Conclusion

You. Are. Needed. The earth moved with the power of our feet at the Women’s March, but that was just the beginning. We got a glimpse of how very much power we have together during that march, just as this book gave you a glimpse of how much there is to fix and improve upon for each and every woman, child, and family in America.

Now it’s up to you to help create the next chapter. Now more than ever you, the person reading this page, are needed. Now more than ever our earth-shaking, marching feet together are necessary to lift every single person in our nation. This book is both a love letter and a call to action to all the women who marched and who have been—and who are—standing up for justice in our nation and around the world. It’s a valentine to the leaders who are stepping forward in big and small ways every day to support our democracy, women, families, communities, and future.

The book you’re holding in your hands is titled Keep Marching for a reason. If you’ve already been doing the important work, please keep going. If you haven’t jumped in yet, it’s time to step up. As you step up, know that leadership doesn’t have to look exactly like it has in the past. At this moment in our history, we don’t need a single, charismatic leader; we need many leaders. We need to include more voices from every corner of our nation. We need more doers and more marchers at the local, state, and national levels. We need leaders who represent a broad American experience, who give voice to the hopes and dreams of all our communities and families. We need you.

It’s time for us to open doors to new forms of leadership for each other. Leadership can be standing up to hate in an online post; sharing your experience with a member of Congress, a corporate leader, or the media; signing your name on a letter to elected leaders; stepping in when a child is getting bullied; making sure you always (always!) vote and reminding your friends to do the same; taking time to write a letter to the editor or to call elected leaders; attending local meetings with other people to push for a policy; visiting your city council, state legislature, or Congress; running for office or supporting someone else who does; advocating for policies to be updated in your state legislature or workplaces or Congress; organizing people in your local or regional community; starting a local #KeepMarching Circle; and so much more.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything to have an impact. I’ve shared a wide variety of different tactics and tips in this book. Do what feels right for you, and what’s accessible. We will need to use a variety of different tactics and cover a wide spectrum of issues among all of us in order to make the big changes our nation needs. Every action that each of us takes has an impact; but no one person has to do it all.

We win when multiple voices, perspectives, and strategies, along with many layers of different tactics, are heard and happen at the same time. We win when many organizations and people are engaged across many different policy areas and approaches. And we win when leadership includes the most impacted people among us—as well as when we follow the vision and leadership of people who have firsthand experience with the issues we’re hoping to change and the solutions we’re working to move forward.

We also win by focusing on agreeing on big things and agreeing to disagree on little things (and to treat each other with grace as we do). To do this movement right, we have to embrace our imperfections, love the many ways that people are working to do and be better, treat each other with dignity and respect, and open as many avenues for voices to be heard in as many ways as possible.

What’s needed right now is for every woman to step up. What’s needed is you. We all can be leaders, defined in the way and in the time that works best for us.

But please—don’t wait. As you’ve seen on the pages that you hold in your hands, your voice is urgently needed—and not just to help fight for equity and equality, but also to help protect our democracy. Together we truly can create a country where women, families, and businesses thrive. As we do that, always know, in the words of dream hampton, an award-winning filmmaker and author, that “Our solidarity doesn’t have to be built on our suffering. It can also be built on resistance and our will to create a better world.”

Dream big. Envision the nation we want for the future—a nation with gender justice, racial justice, and economic justice, not just what we need to resist now. We can build power together, knowing that the whole of all of us is greater than any one individual. And also knowing that every little and big thing you do counts.

Resist, Persist, Enlist, and Effect Change

The task of building women’s power can be daunting. We will not always agree on everything. Know that our aim is to celebrate our differences as we unite together. Remember to breathe and to believe. Know that we together really do carry the impact and power to help build a better nation. And so do our votes. Vote in every election possible, both in the primary and the general elections—and remind everyone you know to register to vote and to vote, too. We have a case of voting anemia in America. The data shows that not everyone who is registered to vote is voting, and that not all eligible voters are even registered to vote in the first place. Case in point: Donald Trump was elected president of the United States of America with just 27 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot for him, due to low voter engagement.¹ In short, you know a ton of people who are eligible to vote but aren’t voting. It’s time to get those people involved and to the polls—because every vote at the city, county, state, and national levels does count.

U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro recently shared an important reminder that we not only need to reach out to Congress about our policy priorities, we also need to remember our power at the ballot box: “People need to write, people need to call, and to use all of the tools at our disposal to let members of Congress know that they are at risk of not being reelected if they ignore us. If some members of Congress are willing to put millions of people in this country at risk, they need to know that they are at risk for not coming back to the U.S. House of Representatives because the voters will make another choice. They need to know that we will find candidates who in fact will champion the cause of working families in this nation if they won’t step up.”

Keep on Your Toes

Stay alert. There have been champions for women and families in both the Democratic and Republican parties in the past, so don’t write people off blindly. If we ever write all the people in one party completely off, then we’re closing the door on being able to maximize our power for change. For instance, in 2017, thirteen Republican Washington State senators moved forward one of the most progressive and visionary paid family/medical leave policies in the country and worked with Democrats to help pass it. This was a huge win. This groundbreaking state legislation never would have happened without Republicans because Democrats, who championed and voted unanimously for the critically important bill, simply didn’t have enough votes to pass the bill on their own.

