Women Activists Form SuperMajority.com, Led By Cecile Richards, Alicia Garza + Al-jen Poo

Three very prominent women activists: Cecile Richards, the former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance have formed Super Majority. The group, which describes itself as multiracial and intergenerational, has a goal of training and mobilizing 2 million women over the next year to become organizers and political leaders in their communities, reports TIME.

A community for women who want to use our power to transform this country-for good. http://bit.ly/2Was7P3

For me, a small ray of hope appeared with Monday's rising sun. So many of us have had our spirits ripped to shreds with the divisiveness perpetuated against white women and Jewish women by the founders of the Women's March.

At this moment of Trump, I just do not understand the strategy when the stakes are so high. And yes, the WM founders are now interacting with the Jewish community, which is a good thing. .

SuperMajority will speak with a unified voice and not one of recriminations, and I expect that we will all want to rally around their leadership. Thank you for stepping up Cecile Richards, Alicia Garza and Ai-jen Poo.

Many of us are inactive members of Pantsuit Nation — I was #187 member of a group now at 3.5 million—and they are also working on the project. The anti-white women sentiment also swept through PantSuit Nation — primarily a group of Hillary supporters — and this fact is addressed in this BuzzFeed article on Super Majority.

You can learn more about SuperMajority on their website, sign up and donate. ~ Anne

Waiting For A Perfect Protest? Op-Ed Argues I Am The Problem, Not Antifa

Clergy facing white nationalists in Charlottesville.

Waiting for a Perfect Protest? New York Times

Anne's comment: "Your op-ed sanitizes the reality of the antifa protest in Berkeley, claiming that my white woman 'perfect march' moderation (I see myself as very progressive) is a greater problem for you than antifa's right to promote anarchy -- breaking windows, shutting down businesses, creating chaos and hurting people -- because a white nationalist wants to speak on campus.

Many antifa members are as committed to overturning our govt and creating anarchy to support their vision of justice as are the white nationalists, from all I've read. Your op-ed says clearly that I -- who sued the NYPD over events in Harlem and won -- am a greater problem for social justice -- than antifa.

Those claims are 1) absurd and 2) counter-productive to the cause of social justice. I am happy to stand (and have stood ALWAYS) for BLM, as an example.

But if you also demand that I agree to no free speech for the dreadful Ann Coulter, that Condoleezza Rice is not permitted to speak on any university campus, and that I speak proudly on behalf of black-shirt violence that breaks windows and clubs people for NO obvious reason but creating chaos and overturning our economic system, then you must explain to me 1) why this is necessary; 2) how it will succeed and 3) exactly what kind of America you imagine creating in your so-called just country. " {End comment}

On AOC yesterday, I did discuss this issue and also posted the polls referenced in this op-ed. I posted a link to the clergy group that organized the counter-protests in Charlottesville and have absolutely no issue with them. But if they are arguing -- as they seem to be -- that I must support a host of other actions, like antifa in Berkeley, I cannot support that violence. I do not support anarchy and the total overturning of capitalism in America, as antifa seeks (not that I think it's even possible). ~ Anne

 {Op-Ed}: "Our complaint here is not about the right-wing media outlets that we know will continue to delegitimize anti-racist protest in any form — whether it’s peacefully sitting during the national anthem, marching in the streets, staging boycotts or simply making the apparently radical claim that “black lives matter.” Rather, our concern at this moment is with our moderate brothers and sisters who voice support for the cause of racial justice but simultaneously cling to paralyzingly unrealistic standards when it comes to what protest should look like.

As Christian clergy members, we place a high value on nonviolence. We are part of a national campaign that promotes proven solutions to reducing gun violence in our cities, and each of us has worked to achieve peace in our neighborhoods. But we know there has never been a time in American history in which movements for justice have been devoid of violent outbreaks."

{. . . }

The civil rights movement was messy, disorderly, confrontational and yes, sometimes violent. Those standing on the sidelines of the current racial-justice movement, waiting for a pristine or flawless exercise of righteous protest, will have a long wait. They, we suspect, will be this generation’s version of the millions who claim that they were one of the thousands who marched with Dr. King. Each of us should realize that what we do now is most likely what we would have done during those celebrated protests 50 years ago. Rather than critique from afar, come out of your homes, follow those who are closest to the pain, and help us to redeem this country, and yourselves, in the process."

Michael McBride is a pastor and the director of PICO National Network’s “Live Free” campaign. Traci Blackmon is the United Church of Christ’s executive minister of justice and witness.
Frank Reid is the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s bishop of ecumenical affairs and social action. Barbara Williams Skinner is a co-convener of the National African American Clergy Network.