Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has long shared the vision of our partners regarding American Constitutional and universal human rights that the solution to equality begins with unity. While we are divisions of genders, races, religions, identity groups, we are human beings first, and in this nation, we are all Americans, with both the rights and responsibilities of being Americans.
In the United States of America, we achieve progress in respect, dignity, and rights through our commitment in being responsible for united action together. Our starting point for unity on equal rights always must be respect and dignity towards one another, especially with our nation’s diversity. The long struggle for women’s Constitutional Equality in America must be leading sisters and brothers working together under the banner of “respect, dignity, equality.”
The priority of shared respect and dignity is often forgotten by some passionate individuals, who believe equality on every level – including equality to disrespect one another – is somehow “progress.” But “respect” is a fundamental part of every modern human rights document, including the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After one of the great horrors of world history, including the mass-murder of millions of women, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in 1948, not only speaks about respect, but also about the right of DIGNITY. We cannot simply sweep respect and dignity out of the way, as inconvenient to our common cause to achieve equality, and especially not in our joint resolution to achieve Constitutional Equality for women, under the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.).
No matter who we are, as fellow human beings, we have an innate need for respect and dignity. Shared respect and dignity is where our commitment begins to Equality Without Exception. As diverse individuals, we don’t have to agree with one another or like one another, but we do have to respect the rights and dignity of one another as human beings, and in America, as fellow Americans. Respect and dignity are both the starting and the finishing points of our campaigns for equality.
So for women’s Constitutional equality in America, if we are not working for respect and dignity for our fellow American women, we are not working for their equality. The idea of being “equal” in being degraded and disrepected is simply gilding inequality. For too long in America, women have been degraded, disrespected, and abused as sex objects. A campaign to degrade and disrepect women is not a campaign for women’s equality.
With the long history of women’s sexual victimization in America, building a giant nude woman’s statue, as proposed by Catharsis on the Mall for its planned women’s rights demonstration in Washington D.C. in November, does not promote any type of healing, but seeks to perpetuate the sexist view that women don’t deserve the same respect and dignity as men, as part of their equal rights. What campaign for equal rights in America would not defend respect and dignity as fundamental parts of such equality?
R.E.A.L. understands the diversity and modern views of art as tools for statements in social justice. But more vital to the root of the women’s equality movement, R.E.A.L. understands the long history of women’s victimization by those using sexualization of their causes, their needs, and their concerns – as a way to silence the essential need for shared respect and dignity that every movement for equal rights must have.
Equal means more than words about “Equality” for all, without the genuine commitment to such truths.
Equal means Respect.Equal means Dignity. Equality depends on shared Respect and Dignity for all as fellow human beings and Americans – of any gender – because without acknowledging the need for shared respect and dignity – there is no genuine commitment to equal rights.
American women (or any women) should not have to choose between respect and dignity versus equality.
Women’s Rights must begin with Respect, Dignity, and Equality together – without question, without exception.
In our support for the Constitutional rights of American women, we support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) as an urgent and necessary protection for American women. Many of the reasons for such protection have been well documented: sexual discrimination against women, inconsistently enforced oppression and violence against women, the denial of equal rights and opportunity in the workplace, the disparate laws across the United States of America, which provides inconsistency in the protection of women’s rights.
But one other aspect to having a culture where there is a shared understanding of women’s rights and equality UNDER THE LAW is in the repeated cases we have seen on extremist attacks on American women.
Such extremists who seek to attack, threaten, oppress, injure, or kill women, based on some extremist ideology would now be held to a higher standard. If local courts did not ensure the protection of such women and the enforcement of the law, federal protection of women’s equal rights would.
One instance would be in cases of so-called “honor killings” by extremists, which are enforced differently in states around the nation. Only when there is interstate issues of travel or kidnapping do federal authorities get involved. Our American justice system should set a standard for consistency in Constitutional equality for women, as the LAW of the land, where all people coming to the United States of America will know that crimes against women – are crimes against this great United States of America itself.
We have seen such crimes against women, where a Constitutional amendment to enforce such women’s equality might have made the difference in protecting not only women’s rights, but also women’s lives.
