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cochairs of the congressional caucus for equal rights amendment, today 35 of the required 38 states have ratified the amendment. this about 40 minutes. >> we had a full morning talking about the impediments to everyone recognizing era as 28th amendment and so many respects, in any respect equal rights amendment has met the constitutional requirements for being the 28th amendment but not everyone t agrees so you as cofounder and cochair of era caucus in congress have been taking some measures, trying to move through congress several different legislative ways of objections? , talk to us a little bit about what your strategy is to get the era finally finished? >> got it. all right. so first of all, good afternoon,

everyone. and thank you all for waiting. we did, we had chaos on the floor but it's congress. you know, i remember in 21 to 22 -- 2022. december -- december 2022, just thinking about what happens next with the era. carolyne maloney was about to leave and jackie spear carrying era legislation and just figuring out what's next, how do we keep this going and i had multiple conversations with carolyne maloney and just decided, we have to be able to organize within congress and i couldn't find a way where we could -- people who care about the era where we could come together to -- to really like

mobilize within congress and so i just said, you know what the, i have not heard anyone talk about a caucus for the era but the only way to start one, the only way to have one is to start one and so representative presley and i, we -- we talked about, you know, getting this going because for us it can't be just the same folks, it can't just be the same folks saying the same thing beating the same drum all of the time. we need to open it up to more folks. we need tool see people from different districts who have, you know, a different set of issues than what we have, but the era would affect every -- it would affect everyone in every district and what the era would do for people in everyone's district and the other is this, for those don't know, which i

think this would be a joke, but if we don't put the information a lot of times right in front of members of congress, then they won't have that information. you know, it's not -- you don't have a lot of time to go do deep research on something that is always evolving, and so for us we said, okay, not only will we put together this caucus, we want this to be a way for people to have the information not only about what is happeningma federally but in their own state and then in your neighboring states because wee think that that is important as well and so that's what we did and so we felt like if we give people the house, so we give you the home but then we also give you all of the information, you don't have to do any homework but then you get to take thisrm and you get o go to your districts and you get to talk about it, not only your district but you talk about era and what is happening and you can work the ground's in your localou areas. and so that was the first thing but then also the multiple vehicles, rep presley has her

legislation and discharge petition actually, you know, her legislation is about the deadline, you know, this deadline that should not be in place. and so we support that legislation. we are both supporting each other's legislation. my legislation says that the -- the era is already the 28th amendment and we just need the -- the archivist oh the united states, we just need to her to certify and publish it as such and we have had that conversation with her and we will keep having those conversations. >> well, i think a belt and suspender strategy is a good one where both of those measures passed and we create a series of political facts that make it undeniable that the era is the 28th amendment. why is it still important that we arent fighting for this?

>> because we breathe, we still exist. we have to keep fighting for it. and so i'm glad that we have these two ways to be able to get at it because the thing is when one is going fast, then we needt to be on that train and have the other ready in case that one doesn't work and vice versa. when we talk about the era, i'll say this, i through years never really talked about the era, looked into the era, researched it, cared much about it through the years and particularly one because i thought it was done. you know, i thought -- there was no conversations about this in my local community. no one was talking about the era, you know, but also we were fighting police brutality in stn alive from being murdered by the police which is a really -- a big deal. i was trying to keep my lights on, i was trying to survive,

thrive as a single parent so i just wasn't -- it just wasn't on my mind and because it wasn't thrown at me by the media or social media in church or anywhere, you know, it just wasn't a m thing. but once through organizing just hearing about -- just through protests and activism, movement, organizing and reallying so many intersectional sosu many of our issues are and then i entered congress started -- we started to talk about the era and i realized that so many of the things i was fighting for came up under this one umbrella, it's like we are fighting, you know, against the gender wage gap over and over, always talking about it. i remember when i was running for office i actually had the formula.

i will tell people like, hey, if you're a black woman, if you are latina, like -- i would give the formula and i had a poster with my formula showing that 20,000 i made $20,000 less than my white male counterparts doing the exact same job a year so in five years how much money am i not -- am i losing just because i am a woman and so -- but so whether it's gender wage gap, whether it's housing discrimination, reproductive freedom, you know, we were trying to get reproductive justice, we thought we had the freedom, we are trying to work towards the justice, now we don't have freedom nor justice right now. you n know, and so health care, violence against women, all of those things, transrights, that's why it's so important because we don't have that.

