Helloooo Hartford…
That is how Robyn Porter, state representative for the 94th district covering New Haven and Hamden began her speech at the Women’s March in Hartford on Saturday January 20, 2018. The long hello was not how Rep Porter was really going to rouse the crowd though.
In what was to become one of the more powerful speeches of the day Porter told the crowd of her reticence to even appear,”when I was asked to
speak at the march today I must admit I was conflicted.”
She clarified that her reluctance came from discussions with her Black
and Brown sisters in which they expressed that the Women’s March had left them out.
Rep Porter addressed head on the notion that White Women had hijacked their history and work and discounted their worth. In words that were sometimes stinging she expressed for those who did not get to address the microphone the idea that for many of those with unheard voices their role in these White Woman led events was to provide validation and clout.
Rep Porter said it this way, “nobody can speak for
your experience so it is crucial that the people that look like you
and have experiences like you not only have access to power but they
all have access to the mic!”
She went on to list some of those issues such as maternal mortality rates among women of color, their infant mortality rates, police brutality and the War on Drugs among others.
Rep Porter finished with a call to work together in truth signing off by saying that her words had been submitted in love.
