Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller; #85; How To Bring Joy Into The Resistance - Sarah Sophie Flicker and Paola Mendoza

but after that twenty seventeen was a banner year for activism the largest mass mobilization in modern history of the world at the beginning doesn't seventeen week and two thousand and seven with the largest mobilization so what does this mean warda is a laptop we thought well we can start by looking back i'm lauren shuler and on today's election plain we go behind the scenes of the women's march after the election and stay with us the painting from kalw and pr x this is inflection

point i'm lauren shuler with stories of how women rise up every year i make an actual printed photo album of my family's activities that vacation time the cover of our twenty sixteen album features means my husband my two daughters looking super defeated without a care in the world in wetsuit stovall things the problem for twenty seventeen is a little different this one features my then eleven year old daughter and three of her friends holding protest signs they've created for the women's march you know right after the twenty sixteen election and what became the largest protest we've ever had in us history so that day we got together on my

deck to paint and glitter and build our math jobs in the photo of one of the boys is holding a sign he made that says to be a real man has to believe in women's rights to another from one of the girl's this is my future women's rights are human rights and a third of the younger girls us players kindness is everything these are not a bunch of angry women feminists although some angry women feminists might have coached them what to say and you can see that the future is literally in their hands and he spent a day making art to carry out a stack of the border and so i might actually making those scientists whose works of archeology it was actually find in the face of what we felt was a shocking turn of events and we are not alone so we have seen an erudition that we have seen a

culture shift we're in the middle of the cultural revolution and how did that happen i firmly believe that storytelling is at the center of our story zhan media's of stories whether it was writing poetry weather was making art are travelers last year where there was incredible music artists were at the forefront of that culture and so now we're seeing that that parliament is that the artistic director of the women's march she curated the speakers and the musical performances with denise that she let on partnerships organized all of the art as usual direction of the march and storyteller i mean as a first generation immigrant and a colombian american and a woman of color representation is near and dear to her heart so you better believe she was intentional about including under represented voices of women of color

but what is important about that story is that what makes the united states beautiful empowering in the end wyatt holds so much hope is that an immigrant that was fatherless homes and abandoned is still able to stand up against a president united states in the most historic powerful way possible besides everything the diverse and powerful lineup of speakers and performers ranging from america for rare as gloria steinem telling us a surprise album xs daughter powell also cofounded the resistance revival chorus with sarah sophie flicker to bring more joy into the movement by bringing back old songs and creating new ones at a dc

city seriously if he along with co founding the resistance are viable chorus is also a national organizer and strategic advisor for the women's march and she's a founder of citizens banned political cabaret and imperialistic high now is women do how like what how and i really try to focus on is how do we change heard somebody that has the know to this administration sarah cities is dramatically different from how was this story has a couple of stunning ended when the nazis in denmark the story goes that it was my mother's idea for the king to wear star and to tell the police forced to wear the jewish star engine dan what ended up happening is the most of the population got into a star

and he was impossible not to ok so together how law and sears says he brought in all these artists are works for the women's created the wine and in celebration of the one year anniversary of the womens hearts he published a book called together we rise and it documents the themes behind the women's march from before during and after to the question have now left and it's out right now we're together while i was in new york to talk about the power of art and culture in activism powell and fears that if the lake mead think of their lives as before and after the election of donald trump has a palette told me for donald trump elected i was a writer director filmmaker working eighteen narrative films as well as documentary miss my films dealt with immigration and undocumented specifically immigration most

donald trump sensed the world exploded after donald trump personally anyways i started work jean volunteering at the women's march dozen national organizer for the women's march and the artistic director of the women's march and in the year since the ones measures happened i continue to work there and continue to do our cultural activism stuff as well as so those but not so much anymore and its stars of eight before the election for a while now i'm working in the cultural political space center emerging that you so that's everything from political theater group called the citizen's band in the creative director of an indie trekkies with anger at a un worked previously with or not or making you know cultural campaigns for organizations like emily's list we worked for a tangential us the canadian teen and the things about nature and sends and i'd say

you know five days after the election i have been a national organizer of the women's march and i'm the great love story of the once marches that palin i found each other end and now we get to make all this incredible work together so says only i i need to hear about how you can trick is artist there's not included dan bailey why you keep doing it because i know the idea of you know i had a good story about that sochi and i just was a pretty serious dancer and hawes and fifteen and then i just wanted to find a way to segue way but you know the defense that my body knows into something that i could perform and they met this incredible woman chelsea bacon who is a historically amazing trap easy area west and i am she just started teaching in then we started the citizen's band together like six months later some performing not that well since you know the beginning of the night ariel career

