Womens Conference runs into rough seas of their own making
snip
The organizers of the Women’s March were smart and they collected hundreds of thousands of emails by having people register for the march. Since that time I have received countless missives from them asking me to do one thing or another in support of the resistance to Trump.
Then I received an email about their organizing a women’s conference in Detroit at the end of October. It was an exciting email to get as it reminded me of when I first got involved in the women’s movement working for Bella S. Abzug (D-NY). Bella along with Congresswoman Patsy Mink (D-HI) fought for Congressional funding for what was to become the National Woman’s Conference held November 18–21, 1977 in Houston, Texas. “Between 17,000 and 22,000 people took part. Some 2,000 delegates and 15-20,000 observers. The goal was to hammer out a “Plan of Action“ to be presented to the Carter Administration and Congress for consideration and/or adoption. Each of the twenty-six Resolutions on Women’s Rights in the Plan was proposed to the attendees and voted upon collectively. The Conference was chaired by Bella Abzug.” I was lucky enough to join Bella at the White House when she presented the final plan to the President.
What I would have hoped was the planners of this conference in Detroit would have looked at what was the opening ceremony list of speakers at that conference to understand what helped to make the conference so great. Now that list wouldn’t be as diverse as we would want it to be today, but it was women and it isn’t difficult to think of brilliant and dynamic women today representing the diversity you want. “The opening ceremony speakers included: First Ladies Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, activists Coretta Scott King, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Barbara Jordan, Liz Carpenter, and Jean Stapleton. Maya Angelou read Declaration of American Women 1977.”
I have been an activist fighting for many causes for many years including women’s rights, civil rights, disability rights, children’s rights, and the rights of the LGBT community among others. I was on the committee that helped plan the recent Equality March for the LGBTQ+ community. So when I see something like this self-inflicted wound on what should be a conference supported and hailed by all women I feel sad. So much work goes into these things. People are committed and volunteer their time and effort to make a difference. Clearly the invitation to Sanders has shown the conference, or at least the planning committee responsible for inviting speakers, has been hijacked by some who aren’t there for the purpose of galvanizing all women to come together around an agenda to fight for their future, the future of the country, and future generations. Rather they have their own political agenda and are inserting it to the detriment of this conference.
Maybe it will take Senator Sanders himself to understand his presence on that stage in Detroit is more divisive than helpful and he will withdraw as a speaker. Doing that may be doing more for women’s rights than he has ever done before. As men we must recognize the time for women to gather, to speak out, and to lead; is NOW!
More: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-conference-runs-into-rough-seas-of-their-own_us_59e0fa65e4b003f928d5e656?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
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For one moment put the politics aside and just let us go out there on our own. We know you men love and support our movement and we can't do that alone, yet the stage should be ours at a very critical time in all our lives as we fight to survive. The planners made a mistake. It needs to be corrected. This is our time, put the politics away.
= new reply since forum marked as read
She was never invited to the women's march either.
Enough with the poutrage over Sanders. 
for what is amounting to an Our Revolution rally. 
& hopefully the senate, right?
if that is correct she has this old woman's full support
And yeah, what feminists really need is a man to lead them, amiright?
Dumbest idea ever.
'cause ya know...sssssh and all.
It ain't easy to be me.
Loves ya, brer.
who are saying we can are just racist.
But that's essentially what they are saying.
Why didn't the conference organizers???
This is a women's conference, for crying out loud.
...about who they should and shouldn't invite.
It's clear from the Outrage today that most of the people don't have the slightest idea who actually IS speaking.
All day long: "I'm outraged Hillary, Gillibrand, Harris or Warren weren't invited!1!1!1!1!"
Actually they were invited and declined: *crickets* -- though one person said they were actually glad those Women declined. And to that I say "nicely played"
Or my favorite: "I'm outraged Maxine Waters is not the keynote!1!1!1!1!
From the organizers:
Tamika D. Mallory @TamikaDMallory
·
Oct 12
MAXINE WATERS IS THE #WOMENSCONVENTION HEADLINER! Y'all may not have noticed but we announced that weeks ago...#ReclaimingOurTime
*crickets*
http://www.essence.com/news/womens-convention-theme-reclaiming-our-time
“We are honored to have the voice of Congresswoman Waters play such a pivotal role in our convention,” said Mallory, co-president of the nonprofit Women’s March. “It really captures the essence of this convention and why we believe this is such an important moment to convene, make our voices heard, and show that the rise of the woman is the rise of the nation.”
Tammy Duckworth
Wendy Davis
Be sure to keep us informed how your sister's race progresses. I love her dedication.
and why we desperately need a conference by and for women. These men are making decisions about OUR BODIES. Least we forget, they are keeping all the little goodies for themselves...Viagra while taking away our birth control. Does anyone see the hypocrisy here? Let's see...Viagra gives the man an erection so he can have sex. A woman is denied birth control and abortions. So if the result is a pregnancy, the woman actually gets screwed twice as the man walks away.
Thanks. We sure have a long history of amazing women. I really love this picture.
also. Great thread, she. Great summary.
Good to see another strong voice for women in this thread.
We are one woman.
to have Bernie speak is not about women, which is a vast and polite understatement.
Tia
I am so sick of the mansplaining on this board I could scream.
That is a no win scenario!
He didn't invite himself.
OS
Just a comment after a couple said he should drop out. I should have made it a direct reply.
IF he does drop out, I'm fine with it. It's his choice (pun intended).
Edit to add my sig is pro female athletes like Creighton U that beat Butler 3-2 tonight.
OS
I felt it a direct attack on me.
Crazy ass world these day, huh? Up is down, black is white and right is wrong. Go figure.
For a laugh...
And about that gif? Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!
warmed over....
about one Bernard Sanders. Well done, DU.
2018, people. Tick. Tock.
Well, depends on the man, I suppose. Wouldn't be happy about some tiki-torched man-boy addressing the crowd, but Sanders, Obama, Gore, etc. would be acceptable. No one else cares, either, but for the fact that it was Sanders. This is exactly the sort of poutrage the right-wing latches onto in stereotyping "the left" as snowflakes, whiny SJWs, etc., and it's perpetuated on DU. Curious.
Be sure to post pics. We'll all be curious about your first-hand experience at the conference.
It is not.
Somebody off the street would be better. Got it. 
are people in the majority in our Democratic Party, expressing displeasure at something that is patently, obviously a nod to a minor leader of a minority wing of the Democratic Party....speaking on issues affecting all women in these days of a molester-in-chief as potus.
Women today are fighting the SAME battle as those in the 'Call to Action' days of late 70's...40 years ago. You're saying there are no women that today can address issues with the same irresolute truth as women then? That's what you're saying?
Maybe that's what he meant? We needed more feminist robotic transformers to bring our message forward?
dodge......
leading something, they tend to get fixated on "respectability" and "respectability" is always about surrender. The way to get around that would be to not have anyone speak at all at the conference, just in case. 
joke? Right?
Great OP sheshe2!
You do not understand what a WOMAN'S CONFERENCE is, it is about women and we were not the ones that tried to burn it down that would be the organizers and the last minute switch that they pulled. THEY made it political. Women build movements, we never burn them down, our voices were heard, thousands of us were heard.
You must have missed the update.... It is on and it is all about women.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029722277