gender equality in the constitution is a noun thing and all of the wrong that happened even though we cannot clear what happened and through history we can w change what happens now. >> look who is joining us. >> my sister in service. >> thank you. [applause] >> representative ayanna presley. thank you so much for joining us. thank you so much. we are talking about why we need the era and i would ask you why did you take this up as something as key issues that you wanted to work on in congress so much so that you want today create a new caucus to organize that work-around. [inaudible] >> always good to be in movement work and to share a dais with my

sister in service. i would say, corey might have been alluded to this but in the name of transparency i will just say i was not someone who for very long time saw the era as a movement that could be home to me and that has everything to do with history of the movement and i do have to thank congresswoman spear and maloney respectively. we thank them for their stewardship and their leadership to advance the era for many years and when they both retired, they respectively went to each of us and asked to take this on which i think that makes such an important statement that representing multiple marginalized identities.

to be a marginalized or oppressed person means you have to litigate, agitate, mobilize for those things that are a birthright for everyone else. and given against backdrop of draconian antiwoman, antilgbtq, xenophobic, coordinated efforts from state legislatures all the way to the supreme court who have been enlisted as coconspirators in the absence of justice, at this moment really saw the era as a part of that solution and what i want is, we have to be more inclusive and intersectional in our movement building because that's how the lives, people actually live are intersectional and saw this as anti opportunity. i want people -- if you care

about domestic violence, gender-based violence, you should care about the era. if you care about the racial ouwealth gap which is a 10 trillion-dollar crisis, not just problem for black folks but it's a problem for everybody and you care about the racial wealth gap,p, the gender wage gap and y other number of inequities and injustices that girls and women in this country have made a conflated part and normalized part of the condition in this country, you should see the era and especially given these attacks on our bodily autonomy and freedom, the prospect of a national march for forced birth which is all on abortion is and we know who stands to be desperately impacted by that. so i'm here and shoulder to shoulder with my sister in this fight because this is the time and because inn my opinion the women of this country have done

their part. activists have certainly done their part. states have done their part and now congress must do theirs and if we already had gender equality enshrined in the constitution, how demoralizing, maybe the supreme court will not move recklessness in the overturn of roe because we would have those legal protections. >> i come from the colombia school to the existing sex discrimination laws that benefited anyone is white women and women of color, really, they haven't benefited much at all by title 720, equal pay act. the robust antidiscrimination infrastructure that we have, so what the era could do is allow

congress, if not command congress to strengthen those measures but also take up new stuff. you were talking about your son being profiled and i worked on stop and frisk challenging it in new york city and it was black and brown men being profiled because they were of their race but also because of their gender, right, that they were -- they were necessarily dangerous, and so men could also be the beneficiaries of era not just women. so what are your dreams, not just that we enforce the existing laws better, but what are new ways that we might imagine gender-based justice in an intersectional way with an era? .. .. ..

[laughter] anyway go ahead. cook's answered quite a few questions going to shine the light on my sister and this in s emerald green over here. yes. my dream would be where everything we areth calling for. everything that's up under the umbrella of the era. things my talk about what it looks like to have equality in education. to the point to where we do not have the disparities when we talk about the spirit of two black-and-white women enrolling in for your colleges.

creating a pipeline or black girls there is a special program for black girls to be able to maneuver the things they have to maneuver are different than end up or apply and end up and be successful in a four-yearss college. i would love to see a world where we do not have to wonder if this state can deal with abortion diffley than the state. saying j8 for nevada but we know what's happening at my state in missouri.om her trans community and we don't have parents and children reaching out thing i'm going to have to move out of this state because of the attacks that are coming to my child. and because of what the state legislature iseg doing. my dream is at the federal thatl government says we've got this and we are going to make this

decision for the entire country because it's just right every single person deserves a basic freedom and liberty about their own body but also their own choices. and so to know, like you said era being that anchor.mp too not only improve bills that are already on the books. to create better bills to make sure -- let me say this one dancing collar stealing my sister can speak to this too, as we have all these folks thinking they are doing great things but we write these bills. but if you have notf been throuh it, that's how we missed so many marginalize folks or communities where people think they're doing a good job and they are not t because were not directly working with those most directly impacted. those type of bills that actually work for and help people have gone through how the

housing discrimination legislation how does that actuallygi work for somebody is spent on house or has six kids and cannot move into a two bedroom.li how does that legislation work for those folks? that will be my dream we don't need to talk about the era anymore because we have it and it's working so well. [applause] cooks i will cosign that. again in the spirit of transparency let me say sometimes you're prompted with a question o of what is the dream? it is harder to answer we are in the mud and the muck right now were daily our job is the work of harm reduction and mitigation. those are not the things that earn newspaper headlines or we

can put in a press release. to the outside world it's fair is our shared constituencies you're focused on what are we advancing? but given the current climate of which we are governing there aren't many things we stop that you will never know. and so sometimes in the midst of governing under such extreme circumstances. i've been in congress five years. on precedent is the word i'm looking forward to some precedent at times. everything has been on precedent we been navigating crises for so long. it can be hard to see the forest for the trees but it is is impot have the north stars. my sisters and i, i often talk with them about is doctor king and that historic speech in march for jobs and freedom.