Amina and Sarah Said in Dallas, Texas: sisters aged 17 and 18, murdered for dating non-Islamic boyfriends and developing “Westernized” ways. They were shot 11 times by their father Yaser Abdel Said, who remains at large.
Amina and Sarah Said – Victims of “Honor Killings” in Dallas, Texas
Methal Dayem in Cleveland, Ohio: shot four times with three bullets hitting her legs and torso, with the fourth going through her neck and she suffocated on her own blood. Cleveland prosecutors sought to bring charges against men believed in an “honor killing” against her, but her murderer(s) have never been punished. Her mother left the American court, sobbing that “You will not get away from Allah. Allah will punish you.”
Methal Dayem – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Cleveland, Ohio
Noor Almaleki in Peoria, Arizona: 20 year old woman murdered by her extremist father Faleh Almalek, who used his Jeep Cherokee to run over his daughter and another woman. He sought to commit an “honor killing” because her daughter was “too Westernized” and left an arranged marriage.
Noor Almaleki – American Girl Murdered for an “Honor Killing” in Peoria, Arizona
Aasiya Zubair Hassan in Buffalo, New York: 37 year-old woman beheaded by her husband Muzzammil Hassan in an “honor killing;” Ms. Hassan was a spokeswoman for a Muslim television program, “Bridges.” A Buffalo National Organization of Woman (NOW) representative was criticized for challenging an ideological view which believed that women were subordinate to men.
Aasiya Zubair Hassan – Victim of Suspected “Honor Killing” in Buffalo, NY
Sandeela Kanwal in Jonesboro, Georgia: 25 year-old woman strangled to death and beaten with an iron in a “honor killing” by her father Chaudhry Rashid, because she wanted to get out of an arranged marriage.
Sandeela Kanwa – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Georgia
Tina Isa in Indianapolis, Indiana: 16 year-old child was stabbed to death 13 times by father in an “honor killing” for causing “dishonor”to her family for applying for a job at Wendy’s restaurant and seeing a black friend from school.
Tina Isa – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Indianapolis
Amina Ajmal in Brooklyn, New York: 23 year-old woman told a court of her father “honor killing” threats and plots, after she was forced into an arranged marriage and allegedly gunned down her true love’s father and sister after she ran away
Amina Ajmal threatened with “Honor Killing” in Brooklyn, NY
and another child threatened with an “honor killing” for seeking freedom of religion…
Rifqa Bary in Columbus, Ohio: teenage girl who stated her parents threatened to kill her for changing her religion and converting to Christianity.
Columbus, Ohio: Christian Convert Rifqa Bary – Stated She Was Threatened with “Honor Killing” Death
And these are just the ones we KNOW about.
These murder and attacks by those with an extremist ideology are an affront to the women’s human rights. They did not take place in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, or another extremist nation.
These attacks and threats happened in:
— Dallas, Texas
— Cleveland, Ohio
— Peoria, Arizona
— Buffalo, New York
— Jonesboro, Georgia
— Indianapolis, Indiana
— Brooklyn, New York
— Columbus, Ohio
They happened in AMERICA – from Arizona to Buffalo. Your country.
The same America, where the failure to set an expectation of full Constitutional equality for women has led people to believe that women in this nation can be treated as subservient to men, who if they fail to obey, such extremist men think they have the right to murder such women.
The same America, where women still in this 21st century, don’t have guaranteed Constitutional equality in this nation, where such crimes can be investigated (or not) based on each city or each state’s laws.
The same America, where some politicians question, if we need an Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)?
But I have some first hand insight on this, coming from another city in Chicago, Illinois. It was a heart-chilling sight for those who respect American equality. In Chicago, I witnessed a public meeting of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in a Chicago hotel venue to promote the same Caliphate that ISIS seeks. The women in that venue were instructed that they had to be seated in the back of the room, where their “male masters” felt they belonged. In our nation. In the 21st century.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Instructs Women to Sit in Back of Conference Room
(This is the same Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which had an anti-women’s rights event in the United Kingdom in March 2015, to deny that women’s equality was a universal human right, and the same group that had previously scheduled an event “Honor Killings are Morally Justified.”)
