Refining the Civil Rights Battle
Maria Hinojosa Full Length Speach
Thank you for joining us in recognizing the 100th anniversaries of two very important events--the passage of the 19th Amendment and the formation of the League of Women Voters.
On March 31, 2020, at 7:00 PM at The OSU Fawcett Center, our anniversary event, Celebrating 100 Years & Embracing the Future was planned to be a joyful and inspiring occasion. The League of Women Voters of Metro Columbus was excited to celebrate two 100th anniversaries: the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, and the formation of the League of Women Voters. Plus we were purposefully embracing the future to continue the work started so long ago of advancing democracy by working to bring equality and justice to all people of all races, creeds, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities and ages.
However, in late winter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic happened. Around the world, hundreds of thousands of people died of this novel coronavirus. In the US, public health and safety required the cancellation of all public gatherings and people were ordered to stay at home. True to the spirit of the League, even as our event was cancelled, we immediately looked for other ways to share our message, thus fully embracing the future we were dealt.
Instead of a live speech by our gracious keynote speaker, Emmy Award-winning journalist, Maria Hinojosa agreed to provide us with a video of her commemorative remarks. We received the video of Maria’s keynote remarks on May 25; later on June 24, we received an addendum video from Maria to address the changes to our nation that began on May 25 with the death of George Floyd. Both sets of Maria’s linked to above, as well as several key excerpts from Maria’s remarks.