and so i guess maybe like three or four months after the election of like a month or so after the women's march and has beens after a shooter seven year old and they saw some circus thing and my seven year old said oh mommy would have loved that if hillary clinton had won the election and i'm a husband told me that i am i'm not going to let these now are still my joy and i was so grateful that you know he had that my son overhead that insight the guys then i ended up performing and you know that there's the park this week we can't normalize my don't wanna talk like that's it's so important but also like you have to keep your life normal but i think it's extremely important yes it's extremely important to him in the keeping of their life normal also realize that because we are resisting in this and every day something there when something crazy things i never imagined were possible are now happening on in a bad way that

we do get tired and it's ok to get tired on because to say tonight retired is just impossible odd but in that to have when you're tired you need to be able to rest and what is that thing that allows you to rest as a meditation is a dancing is it being their tap use art is is that singing and men in that resting you get more strength and ultimately you you you focus on what is the thing that is pushing you to organize to resist an end it and i think this is what i say all the time no matter what it is what is at the center's love you it might be an issue but it's love for that issue so for me it's that immigrant community right so i am an immigrant online an undocumented immigrant i've been in the space for eight years and when i am in my darkest place and i want to give up when the dream act that was supposed to be past has not been passed what is the thing that gets me out of bad it's my love for the immigrant community is my love for those undocumented because of

they're getting up and fighting every day then how can i not when i have the ability to bees safe in this country to a certain extent and so all those things resting focusing on what you love and then identifying that thing that gives you strength is what will get us through the next four years oh how i'd love to share with your immigration story is a i mean i know that that it's been part of what dr ziad that sold to tell officials have as though i'm from colombia i was born in congo are my mom was very young she had me she had me at twenty two jam about them when she was a teen and so she immigrated to united states with my father would come a few months earlier and so we immigrated to los angeles on so we are the only colombians in la la land on their level you know and so we came to the united states to los angeles we had no family here my mom didn't speak english really high school education and then after a few months of being in the united states my father and so he left my mom at the age of twenty for the three or the six year low tuition a family no education

with like two hundred dollars in her pocket and so my mom make miracles happen every day she made the impossible happen every day and we went through being homeless we went through living in a welfare we went through living in the projects but they're not all that she was able to get an education or sergeant community college she worked at a fast food restaurant and she says that she learned english from mo italian woman that didn't speak english i answer to this day my mom's english it is fuel but not the best and so she put it two kids through college we both have a masters' degrees c you know we have our own families she i we eat on houses that we in many ways are the epitome of the american dream an end that is the thing that we all need to fight for that matter what aisle or how what is your belief system that is the thing that we need to fight or why because just like isle so many immigrants do she wanted a

better future for her children she was not define the future this one at in colombia in colombia she knew that her future for her children within the united states as she loved everything she knew she loved her family she left or her friends she left her security in her safety to go follow a dream for her children and that immigrants do across the cut across the world or they're fleeing war or they're fleeing hunger but ultimately it's to better the other it's really to better yourself you want to provide for your family whether its back home or whether it's for your children or with it so what made you want to a filmmaker you know my road to benin artist is a very different road as immigrant children there it is a lot of responsibility to to make sure that your parents' sacrifices so that translates to dr beamer lawyer been teaching be lending is like very unstable so when i decided that i wanted

to be an artist my mom hit the fan she was like what is it about shouldn't oxley for like three weeks to say you can't do that you need a star rating cover the spongy free to starve no no no no no cash and i finally sat down it's a memo is what i want to do and the reason i want to do it is because i found my voice that i found a way in which i can express myself this is who i am and you can either support me or you cannot that this violin until since then my mom has become the biggest fan she was everything that a deal but that responsibility from feeling responsibility we need to be a lawyer doctor or some sort it's professional hasn't shifted to one of the types of stories that i'm telling my that's my responsibility and so my responsibility as an artist as a filmmaker and even as an activist now is to shine a light on women in particular whose stories we don't often hear who we walk by on the street and we ignore them and to me those women are the one that i grew up with and they're the unsung heroes of american airlines they they are the fabric of america