Scene for Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Anti-Women’s Rights Event – where Women are NOT Equal to Men (Source: YouTube)
This didn’t happen in a Middle East extremist nation. This happened in America – in YOUR HOME – that your children will inherit. Is this the America you want to bequeath to them?
But some politicians still don’t think we need an Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)?
More than ever in our nation’s history and its place in the role, the United States of America truly needs the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.). America needs to make stand without question, without caveat, that in the LAW of this land – women and men are partners with full Constitution rights in this great nation.
We need to show once again we are a nation – responsible for equality and liberty – for ALL.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) and other human rights-supporting organizations are holding an International Women’s Day event on the afternoon of Sunday, March 8, from 1:30 to 4:30 PM, at a meeting room in the Bethesda Regional Library. This International Women’s Day event will be to share successes and challenges over the past year, as well as to discuss actions we can take to make a difference in challenges towards women’s equality and human rights.
We are inviting women from all backgrounds to join us at this event, where we will share the experiences of women around the world today, and ongoing struggle for equal rights, and in the United States of America, the struggle for Constitutional Equality. During the past year, we have seen the public response to high profile cases of battery, abuse, rape, murder, and persecution of women by misogynists. We demand that women’s equality and rights are considered an essential part of our shared human rights. #WomensEqualityMatters#MakeItHappen
We have invited leaders from United4Equality, Montgomery County Business & Professional Women (MC BPW), and supporters of the National Organization of Women (NOW). Please share this event with other women activists interesting in participating in this Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day event.
EVENT LOCATION:
Given the recent weather conditions, we are holding this as an indoor event at the following address:
EVENT TIME:
We are planning the total even from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM, but we anticipate most participants will be actively there from 2 PM to 4 PM.
CONTACT:
Jeffrey Imm, 301-613-8789, jeffrey.m.imm@gmail.com.
(Please contact us prior to the event to let us know that you will be coming.)
TRANSPORTATION:
Weekend parking is free at the Bethesda library.
The Bethesda Librarymeeting location is also within walking distance from the Bethesda Metro Station (Red Line) at 7450 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. We can also coordinate to pick up some people from the Bethesda Metro to the library meeting room, if necessary. Ride On Bus 36 also stops outside the Bethesda Library.
Walking Directions to Bethesda Library Meeting Room from Bethesda Metro Station:
— Bear left at the top of the station’s escalator.
— Walk through the bus terminal and then straight ahead 2 blocks on Edgemoor Lane to the library.
CARDIN TO INTRODUCE JOINT RESOLUTION TO REMOVE TIMELINE FOR ERA RATIFICATION
On the 40th anniversary of Senate passage of ERA, Cardin renews the commitment to achieve equality for women
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) on Thursday, March 22 at 11:00am will introduce a Senate joint resolution to remove the deadline for states to ratify the equal rights amendment. In celebration of Women’s History Month, Senator Cardin will be joined by United 4 Equality and other supporters of women’s rights to announce this companion legislation to HJ Res 47, Removing the Deadline for Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, introduced earlier this month by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). Senator Cardin’s original co-sponsors include Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD), Senator Robert Menendez (NJ), Senator Dick Durbin (IL), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), and Senator Tom Harkin (IA).
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed the Senate for the first time on March 22, 1972. Later that year, then-Maryland Delegate Ben Cardin cast his vote to help Maryland become one of the 35 states that would ratify the constitutional amendment before the deadline expired in 1982. Senator Cardin’s joint resolution would remove the 1982 deadline, thus requiring just three more states to ratify the measure. This follows the precedent set in 1992, when the 27th amendment to the Constitution prohibiting immediate Congressional pay raises was ratified after 203 years. Article V of the Constitution contains no time limits for ratification of amendments, and the ERA time limit was contained in a joint resolution and not the actual text of the amendment.
WHAT: Introduction of joint resolution to remove timeline for ERA ratification
WHO:
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin
United 4 Equality
Federally Employed Women
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Women’s Campaign Forum
National Conference on Puerto Rican Women
National Organization for Women
Feminist Majority Foundation
Indian American Leadership Council
Day of the Girl Campaign
Representatives of Nevada’s ERA Coalition
To the men of America – we need to demonstrate moral courage for our daughters, our sisters, our wives, and our mothers in America today.
