Women and Children First | Ms. Magazine

Almost 18 years ago, on a sunny Mother’s Day, about a quarter of a million people converged on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Provoked by a shooting at the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center in 1999, the march spawned satellite events throughout the country in that year, and on the first anniversary the following May.

Fifteen years later, following the brutal murder of young Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman, three young black women created a hashtag and a movement that now spans the country and models an innovative, de-centered way of doing political organizing. The leadership of Black Lives Matter remains predominantly young and female.

Cut to 2017. The Women’s Marches—led by a multicultural team of women activists—galvanized the opposition to the new president, bringing out millions in hundreds of U.S. cities and on every continent. Rinse and repeat for this year’s anniversary marches—and the continued organizing through a strong nationwide network of local “huddles” and savvy coalition-building—that came on the heels of the star-studded launch of a #TimesUp campaign against sexual harassment led by women in Hollywood (and inspired by the #MeToo movement founded over a decade ago by Tarana Burke).

And now, in the bleak winter of 2018—following yet another mass shooting by, yes, yet another young white man—it once again falls to women and young people of all genders to do the hard work of social justice. Spurred on by the tragedy of losing 17 of their classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students took to the streets and the corridors of legislative power, calling for walk-outs and strikes and action, finally, on gun law reform. Undeterred by attacks on their character broadcast by Fox News and right-wing conspiracy theories claiming traumatized activists are paid actors, their immediate pivot from grief to organizing has captivated a nation beaten down by bad news and eager for energetic leadership. Unsurprisingly, the Women’s March immediately lent its support and expertise and launched the #Enough National School Walkout scheduled for later this month.

Whether in the Fight for $15, the defense of DACA and the Dreamers or organizing for the rights of domestic workers, women—often young women and more often than not women of color—have been in the leadership of modern movements for intersectional social justice. These are not the fantasies of a fervent feminist. These are just the facts.

Read the full article on Ms. Magazine Blog.