RICHMOND GLOBE
March 12 - 18, 2008

Richmond Holds Women in Solidarity Event on
International Women’s Day

By Clifford L. Williams, Globe City Editor

Nearly 200 people attended Richmond’s first annual Women in Solidarity event at Lavonya DeJean Middle School on Saturday, International Women’s Day, to celebrate, network and share information.

Emphasizing the theme of honoring self and honoring community, participants engaged in roundtable discussions and were entertained with music and drumming performances by local artists.

Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said the idea for the event came from community activists who pitched the idea to her office and brought community groups together to make it happen. [emphasis added]

“This is Richmond’s first annual day of celebrating and networking with women, and we have a great turnout,” said McLaughlin. “Women are here from all different walks of life, ethnicities and cultures, coming together, sharing ideas with great entertainment. We’re showing the unity and solidarity of women within the great context of progressive movement for our city, our nation and our world. “Members of my staff worked tirelessly with our planning committee of community groups,” she said. “It was truly a joint effort from both my office and community members who really showed they wanted this celebration for women. They came up with a great theme, and it’s turning out to be everything we wanted it to be.” [emphasis added]

Event organizer and emcee Jovanka Beckles said the conference was a beautiful thing to see because of the diverse crowd, which included women of all ages and nationalities.

“The presentations have been amazing,” said Beckles. “One young woman in particular from Kennedy High School shared a beautiful spoken word of poetry about her perspective in the community and her generation’s expectations of becoming leaders, and that they don’t have to succumb to the negativity of violence.

“The event opened up with a blessing by Danza Azteca, a spiritual dance group that provided a spiritual tone for the event, which is what we wanted. They evoked the spirits of our ancestors and they also honored the men, because there has to be balance in a society, and the men then honored the women.”

Event sponsors included Mothers Against Senseless Killings, Latina Center, Tent City Peace Movement, Youth Together, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities Untied To Restore Mother Earth, Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park, Black Women Organized for Political Action, Gabriela Network and Women of Color Resource Center.