the dishwashers the janitors the caregivers and the caretakers and so that now and has been my my goal as a filmmaker is to tell the stories of love to other stores with dignity because so often the stories are told its salacious and truthful way is on and tell those stories honestly so that those stories can be the bridge to other americans in other people around world i'm lauren shuler this is inflection point i'm talking with parliament is then sarah sophie flicker to organizers of the women's march on washington and co creators of the book together we rise which came out for the one year anniversary of the march no

no this is inflection point i'm lauren shuler my guests are parliament as a and sarah sophie flicker to organizers of the women's march on washington subscribe to the inflection point podcast on apple podcast radio public and npr y and fazio i love to hear a bit more about your background and what led you to being interested in women's issues and women's rights and how our genes that are all a not your you know over the last few years and in an ad critical primary background paolo now loves history makes me tired i didn't based on research on this year and that ad anything like something foundational for me is signed dina just one in denmark my mom's danish my dad's american and then the story goes and it's you know a bit of a mess then and possibly disputed at times but i choose to believe it is and so my my

mother's grandfather was in fact the prime minister of denmark and he brought democratic socialism to denmark and it when the nazis in invaded denmark the story goes that it was my great grandfather's idea for the king to wear a star and to tell the police forced where a jewish star then what ended up happening is most of the population but on a jewish star and he was impossible for the nazis to tell who is who ended in my mind that such a great act of creative it's creative resistance it is an act of solidarity and that's always a story that's stuck with me and then my father and initially was and at the justice department during the voting rights act and spent a lot of time in the south making sure people about such a sort of where i come from an atmosphere less than a man they're with their women's rights injustice that you know i've always been more interested in iran intersection of feminism and you know i went to most college i you

came up and sanders is go during the tail end of the crisis and how our friends diane was a big act up was a big part of you know my late teens early twenties so an e e e mail i guess coming from that background i hate you i really assumed we were further along than it as far as like the intersection oil component of feminism it and it really wasn't until organizing the women's march that i truly felt like oh this is what intersection obviously have been pushing and pushing in trying but i don't think we're as far along as as we think we are and certainly you know the way that white women continue to vote proves that and you know just a whole confluence of things that lead me so what i talk about just in terms of being women artists what some of the opportunities and challenges are in in that he also

like most industries the arts is tends to be male dominated in terms of who you see in the galleries and in the theaters ends and the violence so sturdy pell enters a filmmaking have you come up against anything that has made it easier or harder for you to be a filmmaker because of your gender yes i think the systematic sexism that exists within the faith within the film industry has been seen specifically with the whole weinstein scandal right you know there's a big long study and i don't remember the numbers off the top of my head but the there are more female directing students in mfa programs across the country than males and yet the number of males are going to direct their first films after grad school is much higher than women and those women that make their first films drop like fifty seventy percent to who gets to make their second so is there an example for me i mean at first feature film narrative feature film dutchman chooses a different subject the man

may never scared of each of the eight years ago i have yet to make my second narrative film and that is for a variety of reasons i wrote a book had a baby the woman's march happened so my my attention has been skewed but nonetheless all the filmmakers that i came of age with whether first features barry jenkins is now made his second feature film on twist their cary fukunaga made his views on the side and you know fourth fifth know along those are just think to my closest friends that it didn't sell so that in itself is a systematic and all the women that came of age with newer making those same films i think there's a one dr russo who's made more than it has made her second film everyone else is not and so again so that that is just examples of where we are have i personally encountered a specific over one hundred some verses sexism all the time you know to be the only female

that is honest that it is telling men what to do carries its own me difficult ways to navigate through that so if whether it's someone a man stepping in trying to direct and how do i high wide navigate back in front of a set of fifty men is difficult question to fifty to the higher lot of women but nonetheless it how how do i navigate that you may put the person in their place the lead everybody else know yell you're not going to do this on my side and see do it in a way that's truthful authentic to me which is kind and generous and then an n and loving right so it's not definitely a lot of navigating and i don't have the answers but i definitely i'm have been on the other side or went on the performing arts as sophie how how does that feel so i've done everything from phone i've directed and acted day and then the third stage and you know i think part of this conversation you know there were still getting to is the pervasive nature of all the stuff and one of the you know this staggering statistic is i think it's something like ninety six percent