there are so may things he could've lifted in that moment but when jackson said tell them about the dream? it is so important we not lose sight of that that we be able to articulate the dream. my sister did that very effectively. the only other thing i could really add is i just want for everyone to see an investment in each other's freedoms. and destiny and center our shared humanity. i would like for everyone to see the work of the crown act to ban race-based hair discrimination their problem too. i would like for everyone to care about the push output crisis. and that desperate criminalization of black and brown children in our schools simply for how they show up for everyone to feel invested and that by the black maternal morbidity crisis in the

criminalization of migrants and i could go on. if we are not invested in centering our shared humanity you are going to have lawmakers who will play you. and the way in which they will play you is they will single issue un silo you they'll come to black folks that only talk of mass incarceration which we care greatly about. we also care about black entrepreneurship and black wealth and black joy. they will come to women and only talk about reproductive rights which right now that needs to be so much of everything. before the dobbs decision before roe is overturned i mean i have always seen her role as the floor and not the ceiling. moreover you cannot only come to women and say they are the only ones issued care about bodily

autonomy but also not talk to women about childcare and paid leave in the gender wage gap. and care economy and all those things. you cannot go to the latino siblings and only talked about immigration reform. she's on just immigration laws have a impact on the api community particularly the south asian community and my district haitian, african migrants. moreover my latino siblings also care about small business and entrepreneurship. and housing. i'm not even going to say you can't go to the community they don't usually go. some characterize as a model minority but they are really the visible one. finally the go to lgbtqn community and i am from massachusetts who made great

strides in healthcare form. many people walked away from the movement after marriage equality. housing discrimination, employment discrimination, healthcare was still rampant. we all have to be invested in our collective humanity and our shared struggles because if you are not you will have lawmakers who will play you. they will single issue you and they will not build staff they will not against policy that see the toetapping totality of who you are in the lives we lead. [applause] x owns a thank you so much for being here i want to center on congressional studies they teach about legislation i work for a guy named biden when he was a senator. i just would say push very much your resistance and how hard it is to do what you do. a lot of my students do not have a lot of hope they are very negative about our institutions.

i see the era movement as a democracy movement taking back our constitution. we are a majority. this is the majority movement. i just want you to comment on that. what do you say to young people in your district or my students for catherine students at columbia? >> first of all there is no person who comes to ordain you to say this is what you are supposed to do pay this is your movement to take out. this is your work. there is no activist guru that anoints you. it is just making a decision that this affects me are this effect somebody that i care about. or this affects something i feel passionate about this. i'm going to use whatever tools i have two be able to help add

to this movement moving. there is no age on that. there is just passion. there is need it. when i think about what i can bring. you can bring whatever you have. he said tell people he still believe it clues to what can i do for you? what can i help? i can't do this since what else can i do? you tight shoes well, tight shoes because at some point when i'm out knocking doors my shoe so we come untied everybody has a place i don't care if you collect stamps we will find something for you. but bringing your things to the table is important. i think about folks like generation ratify, generation ratify when i think about jena

face generation ratify collection or she was not pandering she didn't even see you. >> no i did not see you. >> that love is genuine in public and private. >> yes. the passion just like that the passion they bring to this movement. the thing is we need all of us there are folks who are our elders. there are folks who are our elders who have knowledge that we don't have a nap understanding and understand certain dynamics that wed don't. there are those of us coming in like for us my sister was alluding to and i started to i did not get to it. he came into this movement he was so late for me i saw it as a white woman's movement even when i got to congress is like something this is white women work on. there's no room for black women in this area. they don't hear from black women in the work of the era. >> is why i love her.

