Dear Friends,
Today is International Women’s Day and we are one week into Women’s History Month. In our work for gender justice, we honor the past – as it is still present today – both in the legacy of structural inequalities, and in the power of community resistance.
We also celebrate you, and the many sheroes that give us the courage to voice our truths, whether about gun violence, immigration, racism, or toxic masculinity. There are so many sheroes to highlight this Women’s History Month, and most of them are not famous. They are doing the work, day in and day out, to create more just, inclusive, and beautiful communities.
We heard from some of these powerful women last week, at our 5th anniversary event, Standing Fierce For Five, including poets: Jessica Helen Lopez, Taylor Harlan, Sierra KC Garcia-Charlie, Mercedez Holtry, and Eva Marisol Crespin, along with Dr. Patricia Trujillo, Sarah Silva, and Maria Hinojosa, Host and Executive Producer of NPR’s Latino USA and Founder of Futuro Media Group. This International Women’s Day, we would like to share some of Maria Hinojosa’s powerful speech with you:
My definition of feminism…is a person, often a woman, who helps another woman to see and use her own power. To me that is what feminism is. So every single one of you obviously knows that you have the power to change someone’s life and that you, in fact, have that power to encourage another woman when you acknowledge their voice and their power.
And some potent words from our local shero and Advisory Board member, Dr. Patricia Trujillo:
We have built relationships with each other, and in doing so we have built coalitions across the state…We are changing the models we inherited. And in some cases, we are putting them down altogether. Because when women, and I mean all women – cisgender, transgender, gender nonconforming – when women organize, we create amazing spaces and supports, so we can imagine new solutions for the problems in our communities.
The full videos of all of the speakers and poets are now available on our website here. And, you can check out our Facebook photo booth album here and general event album here.
Also, we will be at Santa Fe Community College today celebrating with students on campus and talking about intersectional feminism and gender justice! Tune into our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates.
With love and solidarity,
The NewMexicoWomen.Org Team
Jessica Helen Lopez, Mercedez Holtry, Eva Marisol Crespin, Maria Hinojosa, Sierra KC Garcia-Charlie, and Taylor Harlan
Renee Villarreal and Dr. Lisa Cacari-Stone
David Gaussoin, Guest, Susan Wilger, Alberto Granados, Jessi Jensen
Eva Marisol Crespin and Mercedez Holtry
Dr. Patricia Trujillo
Sarah Silva
Maria Hinojosa and Karen Nunez