We need to speak out and make it perfectly clear as men that we do not accept and we will not tolerate this type of despicable language and treatment of women in America, from any political corner or media figure – whether it is Rush Limbaugh or Bill Maher.
Women’s human rights and women’s inherent dignity as our sisters in humanity are not negotiable in political and public debates of any kind.
There is no political excuse, there is no rationale, there is no argument that justifies or rationalizes anyone in America or anywhere else treating our sisters in humanity without a shred of human decency and dignity.
This type of uncivil, gutter level discussion that we continue to hear about our sisters in humanity has no place in any type of dialogue on political, policy, religious, or public matters of any kind.
Yes, we know there will always those who express hatred and even misogyny.
But for every upraised fist of hatred, we must offer an outstretched hand of compassion and dignity to both our sisters and brothers in humanity — to show both our solidarity and our commitment to defending their universal human rights and their universal human dignity. We choose love, not hate.
When we reflect upon ourselves as human beings and as men, one of the essential elements that we must always be seeking is our conscience, and the courage to never let any circumstances and any conflict in our nation, our society, and our lives undermine the courage to keep that conscience a priority in our lives.
What are our lives worth without our conscience? What are all the things we do, all the things we build, all the things we obtain, if we lose the essence of what it means to be a human being, what it means to be a man, and what it means to be – an American.
Imagine how the rest of the world looks on American men today and wonders – will the men of America have the human decency to speak out in support of their daughters, their sisters, their mothers? Will the men of America have the courage of their conscience?
So I ask the men of America today – you have a voice, you have imagination, you have strength, and you have WILLPOWER. You can change the world. You can find time in your lives to stand up a moment to say to those who would attack, demean, and degrade the women of America.
You can find time to say to those who would dehumanize the women of America – and say ENOUGH.
We might differ on our political views. But we should never differ on the TRUTHS that we hold self-evident – that define us as Americans – that our sisters in America deserve the same equality, the same dignity, and same decency that any American deserves – without question, without reservation, and without exception.
Be responsible for equality and liberty – not just for us men, but also for our sisters in America and in humanity.
Show the world that we American men are NOT represented by the vulgar, disgraceful comments by media and political agitators attacking American women.
Put your name on the line – as one of the many millions of American men respecting women’s equality and dignity….
…simply because it is the right thing to do, it is the human thing to do, and it is the American thing to do.
To my fellow Americans – on behalf of the human rights coalition Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), we stand in support of Constitutional rights for women and all Americans, and support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), which Americans have been struggling to pass for over 40 years, and there continue to be efforts to extend the deadline to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified.
Our Constitution guarantees rights and liberties consistently everywhere in America – without exception, without caveat, and without question. Our Constitution is intended to be an expansion on the DECLARATION of what it means to be an American – the truths that we hold self-evident. But we are not and we will not be complete as a nation, until our Constitution recognizes these truths not just for men, but also recognizes these truths for women and ALL AMERICANS – as ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
Constitutional equal rights for women is not a left-wing or a right-wing, a liberal or a conservative issue. Constitutional equal rights for women is not a women’s or a men’s issue. Constitutional equal rights for women is an AMERICAN issue. It is our inherited obligation and responsibility to fulfill the truths we hold self-evident for ALL Americans. It is a historic opportunity to pursue the great dream and the great vision that America is and must be not only for us, but also for the world.
Yet I have sat and listened to the stories and tears of American women, whose rights have been abused in different parts of this great nation, and it makes my heart sick. I have heard and I have seen how they been treated as second class citizens, in business, in court, in government, and even by law enforcement. I have seen the uneven application of law and fairness that are basic fundamental principles of those truths that we hold self-evident. I have seen, especially in these days of great poverty among many of our citizens, how they can abused – even sexually abused because they are women, and people in business and people in law-enforcement have not made it a priority to defend their RIGHTS AS AMERICANS.
