00:00We've been coming to the Women's March since it first started three years ago, and I think it's just, we're really a part of history, really trying to enact change. We still have a lot to go for women's rights, and I think we still need to see a lot of change, and this is where it happens, and we see a lot of women coming together, which doesn't happen very often. It's a really great day.
00:28The important thing I feel is to build camaraderie. I think it's really important to see, especially in a march or in a movement, to form with people who have somewhat similar values, and it's always important to remember what we represent, and to see how other people believe in the same thing, that we're not alone in this, and that as women, we can do it together, and I think that's really important to see other women empowering other women.
00:58The achieving of basic human rights, dignity, justice, or equity for one group of people does not mean that something is being taken away from another group.
01:07Now, we all know that that is scarcity thinking, and scarcity thinking will always drive us further and further from each other.
01:20My name is Lauren Perreggie, for those of you who don't know me. I am a 22-year-old Cuban-American musician slash artist from Miami, Florida.
01:31Yes, represent Roja. And I'm so grateful to be able to speak to you guys here today about women and our abilities of truth to power.
01:39Maybe I want to talk about the strength that that takes, the courage that we women have as individuals, and the places that strength can go when we are left to one another.
01:50I want you to close your eyes and envision the strongest version of yourself. What are they wearing? Do they have armor? Are they arms? Do they have superpowers? Are they beautiful? What does that mean to you? Are they tangible?
02:11For some of us, this self is the self we embody every day. We're fearless and know our strength. For some of us, this powerful self is nothing but a notion hidden under the fear of being our complete selves.
02:26For some of us, this power has been taken away. Too much systematic depression, disappointment, and pain.
02:31I learned very young that to be a woman in this world meant that you have to have incredibly thick skin, especially if you want to do it in front of people starting at 16.
02:43You have to be willing to accept that your existence is a paradox and that people are always going to have something to say about the way that you are.
02:51The amount of change that we have witnessed and are about to continue to see is because of all of us seeing one another, uplifting one another, and continuing to move forward.
03:03We have seen the women who have been beaten, scorn, marked. We have heard the stories from our grandmothers for ages about the perils and fights it has taken to get to a place where we have the powerful voice that we have today, in this very moment, in this very place, together.
03:24We have heard their cries, and every soul looking back at me today, no matter how it identifies, has this understanding, has this knowledge of the wise, creative, loving nurturer, who is no less worthy of a voice than the greed of the patriarchy that rules this world.
03:44The divine feminine in each of us is burdened to be embraced and bring balance, burdened for recognition, burdened for you to listen to me.
03:52Most of us here today can see that truth. We speak it, we uplift it, we spread it. We're aligned with it. We're here.
04:02I ask you to continue to do so and to remind yourself of your power every chance you have. Remind your sister, your mother, cousin, friend, co-worker, partner, whoever.
04:15Remind them of their strength and remind them of what we can do with them. Thank you.
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