Kentucky so that's the land of casseroles and barbecue and meat. So when I transitioned over to an entirely plant-based diet, I wasn't sure if I was gonna survive. And I actually became like a machine. […] I just immediately started feeling like I could go kick ass and not need the recovery in between. It was mind-blowing to my teammates. […] I was about ready to retire, as I should've been, because I'm like 35 at that time. But I just kept getting better, and so they had to take me to the Olympics. We were complete underdogs as Team USA. In our semi-final ride against Australia, we were down by 1.7 seconds. No one's ever come back in team pursuit from a deficit that large. And we beat them on the line by eight one-hundredths of a second. I was 39 and a half years old when I stood on the Olympic podium. I'm still the oldest person, male or female, to even go to the Olympic Games in my event. My diet was the most powerful aspect to me being able to perform and produce for the US team at the Olympic Games."

"Ideologies of US settler colonialism directly informed Australian settler colonialism. South African apartheid townships, the kill-zones in what became the Philippine colony, then nation-state, the checkerboarding of Palestinian land with checkpoints, were modeled after U.S. seizures of land and containments of Indian bodies to reservations. The racial science developed in the U.S. (a settler colonial racial science) informed Hitler’s designs on racial purity (“This book is my bible” he said of Madison Grant’s The Passing of the Great Race)."

"The pursuit of critical consciousness, the pursuit of social justice through a critical enlightenment, can also be settler moves to innocence - diversions, distractions, which relieve the settler of feelings of guilt or responsibility, and conceal the need to give up land or power or privilege."

"Settlers are not immigrants. Immigrants are beholden to the Indigenous laws and epistemologies of the lands they migrate to. Settlers become the law, supplanting Indigenous laws and epistemologies. Therefore, settler nations are not immigrant nations."