Perhaps you have not heard such stories; you have not seen such instances of abuse and disgrace across our great nation. But even those who have not heard or seen such shameful violations of American women’s rights have certainly heard and read the public dialogue over the past week. One only has to read the recent news stories and hear the interviews of those who think it is acceptable political dialogue to call American women “prostitutes” (and even more vulgar terms) to get the message of the level of intransigence against women’s rights and dignity. The timing of this latest attack on American women could not be a clearer indication of the threat to American women’s rights and dignity today. It should speak volumes to those who question the need for an Equal Rights Amendment to America’s Constitution.
We cannot and we will not complete the building of our great nation, by neglecting the Constitutional rights of half our country. We cannot and we will not become the nation that we were destined by failing to guarantee the Constitutional rights for our daughters, our sisters, our wives, and our mothers. We cannot and we will not become an American beacon of hope to oppressed women around the world – when we fail to give Constitutional rights to American women at home. We cannot and we will not ever truly become the UNITED States of America that we must be, when we allow and tolerate a division among our Constitutional rights for men and the Constitutional rights that all women should enjoy without question – simply because they are Americans – one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL.
United We Must Stand – as Americans in support of Equal Rights for all women and men in America.
Jeffrey Imm
Founder
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
https://www.realcourage.org
usa@realcourage.org
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Equal Rights Amendment
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
==========================
R.E.A.L. Supports the Constitutional Freedoms of the United States of America - not just for men- but for women and ALL Americans
Sunday February 5 Event United 4 Equality LLC also has a pro-E.R.A. rally scheduled for Sunday, February 5 at 1 PM on the walkway on the Key Bridge between Washington DC and Virginia. See their Facebook rally event!. For more information on the Sunday event, contact Holly Joseph 301-325-4740 OR Carolyn Cook 202-309-1963. According to the group “OPTIONAL: Bring a Red Heart balloon (for VA’s state motto – VA…Lovers, a Ratify ERA, VA’ sign and/or your organization’s sign. Parking is free on Sundays but it’s probably just as easy to hop on the Blue/Orange Line Metro to Rosslyn. On the street level, head towards 19th Street and turn right at US Rt. 29 and the first left on N. Lynn Street which takes you to the bridge. We will be gathered on the bridge awaiting your arrival.”
“ALERT! ACT NOW!!! First vote is Friday, Feb. 3.We have just learned that the first vote on our ERA bill is tomorrow morning!!! Please send your emails or make your calls NOW!!!Two important committee votes are scheduled for the Virginia ERA bill. Your help is needed to get the Virginia ERA bill through this first hurdle.”
“The bill will be voted on in the House Privileges and Elections Committee at 9:30 am on Friday, Feb 3 and in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 4:00 pm.”
“This is an important step in the “Three State Strategy” for the Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified in the US Constitution. Last year the Virginia State Senate approved the ERA bill with a bipartisan vote — the first legislative action on the ERA in over 30 years! Unfortunately six men in the House committee killed the progress of this legislation. This year, Virginia NOW is going at it again.”
“Please call or write the following Senators who are on the Senate Privileges and Elections to request that they vote for SJ 130.”
Mark Obenshain (chairman): 804-698-7526; district26@senate.virginia.gov
Janet Howell: 804-698-7532; district32@senate.virginia.gov
Stephen Martin: 804-698-7511; district11@senate.virginia.gov
Creigh Deeds: 804-698-7525; district25@senate.virginia.gov
Phil Puckett: 804-698-7538; district38@senate.virginia.gov
John Edwards: 804-698-7521; district21@senate.virginia.gov
Donald McEachin: 804-698-7509; district09@senate.virginia.gov
Chap Petersen: 804-698-7534; district34@senate.virginia.gov
Ralph Smith: 804-698-7519; district19@senate.virginia.gov
Ralph Northam: 804-698-7506; district06@senate.virginia.gov
Jill Vogel: 804-698-7527; district27@senate.virginia.gov
Jeffrey McWaters: 804-698-7508; district08@senate.virginia.gov
Bill Carrico: 804-698-7540; district40@senate.virginia.gov
Bryce Reeves: 804-698-7517; district17@senate.virginia.gov
Tom Garrett: 804-698-7522; district22@senate.virginia.gov
“Please write or call the following delegates who are on the Privileges and Elections Committee to request that they vote in favor of HJ 115.”
