T. R. Mugler

The summer months are winding down and our children will soon be back in the classroom. What books they read, what history they learn, will now depend on what state you live in. White-washed versions of America's beginnings will replace facts and parents will be left to sift through the fiction their children will absorb. Whether or not your daughters have bodily autonomy, or will be owned by the government will also depend on what state you call home. Women's rights, as often is the case, are on the chopping block of Freedom, and per usual the rope of the guillotine is in the hand of men filled with fear.

Fear of strong women, educated and empathetic women, independent and fierce women. After all powerful women are the catalysts of their worst nightmares. They know the boys-will-be-boys mentality of blanket excuses will no longer be acceptable when women gain complete autonomy. They know the misogynistic caste system they have relied on will cease to exist.

You need only read Project 2025 to witness the depth of their fear.[1] The foundation upon which they intend to build a new world order, is filled with the trembling's of weak men about to lose their grip. A manifest of a crumbling patriarch desperate to roll back equality to a time when white men had all of the power and the rest of the human race did their bidding.

Make no mistake, we must meet this moment where it is, not where we want it to be. We must firmly grab hold and take it forward with the intensity it will require. These last weeks have been a loud and joyful call to unity. The moderate citizens of America, seemingly lost in the dissonance of extremism, are silent no more. Several weeks ago, when President Biden withdrew from the Democratic nomination, ending his bid for re-election, he threw his hat to Vice President Harris, endorsing her for President.

Sending the news cycle into overdrive with what felt like a political Hail-Mary, Americans rallied in ways not seen before. Vice President Harris held her first campaign rally and a new movement was born as an exuberant crowd chanted 'We are not going back.' A long-ignored echo from around the country suddenly reverberated on a national stage, women's rights advocates finally had someone in their corner with the willingness to fight. This wasn't some superficial mantra turned sound-bite, it was a call to arms for every American to join together and fight the divisive fascism seeping in and threatening to send women and our country back in time.

The pandemic popular Zoom platform experienced a volume untested as faction groups of white women and white dudes followed the lead of Black Women for Harris, crashing servers and sparking a movement to keep democracy alive.[2] While pundits and talking heads speculated and pontificated over who she was, what she had done, the stagnant repetitive threats and sectarianism of a cult-minded dictator were joyously replaced. Fundraising records were broken over and over as national delegates, congressional leaders, unions, businesses, and average Americans from all demographics embraced Harris blissfully in a long sigh of welcomed reprieve.

 A mere two weeks later, the momentum still high, Vice President Harris introduced Governor Walz to America from a podium in Philadelphia, and sent another shock wave through her opponent's struggling crusade to upend democracy. While the opponent's authoritarian regime falters, we must not sleep. We as women, as Americans, as human beings can not hesitate on the side-line of our own freedoms. We have an obligation to ourselves and our children to keep democracy alive and moving forward.

The Democratic National Convention is spreading the joy, fanning the flame of hope, and keeping the fire to fight going. No one brings the hope like former President Barack Obama, and last night he didn't disappoint. One of our country's best orators, Obama lifted the crowd and raised the bar, reminding us all what exactly is at stake. Democracy's voice is only as strong as those holding it up. Fascism is knocking on our door and we must be vigilant. Our democracy is what makes America great, and we must not falter in our commitment to hold her truths above all else.

Governor Walz clearly has the experience and fortitude to see this all the way to the end zone, but a win will be up to whether Vice President Harris can continue to fill the stands. It is our duty to meet this moment where it is at and together take it to where we need it to be. In this Olympic year it is quite clear Harris and Walz are aiming for gold, and America deserves nothing less.

[1] https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
[2] https://www.wwlp.com/news/national/white-women-for-harris-meeting-raised-millions-broke-zoom/

I grew up in a world where most people looked like me. I watched the world change while women evolved and did extraordinary things. These women also looked like me.

I admired Barbara Walters sitting next to Hugh Downs co-anchoring the news and looked forward to her numerous one on one interviews for the infamous Barbara Walters Specials. Geraldine Ferraro was the selected VP choice of Walter Mondale while I was in high school. The excitement around the historic moment left me disappointed that I wasn't old enough to vote, and equally frustrated when they lost.

Seeing women doing the same jobs as men, I felt empowered and believed through them, that I too could do anything.

Growing up during the ending run of the second wave feminist movement, my young and naïve mind believed we had won. We had won some long hard-fought battle against the patriarchy and women were finally equal, after all the television and magazine world seemed to be packed full of brilliant, strong & intelligent women rattling the cages of oppression and ringing in feminism.

Gloria Steinman was a household name, and Ms. magazine was often found on our coffee table. Comedian's like Lily Tomlin and Joan Rivers were in the mainstream, Dolly Parton left Porter Wagoner and struck out on her own to an unprecedented success. Stevie Nicks was leading Fleetwood Mac in sold out venues, Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court and Madeleine Albright became Secretary of State. While these women were few and far between, I believed nothing was impossible.

These women weren't my heroes, they were my possible and they all looked like me.

I was a white kid living in the projects, on the outskirts of hope and opportunity, and I always knew I could and would get out. The young women of color around me, didn't have this multitude of successful women that looked like them. They didn't have this ingrained expectation of success to fill their pores with possibilities and triumph.

It's not that women of color haven't done extraordinary things or found insurmountable success throughout the history of the world, they indeed have. Unfortunately, you have to look hard to find them. Stories written down, yet not repeated get lost in the winds of change. History tends to linger in the stories that are told and taught in our schools, our movie theaters, around our dinner tables and on the nightly news.

If the stories of Harriet Tubman, Madame C.J. Walker, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vauhn, Mary Jackson, and Shirley Chisholm aren't taught to the next generation, they disappear into the background noise and someone calls it progress.

While poet Maya Angelou's autobiography, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', spoke to all women and young girls, her oration of 'On the Pulse of Morning', during President Clinton's inauguration was unprecedented, and little black and brown girls were paying attention.

Oprah Winfrey rose to the top with the admiration of most women. Like many others, her story and success weren't without hard work and sacrifice, and she soon became a long-awaited example that success doesn't have to be measured by color or gender alone.

Tarana Burke hatched the #metoo hashtag to show young survivors of sexual assault they were not alone. It has grown to a national movement for women of all colors and socioeconomic position, the fact a black woman sits at the helm isn't lost on black and brown girls, who are disproportionately affected by sexual violence.

From memoir writer to editor, New York Time's bestseller Roxane Gay has not gone unnoticed among women eagerly searching for representation in the often pale waters of publishing success.

The rise of film maker Ava Duvernay for her incredible work behind 'When They See Us', and Pulitzer winning journalism of Nikole Hannah-Jones for her groundbreaking '1619 Project', women of color are finding true to life inspiration in women like them.

The nomination and successful election of America's first female Vice President has broken a multitude of barriers simultaneously. Kamala Harris isn't just the first female, she's the first black, the first Indian, the first bi-racial Vice President of the United States. While this is exciting for all women, for little black and brown girls looking for role models that look like them, it's so much more.

Representation matters. Seeing yourself in others doesn't just sew empathy or understanding, it can weave ambition and determination into your DNA. It can mirror a future never imagined.

Held up high, by the many women who have carved a path in the hardest of stone, Kamala is that mirror. Every little girl and young woman, from every walk of life and every color can now see themselves where they once never dared to dream.

A Woman Like Me also posted to medium.com

<https://trmugler.medium.com/a-woman-like-me-5f67481df2fb>