of the pga which is the directors guild is american ninety six percent and and i don't know the statistics on in a writer they don't turn in our producer about at any rate and i think it's this is an issue that's pervasive across all fields waving the reason it's this specific man in a disney to nominally died and picked up was because it was white privileged women who are telling their stories and white privilege men who were being accused of these things i you know i don't even really wanna talk about the ways in which as an artist it's been you know this than having and you know i can even count the amount of times that if she'd terrible things that happen to meet that does that you know make that i'm entertainment and she unique now and you know i have the platform in a privileged to tell my story and you know so many women don't end and i imagine the abuses are

this is inflection point i learned show i'm talking with two of the historic women's march organizers element is that and sarah sophie flicker those moments before the election when we were convinced kind of insist that we were about to elect our first female president and then the ground has shifted beneath them all of us he was still a historic moment for women just not the moment high and so many of us had anticipated i realized that things were going to have to get a little worse getting better than working together raising our voices together and rising up

together human youth theme for this show out with conversations with women changing the status quo and ian with how women rise that you'll remember that <unk> regionally couple lillian went in march and was quote unquote a show solidarity to demand our safety and health in a time when our country is marginalizing after making sexual assault and electable unforgettable norm we align with all people of color and lgbt causes and we will show our support in a nonviolent protest but as you may also recall the name caused controversy because the organizers had appropriated from a march for african american women from nineteen ninety seven the name was then changed to the women's march on washington dc and the teams that have their headquarters in the offices of legendary musicians harry belafonte was an organizer for the march on washington in nineteen sixty three for the civil rights movement but first

how do you know there was theresa schook she put her her ideas on facebook because she had this idea of choosing the issues or image never or as a foreigner life she was and why she did that on facebook say khan was a march on washington on january first to me she goes to sleep she wakes up its ten thousand people receive his commission i don't know what i'm doing says she connects of bob lande bob lande they can exit the whole bunch of other women and white women all of them are white they're now organizers and some of them one of them i don't know who actually says the let's call it the million woman march so that explodes on facebook really because of the historical problems of feminism has had with white women and women of color in particular black women so that won't and it's a generational won't re opens and those women i have to say those five women are six white women organizing at that time realized oh well we don't have any women of color leaving this with us we

need to reach out and we need to find women of color so vanessa rubble was one of those women she reaches out to michael skolnik michael scott because when to meet and carmen on where the national cultures along with our plan and they come onboard the damage is done right and what we did was i spent a lot of my time and a lot of the other women of color organizers from the one is much better spent on our time and was reaching out to our communities to say hey yeah they've been the beginning but now oh this is a different this is a different organization it's it's it's all of us and we are leading us and so when i said during that time is work we don't own one woman of color at the ore at the table we don't have to we actually have like eight women of color leading this thing that we are at the table creating the vision the policy the unity principles what this is going to be if we don't show up now and when are we going to show up and the reality is that most want to show to the woman's hour jet no march on washington where white think that's the reality that we have a lot of women of color and we presented an intersection a movement and we did it in a way which

for the first time on the main stages happening united states we did not come up with that concept kimberly crenshaw did in the eighties but nonetheless we said ok here he is this idea america run with it and and they have and they did and people are fumbling through it a learning an end and trying to figure out but i don't think that you can say that this movement is a white woman movement on because the most marginalized voices have been at the leadership from the beginning so thinking about the role of art again in bringing or people in to the movement and more women of color into the movement that that guitar player roland de matt as well as making sure that you know the women who are actually organizing at work deborah's yeah are played a huge role in the organization of the ones march and you know we ended up with you know over a hundred and fifty you know really well respected well known artists who we really nothing very heavily to lead the charge on this stuff you know because

when we were getting so much pushback that you know when america for era are i'm dr sheedy or traci us ross posts about their support of the women's march suddenly you know a whole new audience is opened up to us we pelicans be martyrs but we partnered with an organization called amplifier and all the most iconic artwork that you know is now so big you know these really like you're like oh it's ones marching oh that's the resistance that all came out of a partnership with him before we continue to work with you know our consideration for who is going to be on the stage which how lead away is incredibly intentional and and you know the collaboration that we had with artists and you know the work we did on social media and the work that we did in our messaging i would say you were you know a big part of the success and i want to say

