On February 7th, Elizabeth Warren was silenced by the senate which resulted in the an uproar amongst many democrats and feminists across the United States. The silencing came after Warren began to read a letter composed by Coretta Scott King 30 years ago. The letter supports the opposing nomination of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship.
During a debate on nomination of Sessions as President Trump’s attorney general, Warren said “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge.”, taking this statement from King’s letter to members of the Senate Judiciary committee in 1986.
Republicans immediately disagreed and charged Warren with violating Senate rules. Warren later told CNN that “They can shut me up, but they can’t change the truth.” She also added that “I literally can’t be recognized on the floor of the Senate. I have become a nonperson during the discussion of Jeff Sessions.”
But as if women in America could not relate to that, the Kentucky Republican, Mitch McConnell, said “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” …hell yeah she did. In this age in American, women can’t get shit done unless they become persistent.
Twitter of course played an important part in making this statement a call for equality. By Tuesday night, the hashtag #LetLizSpeak was treading across the nation on Twitter. Additionally, Warren took to Twitter to attack Sessions and Senator McConnell.
Warren did in fact persist in reading King’s FULL letter, as intended for the Senate chamber, on Facebook Live, where she gained over 4.5 million views by early Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of women are now showing their support through Twitter relating on a personal level in regards to being silenced in a professional setting. I, for one, can easily relate to this issue, as I’m sure all of us women in our various professional fields can relate to as well. Women are also getting tattoos with the words “Nevertheless She Persisted” written across their bodies.
Just to make your day a little better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqHYzYn3WZ (you’re welcome)
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/07/politics/elizabeth-warren-silenced/