House Privileges and Elections Committee MembersCole (Chair); 804-698-1088, DelMCole@house.virginia.gov
Cosgrove: 804-698-1078; DelJCosgrove@house.virginia.gov
Hugo: 804-698-1040; DelTHugo@house.virginia.gov
Scott: 804-698-1053; DelJScott@house.virginia.gov
Dance: 804-698-1063; DelRDance@house.virginia.gov
Putney: 804-698-1019; DelLPutney@house.virginia.gov
O’Bannon: 804-698-1073; DelJOBannon@house.virginia.gov
Cox, J.A.: 804-698-1055; DelJCox@house.virginia.gov
Alexander: 804-698-1089; DelKAlexander@house.gov
Spruill: 804-698-1077; DelLSpruill@house.virginia.gov
Ingram: 804-698-1062; DelRIngram@house.virginia.gov
Bell, R.B.: 804-698-1058; DelRBell@house.virginia.gov
Ramadan: 804-698-1087; DelRRamadan@house.virginia.gov
Joannou: 804-698-1079; DelJJoannou@house.virginia.gov
Jones: 804-698-1076; DelCJones@house.virginia.gov
Miller (Vice Chair): 804-698-1050; jackson@jacksonmillerva.com
Ransone: 804-698-1099; DelMRansone@house.virginia.gov
Sickles: 804-698-1043; DelMSickles@house.virginia.gov
Albo: 804-698-1042; DelDAlbo@house.virginia.gov
Landes: 804-698-1025; DelSLandes@house.virginia.gov
O’Quinn, Israel: 804-698-1005; DelIOQuinn@house.virginia.gov
Howell: 804-698-1090; DelAHowell@house.virginia.gov
“The Equal Rights Amendment simply states, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.” The ERA was passed by the Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. Thirty-five states ratified it before it stalled in the 1980’s. The non-ratifying states are Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.”
Carolyn Cook, founder and CEO of United for Equality, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington DC on December 8, as part of a Human Rights Day Event, calling for a renewed commitment by Americans in support of the Constitutional rights for all American women, as part of our global human rights goals. United for Equality is a social justice enterprise seeking the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) by 2015.
United for Equality has the symbol of the three women, symbolizing the three waves that it has taken for women to struggle for equality in America. Carolyn stated that we must change the way people think and what we tolerate in our culture regarding the rights and dignity of our fellow Americans and fellow human beings. Carolyn spoke out against the discrimination and the efforts to deny full equality to women in America, in every aspect of their lives. She stated that we need to take our system back and make it ours.
Carolyn Cook stated that United for Equality’s coalition successfully introduced a bill to the 112the session of the United States Congress calling for Congress to remove the time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.), as the United States previously had the ratification of the E.R.A. in 35 states, and it requires ratification in 38 states and by 2/3s of the House and Senate. She pointed out how previous U.S. government officials sought to halt the efforts to ratify the E.R.A. after 10 years when nearly all of the required states but 3 had ratified this Constitutional Amendment, and pointed out that women have no desire to “start over” the ratification of the E.R.A.
Carolyn Cook also spoke on the importance of human rights activists to work together in our common causes of universal human rights for women, men, and children, and people of all identity groups. She also spoke of learning from other activist groups, and identifying how we can grow as human rights activists, by first identifying where we are on the paradigm of activism and learning how we can reach further as individuals committed to human rights and social justice.
Carolyn Cook also spoke on the paradigm of options we have as activists and participants in defending human rights. Carolyn urged a more holistic approach towards addressing human rights as lifelong causes. She discussed lessons learned from the Occupy movement and other social activist efforts to bring change to the world. Her discussion on lessons from the Occupy movement are detailed in the YouTube video of her speech beginning at 6:36 minutes in on Part 1 and continuing and concluding in Part 2 of her remarks.
Welcome and thank you for coming today!