In this instance and many others, the political calculus for winning should always be held close: Protect the base (the champions who we know are on our side), persuade the swing (people who can be convinced to be on our side, and this includes people of all parties), and forget about those in the absolute opposition that will never vote for the policy we seek. Which elected leaders are in the base for a policy, the swing, and the opposition will change from policy to policy, so it’s important to keep on your toes. It’s also important to hold all leaders accountable as we continue to persist, enlist, and insist on everyone having the opportunity to thrive. And we can never forget that when we march together, we are an incredibly powerful force.

START A #KEEPMARCHING CIRCLE

One way to make a difference is to join our #KeepMarching project. If you’re fired up in defense of the rights of women, families, communities, and our country and are ready to gather your family, friends, and neighbors to stand strong against hate and for policies that lift us all, then consider signing up to be a #KeepMarching Circle leader.

Here’s how it works: In the #KeepMarching Circles, women organize with their friends, family, and other personal networks for discussions and maybe even to take action together. MomsRising will provide discussion topics, advice, policy information, and legislative updates. We’ll also give you resources to support and amplify your efforts, such as issue tool kits, training, and social media support. MomsRising also gives #KeepMarching members regular, specific, and timely actions they can take as individuals or as Circles that mirror the actions being coordinated by the campaign teams. As always, you participate as much as you’d like—there’s no pressure. And, it’s free, of course. Interested? Sign up at http://keepmarching.momsrising.org.

You Are Not Alone

The pages before this one included a lot of heavy data and sad truths. How much further we have to go to reach equity and equality can feel flat-out overwhelming at times. But don’t wallow in that overwhelmed feeling. Instead, remember that you’re not alone and use any “Oh $hit, it’s worse than I thought” feelings to fuel your steps forward.

I know that simply hearing that you as an individual and we collectively as women have power often isn’t enough. If you ever feel overwhelmed, just take a moment, take a deep breath or three, and imagine yourself in the middle of the Women’s March of January 2017, which was the largest outpouring of people on a single day in the history of our nation.² Feel the rushing crowd that contained people of all ages, races and ethnicities, genders, sexualities, abilities, income levels, religions, shapes, and sizes from every state in the nation who spanned as far as the eye could see in many cities, with powerful, funny, outraged, fierce, and righteous signs raised high in the air.

The power of that roaring crowd is at your back. Resources like this book and many organizations are there for you. We’re all in this together. Understand that we don’t have to solve everything at the exact same time—and that every single step we each take makes a ripple of positive changes. Don’t give up. You’re not alone.

This Book Is Yours

It is my hope that readers use this book, the policies, the tips and tactics, and the resources on the pages to help lead the way forward, up, and out of our current crisis—and to continue on to help build a nation of opportunity that we all dream possible for ourselves, for our nation’s children, and for future generations. It’s time to resist destructive policy that’s proposed, and to proactively insist on moving forward solutions-oriented policies like those detailed in this book. It’s time to rise, to be advocates, to vote, to build an ever-stronger movement together.

So take out a pen and make this book your own: Underline what you like, write in new ideas, scratch out what you don’t agree with, and write in the phone numbers of friends you want to march forward with in the days and months ahead.

It’s also my hope that after you read these pages, you pass along this book or get a copy for a friend, so it can be picked up, like a baton, in homes across America. You see, to do this right, to win, we have to build what Detroit-based organizer Adrienne Maree Brown calls for: a strong “leaderful movement.” We have to mesh our networks together as we also take action individually, and rise together as incredibly powerful, imperfect, beautiful hell-raisers for justice in order to win together.

That’s what real democracy is about.

We have to imagine the better world and then reach for it. And we can make that reach knowing that we are stunningly powerful when we rise together. Now is our moment. Stand with the people you see lifting love. Invest in the positive. Find beauty in imperfection. Appreciate and lift one another. Be kind. Turn toward those who are different from you and listen closely. Look for opportunities to do good and step into those moments. Try to leave your community, state, nation, and world—not just ourselves—a little bit better than you found it (because you can’t take it with you after all). We each have a limited time on this planet. Let’s make the most of it.

We all have a stake in making sure everyone has a chance to thrive, and there is a tremendous amount on the line. It’s time to stand, to march, to rise for each other—and, as we rise, we can never forget that gender justice is racial justice is economic justice. One won’t happen without the others.

We rise knowing our movement isn’t about one day, one election, one Oval Office, one woman, or one piece of legislation. Knowing that the arc of justice bends only when we act. Knowing that together we are the fierce, determined, and intersectional leaders our nation needs.

Generations of work brought us here today and future generations are counting on us to stand up now. We will not back down. I believe in us. I believe in our power and our voices. I know you do, too. Women have moved mountains in the past, we’re doing it now, and we’ll do so in the future, too.

So step into your leaderfulness.

And keep marching!