WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

[tannybogus]

THIS IS MOVING. HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET.....IF WE EVER KNEW......

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers;they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote


The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Lucy Burns)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

(Dora Lewis)

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

(Alice Paul)

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

Amen!

[firedupdem]

1. I have to add that while women are voting they need to remember

that McCain was the deciding NO vote on the bill requiring equal pay for equal work! He is not a fan of women's rights. He thinks women are really dumb and thats why he picked that woman with no experience to be on his ticket.

[Captain Hilts]

4. It's unfortunate that women do not comprise a voting bloc. nt

[jojo54]

2. That is a very moving message.

I got it in an email from a relative...only problem is, the relative is a repuke!! So, I responded to "All" with VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN. It felt really, really good!! (snicker)

[Captain Hilts]

3. Like this...