it so we had an incredible honorary co chairs that were part of the ones march or steinman won their lives were there was another angela davis john harris and then we hand <unk> harry belafonte was also one of her honorary co chairs and we organized out of his offices that was once much headquarters he letters of offices which is incredible and then one night he was in december and was very cold cannot remember very clearly i was late night <unk> be as we like to call him has to be shut up at the office as a surprise and just to be at that time is eighty nine ninety years old he had recently had a stroke so he came in with his walker was a big deal for him to be there on the my son happened to be there that night to the va hadn't seen for a while so were sitting at the table at his table in his office my sons on his lap is to be sitting there and he is just like the most brilliant mind still and he's telling the stories about his time in iowa and while he organize a civil

rights march the march on washington and we know he had bob dylan eric an engine by as they're en n lena horne then it got all the arias there i was his role his job and he sent us and this is something that really has stuck with me and he said it before obviously but it has been kind of our north star my north star during this time and he said when the movement is strong the music is strong and we see that now where we are our movement is very strong and then we see how you are and specifically music is being influenced by the movement you know again going back to black lives matter there is no lemonade it and say without black lives matter right black lives matter moved inspired an end forced fiance to tell that record to tell those stories on an and weaken same thing with kendrick lamar like there is now kendrick lamar he's an amazing nurses is an amazing rapper y what made him great in that moment

was the movement that was happening around him so where we are today with a women's we're starting to see the influence of this new women's movement in the part that is is it happening and is an is stemming from today this is inflection point i'm lauren shuler my guests are artists and activists parliament is that and sarah sophie flicker to organizers of the women's march on washington will be back ray after a break boom boom i learned

schiller and this is inflection point with stories of how women rise that i'm talking at artists and activists parliament is and sarah sophie flicker to organizers of the march on washington and co creators of the book together we rise which documents behind the scenes of the march so okay the end that we you were were addressing the intersection out is you know what about those women who voted for trump how good they feel like they're outside and they're you know when i hear that the there you know think that you know feminists is a dirty word invaded i don't buy into because the values and why with their values or the dissenters a lot of us where we all up in arms about areas great for women so how did like what do you see as the potential for common ground to support those limits were not require it's a few things i mean i think the first thing has to be understanding like the nature of how we uphold you know a white supremacist patriarchy and the only way to better because women are over fifty percent a population like if we wanted to go down go down so i think so much of it has to do with a lot of those women's and

proximity to privilege into power and so much of what they have or what they perceived to have passed has everything to do it the proximity they have to a quite powerful and so there's that and i think we have to understand that i think you know there's also those women tend to vote that way i think it's not that they weren't voting differently necessarily than how they always known as rumor i have a group that i worked with now for twelve years ago to swing states and we knock on doors and we do it for you know the week before every election and hours with my daughter in and philly the week before that this collection and together she and i knocked on over six hundred doors i think and you know these white women with kids in the background and i'm generalizing ring out the lead any any on you walking papers you see that there's you know one person who's voting democrat in the house and you know that there's probably not a person who is not in it tends to be the woman are they going to be voting democrat and you know you're opening it or not i mean selling this one and you know i just

think the lake there is a grappling we have to do with the fact that and these men are bringing home the paycheck these you know what we know now about an in your sexual harassment abuse and domestic violence you know it's like whoa i don't know that i can convince a swan into like step outside of why the manor house maybe he's saying she should do that said i think the burden is on way women to talk to members of our families who are making this when i personally don't have those people in my family gratefully do that you know it it certainly late to make it a point to now you know i have those discussions and two and one of the things we do and how and i have workin at the ones marked with is daring discussions talk hitting campaign which basically leg in a really simple way breaks down how you have those conversations and what you know what we know

is your personal stories tell you know connecting on that and what we have in common i know for me i can always talk about being a mother to another mother and there's i got a point of connection there its and you're coming into a conversation grounded in love lacking judgment you know i think in general within the feminist movement you know white women and by extension men need to learn how to actively listen better end it you know not just because you've been privileged to say whatever's on their minds to say whatever's on her mind that the thoughtful be intentional you know i think it's a big it's a bigger issue i would just add to that that i am you know answers of you touched on it that white women need to go and talk to white women i'd so yawn he'd go talk to the dp percent and have that conversation because it's a different conversation or white women or talking directly to white women if i go and emigrate woman of color with a lot of history good and bad with white people it's a much more painful

