They pledge to lead GOTV efforts, and plan for big demonstrations in the first 100 hours after the election.
The #GOPHandsOffMe movement took to the streets again for their third wave of national action. In NYC, they formed a wall of women, sending a clear message that women of color will defeat Trump and the GOP’s politics of racism and misogyny.
November 3rd, New York, NY— Ahead of GOTV weekend, a group of mostly Latina, Black, Asian-American, and American Indian women – a group who started the #GOPHandsOffMe movement – escalated their protests outside of the Trump Tower. More than 60 women and children formed a wall of women in front of the entrance and around the block of Trump’s campaign headquarters. The women, many of them wearing yellow armbands to signify their presence as survivors of sexual assault. They were there to represent women of color who have been organizing all across the country to defeat Trump and the hateful anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-Black politics of the GOP.
Hundreds of women linked arms for over an hour outside of the Trump Tower. The women brought shovels and dirt to illustrate their power to “bury” Trump and the GOP’s politics of racism and sexism at the polls on November 8th.
This is the third series in three national waves of action from the women-of-color and survivor led #GOPHandsOffMe movement. In less than 3 weeks the group has organized actions in more than 15 cities, putting more than 12,000 women in the street. This, and other actions, like the #BaztaArpaio GOTV work Mijente has been doing in Phoenix, Arizona – testify to the growing power of women, immigrant and voters of color.
“The Republican Party has created a monster that has emboldened white supremacists and supported racialized and sexualized violence” said Agunda Okeyo. Renata Pumarol, a woman who organizes with a group called Mujeres Guerreras (Women Warriors) said for too long, violence against women has been used to marginalize and silence our voices.”
Jodeen Olguín-Tayler, an leader with Mijente, and one of the organizers of the #GOPHandsOffMe protest added “Attacks on Black lives, must end. The rate at which Black women and girls face violence in our schools and streets is not just atrocious, it is a public health crises. Rape culture has to end. More than three dozen of us stand here today with these yellow arm bands, because we are survivors of violent sexual violence. We will not let this sexual predator, and the party that continues to support him, get elected. We are mobilized, ready, and prepared to bury them.”
Chimey Palmo, a South Asian domestic worker, who held one of the group’s shovels to “bury” Trump’s politics of hate, is one of the thousands of domestic workers doing GOTV this weekend. As she shoveled she said “these demonstrations have always been bigger than Trump. From day one, my eyes have been set on burying the whole party of hate and I’m here today to show we have the power to bring the GOP down.”
Latchmi Gopal, who held a sign that says, “My Pussy Votes.” said “I won’t stand aside while he continues to stoke the flames of hate that will burn beyond Election Day. Today, I came dressed in black to stand with my sisters here and around the globe to demand no more violence against women.”
Olguín-Tayler, carrying an infant, swept her arm across the group of multiracial women and shouted “As a Chicana woman standing with my Native American, Black, Asian, Muslim and Latina sisters, we are prepared not just to stop this sexual predator from becoming President, but to continue taking action in the first 100 hours after the election. Between now and Tuesday, we won’t just be at the polls, we’ll be at the polls with all of our sisters, daughters, and mothers.
And that is not it. Our work did not start and will not end at the ballot box. In the first 100 hours after the election we’ll be mobilizing in cities across the country to move a pro-women, pro-working, pro-immigrant agenda, that includes a Vision for Black lives, and an end to rape culture. We are leading the way to create a country where we can live with dignity and thrive in lives free from inequality and sexual, racialized, and gender-based violence,” said Jodeen Olguín-Tayler. “Our victory is not just that we are digging the grave for the politics of hate, of racialized violence and Rape Culture. Our victory is that we are doing that, while building our power to put all politicians on notice. Ready or not, here we come. And we have an agenda, we are ready to move. Join us. We’ll be taking the streets again in the first 100 hours after the election.”
In the days before the election, follow #GOPHandsOffMe #WallOffTrump and #BaztaArpaio to get updates. And, in the #First100hours after the election look for visionary women of color leaders –including several Mijente activists — stepping forward as
#our100 voices moving the country forward.