It is another good to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
That is the name of our human rights coalition, Responsible for Equality And Liberty, and we are here today to invite our fellow human rights activists in a joint event where we remember the December 10, 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the nations of the United Nations.
People around the world remember this human rights accomplishment as Human Rights Day, and there events going on around the world.
Here in Washington DC, Responsible for Equality And Liberty, has sought to also celebrate Human Rights Day here at the National Press Club, as we have done over the several years, with speakers on various human rights campaigns, to share our common bond together in our efforts to be responsible for our universal human rights for all people around the world.
Our common bond is our humanity. This includes the inherent human dignity and human rights for all people of all identity groups everywhere in the world that represent our universal human rights. We come from the nations of the world, from different races, different ethnic groups, different religions, different genders, and different identity groups – but our universal human rights apply equally to all – without exception, without reservation.
Our universal human rights are also based on our shared respect for one another as human beings. Such respect is essential in our human society. We find those who seek to be superior or arrogant in seeking rights for themselves that they would deny to others. But our universal human rights are based on shared respect for all people of all identity groups everywhere in the world. Our universal human rights require a commitment to being responsible for BOTH equality and liberty for all.
In our individual campaigns, we struggle with those who would seek to deny such universal human rights. We see extremist groups, totalitarian governments, and those with hate in their hearts seeking to deny human rights to others. Let us never forget this problem is one of human respect, first and foremost. If we are to RESPONSIBLE on this matter, we must treat all human beings with respect, even those with whom we disagree. The challenge we see in human rights is not only a challenge for individual campaigns, but it is a challenge for humanity itself.
So our combined campaigns for human rights must begin with a declaration of love and respect for our fellow human beings. The view with Responsible for Equality And Liberty is that we offer an outstretched hand, not an upraised fist – to all of our brothers and sisters in humanity.
Our common bond is our humanity and our common legacy must be one where we show our love and respect for one another, even as we challenge those who oppress, and even as we challenge those deny human rights and dignity to others. We must set an example. We must set a standard. We must offer a vision of the future based on hope.
We urge others to Choose Love, Not Hate. But we are not preaching about our own perfection, rather we are setting a goal for our society and ourselves with humility.
Our goal in our human rights campaigns must also be finding and building for the future of human society together.
That future must begin with a commitment to the most vulnerable among us, whether they are minorities in the race, religion, gender, ethnic background or other identity groups. It is easy to ignore those who are different. But the global danger is that we become arrogant and fail to respect their human rights. We have seen this around the world: in the United States, in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa, in Europe. We have individuals who will speak today on campaigns to defend the human rights of minorities and other groups who are denied human rights based on perceptions in culture, including women in America.
Our future in human rights must also address the issue of the terrible poverty around the world, and the impact of this poverty on effectively denying the human rights of people. I also urge Americans to address this issue as well. Just a short drive from where we meet today, you can see some of the most dire circumstances of poverty and neglect. There are those who would seek to leverage such poverty to abuse the vulnerable in our society in America and around the world. To challenge the poverty in human rights around the world, we cannot also neglect the need to challenge the issue of poverty itself. Give where you can, help where you can. Use your declaration of love and respect to help those who need help.
If our commitment to the future must address the most vulnerable among us, then the most important part of that commitment is our children. Without our children, there is no future for human society. Our children are the future leaders of Earth, and we must set an example on human rights, respect, and love for one another – not just for our own sake – but also for our children’s future. I say “our children” because they are our shared responsibility and our shared future. We cannot just only expect the parents of our children to look out on their behalf, no more than only our parents looked out on our behalf. All of human society has a responsiblity to equality and liberty for our children, and all of human society has an obligation to safely protect and preserve our children, so that can live and grow to become the future leaders of our Earth.
But if we were to assess human society based on how its most vulnerable, we would a sorry story. Too few nations, including the United States of America, are signatories to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child. A few weeks ago there was a separate event where people remember the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on November 20, 1989.
If we are committed to human rights, we must first and foremost be committed to human rights for our children. Yet an endless parade of violence and abuse against children and young people continues throughout America and throughout the world.