conversation for me because i also my communities are under attack right i am exposing a lot of pain that i can choose to not have many those conversations with white women not those that voted for trump but progressive liberals or don't understand race and there's a lot of those two like let's be real there's a lot of those reagan i can have those conversations and carry that burden for that moment but because while you all are organizing and talking and trying to open up the heart of those white women and on the flip side talking to my people and how to get them to be involved in the movement and try to get them to go out and go and try to get them to be politically engaged and explain to them why this is happening and so i think it's that's it's a let's be strategic conversation around what is best where where can i best put my energy also and this is just be unreal there might be some way women that are going to get on the bus with us and that's okay we just got to leave me behind and donkey bomb and we would go with on freedom and that's your choice and you know i

joined the yuan had joined hands and we can all agree we can all agree at the end of the day all lives are equal we all want everyone to do better and having everyone do better sometimes mean those that are better off have to sacrifice there were good of that if that's not how you see the world that's ok as well i don't need to have everybody see the world didn't see the world in the general terms with me and anything that that's an important conversation to be able to have his well it seems like the major division is reproductive rights that in the right to do with our bodies as we wish so last year when the women's march happened you're on that same day or on that same week and in san francisco out there was an editor starters anti abortion rights and it feels to me like that's the one thing that is going to get in the way of bringing these you know with women who are up not on board with the movement into the movement's an

ionizer leon had the answer because i'm not giving up my way so i don't know that there is a third you know this issue has been so framed in abortion which is fine you know i'm the first person to say i had an abortion are sending out of a mom with three kids the best decision i ever made that said you have to frame it as and this is a if we all agree that a personal decision is a personal decision and we see that may not be my decision but you know you're free to do it what you want with your decision making abilities there is that but then there's also you know if we started running the way that we talk about the stuffer for talking about reproductive justice that means everything from paid family leave to sex education you know which i know is another sticking point it's also you know equal pay it's the ability to raise our kids and you know the right to abortion means nothing if we don't have the ability to raise our kids outside the scope of like a violin

or an impoverished or hungry meal whatever it is an environment you know we protected justice it is black lives matter it's also the choice to not have kids you know it's it's empty talking about menopause and all of it you know and so i think abortion become such a sticking point for people and i get it i get why but you know there isn't a re framing and a broadening of the conversation that i think it is much more inclusive of all women and an at all the different places we are in our lives that i think is always ate an important topic to bring up you know and i'm thinking here and i'm thinking allies i might get into trouble i don't know of reproductive justice is build this test of the women's movement because there are other issues that are just as important right and i think that was what we tried to frame of the woman's march ah which meant that immigrant rights our women's

rights right so that we can have nuances around what are the policies around how do you get in the united states obviously but when we're talking about undocumented immigrants there's eleven million undocumented immigrants in this country the majority of them are women and children that to me is also just as critical as it reproductive justice and just as critical to be onboard to protect and and and take care of those millions of women i am and that's why it is a woman's issue in the same with the criminal justice system so while obviously i am pro choice and while while obviously i had fight for those policies and i stand with my mother also had an abortion when we first came to this country cousins was abandoned by my father she's also unbeknownst to her pregnant and she can't as catholic raised income yet and would never have considered or thought of having an abortion but when she was faced with the reality of having two children no money no family no house homeless

on the street and pregnant she was like what the ideal and my mom tells a story often so i have most publishing a story in its will kerr couple months to make the decision to have an abortion and that is something that i say aimed literally of my brother's life and my life because her being pregnant would just put his over the edge who knows their would've ended up so i'm alice i'm a staunch believer in in the right to choose on that i think framing it in that bag is the issue is a keen on words are not necessarily looking for words is where we're trying to go with an intersection near an engineer to that point you know what we were attending with the new consoles as all these things intersect so when you frame something not just as abortion but as a reproductive that justice issue then inevitably immigration is a reproductive justice issue because families as we know are torn apart and am criminal justice is a reproductive just justices you when so many of you know women sons are ending up in prison and

