By Michelle Lyons, Columnist
The nineteenth amendment reads “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Unfortunately, on August 18, 1920 only white women received the right to vote. Women of color would be denied until 1965. Black women were the last citizens to get the right to vote; forty-five years after white women and ninety-five years after black men.
2020 has been a crazy year, but trust me it is just half time because In addition to the corona virus pandemic, a great recession and black lives matter protest, we are on the eve of a Women’s Revolution. Not only does 2020 mark the 100th anniversary of (white) women’s suffrage, but it is also an election year, and Joe Biden has committed to naming a woman Vice President. In 2016, feminist campaigned vigorously for Hillary Clinton. Since then. Her defeat has fueled feminist and activist across the country that is ready to take to the streets to campaign, “The Future Is Female”. Hopefully, this wills this be the year women crack the glass ceiling! The United States of America has always been the leader or the first to do virtually everything, except for women leadership. In fact, out of 195 countries in the World, already 104 have had women leaders at one time or another. How could we be late to the party? Whenever people complain about government, I always say, “government reflects our values”. Which means in 2020, sadly The US still battles with misogyny and sexism. I campaigned for Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and I was shocked how many women would say, “A woman shouldn’t be POTUS”. I would always respond with statistics of present countries ran by women, and remind them that Egypt is regarded as the strongest empire to ever exist, and Ancient Egypt had seven Cleopatra’s in addition to a dozen other Queens. The misogyny that permeates this country in modern day, is no different than racism (some argue its worst), it holds back our Nation. Not to mention, American Women lead the women of the World in almost every statistical category from aerospace to Hollywood to Olympics and more, but yet we have been denied access to Power. Hopefully this is year we get BACK TO THE FUTU