On Monday of this week a 7 year old girl, Jorelys Rivera, was found murdered, sexually abused, and left in a trash bin. (Lifting her photo to the audience). This is the face of human rights in America and the world today. Our children are abused, raped, tortured, and killed in America and around the world with impunity. In Texas, children were killed by their own mother, after putting a Facebook posting warning of threats against them. In Pennylvania, institutional leaders ignored reports of repeated attacks and rapes of young boys for over a decade at the Pennsylvania State University, of which I myself am an alumnus.
This week in Afghanistan, a teenage girl who had been raped and imprisoned by the Aghan government as a result of being a victim, was finally given an oppportunity to be released from prison after 2 years, if she married her rapist.
Our disgrace in human rights for children are not just by criminals and extremists, it is by governments, it is by institutions, and it is by too many in society. This disgrace in human rights for children is only a reflection of the state of our society on human rights. We see extremist views from people who claim that they represent religious or cultural views justifying pedophilia and honor killings. On regular basis, such so-called “honor killings” frequently of young girls are reported at the international human rights group’s web site stophonourkillings.com. In the United Kingdom alone, there were 3,000 so-called honor killings last year.
This threat to our children affects all of us and all of in this room and the individual human rights campaigns represented here.
In Sudan and Darfur, children are killed, young girls are raped, children are starved, authorities refuse to let children learn about their culture, and some children are taught to become soldiers.
In Pakistan, we see an endless and horrifying oppression of young children, brainwashing by extremist of young minds, tying bombs onto children for terrorist acts, the abuse, rape, and murder of young Christian girls and other religious minitories, including a young girl Amariah Masih, who was murdered resisting an attempted rape and reported forced religious conversion.
In Balochistan, we have seen over 168 children who have “disappeared” and teenage boys killed as part of a brutal “kill and dump” campaign by authorities.
In China, only two months ago, the world saw heartless people continue to walk by as a two year old girl Yue-Yue was run over by a vehicle and left to die in the street. At the U.S. Congress a short drive away, I have sat and listened to testimony from young Chinese women forced into having abortions and heard reports of how the government instructed doctors to kill young babies. The Falun Gong, here with us today, could tell the story of how the children of their supporters are also oppressed, tortured, killed, and others left to be orphans or without parent as the Chinese Communist Party takes their parents away for their beliefs.
In Bahrain, I have a report from a few weeks ago of 5 children killed and hundreds of children subjected to excessive force by a brutal government that seeks deny democracy and human rights.
We such abuses too regularly, and it is easy to view such disgraces as statistics rather than as human beings, who are precious, unique, and loved.
My friends have also been asking why Responsible for Equality And Liberty has had less press conferences this year. One of my own personal focus has been dealing with people suffering in dire poverty in this nation and seeking to help them from their difficult living environment. This has included a teenage girl who came to me with her own story of abuse and I have been intervening to protect her and other American girls suffering from abuse as a result of their poverty, by those who seek to take their hope, dreams, and their innocence away.
They are all OUR children. They are all OUR responsibility for equality and liberty. Every one.
In the month of December, we see some people celebrating holidays of various sorts and some providing gifts to children.
I believe we can give them a special gift this year.
We must give the gift of our courage, our consistency, and our commitment for the universal human rights and dignity to all of our children around the world.
Some believe that abuses against our children are simply a law enforcement issue. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we are to be responsible as individuals in a human society, each of us must be responsible for the children that are our common bond and bridge to the future.
We must set an example for our children.
We must provide a beacon and symbol of hope for our children.
We must show that by our words and more importantly by actions, in the United States and around the world – to our children – and to each other…
United4Equality invites the public to an event to raise awareness and funds in support of the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A. on November 12, Saturday night from 7 to 10 PM at theStrathmore Court Apartments Community Room at 5440 Marinelli Road in Rockville.
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Please join us for this special fundraising event that highlights the historic Equal Rights Amendment campaign and our revival effort going on now! Would you help us spread the word to your members and friends?
Carolyn Cook of United4Equality Speaks of the Need for Constitutional Equality for Women in America and Consistent Support for Women's Rights Around the World