am you know all these things are acted all connected there's no way you can when she start looking at it under the lens of intersection audi there is no one issue women are over fifty percent of the population all of these issues affect all of us and if they don't affect a woman specifically day effect her partner her child or someone in her family end and and you know until we start connecting all these issues which have lost so i think there's there's a reason why the book together we rise starts and ends essentially the same way and it's a it's a riff on a quote two different quote that says my liberation as bound in your liberation and we truly believed that right so we add the ones merge but the most vulnerable at the center of the work that we're doing because as we have with the most vulnerable and we're inevitably uplifting all of us when the most vulnerable that rise that we all rise

together that's the title of the book that you know as though it sets its utopia out and it's what we strive for and it's where we're striving to but i do believe there is a road to getting their it's a long long road and we're not the first ones to walk on that road there many that was before us and there are many many many that will walk we all have to agree to that principle so how what's the best advice you've ever been given about finding your voice the best advice and it really as everything kind of my life goes back to art and benin artist the best art is the art that comes closest to the truth and so i think with regards to find my own voice it's what is my truth and and that is a life long journey on the end and truth is my truth will also changed about that journey and i think it's it's both of those things constantly searching for the truth and being willing to

and when the truth turns to an attraction sensitive now know that anyone there are given me any great advice and i think it unites specifically to that question again you know i am at lake away or add new has a pretty big platform i don't know that i've ever had and a a problem with my voice per se you know other than like the inherent you know men speaking of reunions bringing in all that great stuff is over me it's a question of like it you know i think listening is a big part of my voice i think i can finally come to a place with myself where you know we talk so much about raising our girls to be courageous to be brave to be fierce anti i know that i am brave but i do i think i embody the things that late that quote unquote feminist movement has been pushing out not necessarily what i really interested

in is uplifting late the part of myself which i know is the strongest which is that my vulnerability end of my ability to listen and my ability to like think outside of experiences that directly affect me made an impassioned my empathy i like the fact that i'm not like a yeller and i dont engage in fighting i wanna uplift lay qualities of nurturing and caregiving and i want to extend those qualities to my sons and in general i won it broaden this conversation for boys i think we spend so much time talking about our girls and we spend no time talking about our boys in a far flummoxed over how all this homey to movement came about let's look at our boys that start talking about that my daughters ten were reading books we have copious books about she ready and you know feminism and end all and websites and i just took her to the teen vogue sam and you know it's a privilege ever get to take or do these things and i'm invited to these things there's nothing else my boys

would be well you know they're young but i don't know if that where they would be welcome or where this conversation is happening for them and you know part of like where this moment needs to get to is that you know like i said earlier i think you know this moment was uplifted because white women who are privileged are speaking out and that's amazing and i think you know something that's been troubling to me is how they're absolutely monsters out there and i am happy to throw them all under the bus i am not happy to throw all men under the best and i want to help create a pathway and the language and the narrative where we can bring them in so let your voice be your voice and you don't necessarily have to be fierce or courageous or angry or brave and sometimes those things play themselves out in a more traditionally like female ways and that's great that's ok i value those things so wonderful with indie booksellers for talking to a community is

creeping is an electrician sarah sophie flicker and helen and does this essentially in the midst of and they're treated normalcy than most and not a couple of times and embraced the idea that his feminist movement may never have house and the election turned out for twenty seventeen was a year when many of their voices and started using them where we began twenty seventeen with the protest and call for resistance against those who seek to divide us we're forced to examine our own roles within the system of oppression and what role that we can play as we turned down with them to move the end of twenty seventeen by using the power of storytelling to unite in the fight against oppressive forces so twenty eighteen year we rise together to create a narrative

talents their thirties when those marches called together we ride is it's available now and look for the link on my let's say an infection works and speaking of finding your voice is to tell our stories tell me how you found your voice in twenty seventeen and what you'll be doing and fleeting mean you know unfortunately the spectator tweet to la schiller this isn't such a plant i'm lauren shuler stories of how human rights that sounds like something for today no one in with a greek raising the story let us know and unfortunately really have done or while you're there and they didn't become a patron of inflection point your contribution keeps women stories

front and center and you'll be rewarded with gifts like an infection plain that in your body care daughter contributed infection period dot org we're on facebook and inflection point radio you can follow me on twitter at la schiller and to find out more about the guests you heard today and senate for you know we reviewed dot org inflection point is produced in partnership with tales of the ninety one point seven fm in san francisco an er that's oliver episodes are a couple podcasts reading public stitcher and try and give us a five star review of interest you're listening to our story editor of content manager is a lara weaver our engineer and producer is here because he's a