that is our dynamic. >> thank you. >> we go back and forth. when i think t about what generation ratifies were not gonna wait on anybody else to what we can do for ourselves. we also understand we should not do this alone in the silo. we h have seen that happen befoe we did not get what we needed because people were working in silos often time for that is in so many movements. them being able to work with everyone but not only that they didn't just work with activists. they did not just work with scholars is said we want to work with lawmakers too. i didn't your folks know right now is your time. right now they are stripping away our rights. right now they're throwing everything they can. right now they are imagining how far they can go but they're also

trying to do it. what do you bring to this movement? because when we look back but when the history books are to talk about an thirtyish who did what during this time? how did we get here? what would you say to your grandchildren? what would you say to those who come up after you? what will you say? he will say what you did and hopefully that's a lot. [applause] hope, hope. you know, when i was talking about giving ourselves permission to dream and articulating that dream and passing it on. it is important as movementt builders it is so important manifesting, laboringg for the dream.

in a platform that is about advancing hope. i thought hoagie, thus not corny, they motivate with fear. talk about thei fact black woman scolded for expressing anger. were always being talked out of range in a way that is not fully surrendered to that. the righteous rage and indignationn is rooted in radicl love. a it's rooted and radical love and hope. it's fueled by hope hope is a

discipline i'm aquarius i love a good affirmation. and i love poetry. one of my closest siblings in the movement during the pandemic gave me an affirmation which is i choose the discipline of hope over the ease of cynicism. i choose the discipline of hope over the ease of cynicism and i choose fortitude over fatalism. i choose fortitude over fatalism and i say that every day. hope is a discipline and know that each and every one of you certainly dedicated team members out to give it to the team presley and team bush. [applause] we could not do any of this without their brilliance, about the personal sacrifice without their support.

then make it easier to practice the discipline of hope. finally went to lift up something i've been saying everywhere i go i hope it's okay if i'm partisan for a moment. we are winning. like the goal of white supremacy and the patriarchy is to lead you to believe that we are losing and that you are alone. this movement is growing if you take like my federal bill with cory booker on baby bonds we passed federally but that's a national movement. much like the crown active not pass up federally as of yet but there is a nationwide movement. look at things that universal basic income but look at things that student debt cancellation have benefited from targeted relief to the tune of over

$130 billion and 38 more million borrowers are about to benefit. thus a policy the people side will be progressive and in fact they said the president did not have authority to do anything. this is not issue the democrats are running but they used to laugh at progressives about. abortion access to heavy democrats used to be afraid to say the word abortion? maybe if you are lucky reproductive justice that was not an issue the democrats ran on. so, i just want tohe say the progressive movement which is fueled by young people they are waiting look at unionization happening throughout the country. they would lead you to believe that we are losing but we are winning. the congressional caucus in the house is the largest ideological congress caucus in congress. when i came in the 116th

congress we are about 70 members. now we are over 100. so the country -- mike you might be shocked by that. they keep electing progressives. now, i want to be transparent about this. my very first campaign consulted and made it lip peas set vote for presley the only progressive in the race price that you can't use that lip peas i thought that was not a term that belonged to black candidates. i don't hug trees, that's off of me. i did not know i was environmentalist and now i hug trees on the fight for tree canopy equity. but how it ultimately was able to take on that character is a civil rights movement. what was his freedom writers and fighters doing? they're disrupting the status quo.

the progressive movement is a civil rights movement. we are still in it. and so please continue to practice the discipline of hope and know that thiss movement is winning. and you are not alone. [applause] while, thank you so much for that. minute, final remarks? >> first of all let me just say thank you for hosting this forum. we are really, really trying to help folks see why this should be important to all of us. because it takes up t galvanizig all across the country to really, really get those who have the power to make the era actually the 28th amendment. and the constitution a reality.

and we know, as folks who are in movement policy makers and leaders don't have to move without pressure. often times they don't both pressure all of the things my sister just named on down the line is because of the pressure. and so continued like big into the era movement see how you can do that work but not only here but in your local community. hate can connect with groups like generation ratify and others for this is what we need. he makes our job in congress so much easier. now they were trying to have an easy job but everything is hard. but to be able to i say people want this. like everybody wants this. joint all of the events and

showing all the work the activism and all that happening. that is how we will do it but also understand states have been pushing forward breed they been able to show why the era is needed. i brought up earlier, given that we do not e have the federal era but states will say will go ahead and do it ourselves even though it should not be on the states. there doing what has been the vehicle. we get used to sit look, this is how we were able to protect abortion access because there was a state erae in place. we went to also keep that in mind spirit was absolutely a tool. i will lastly say that i caucus my sister and i started a not be the largest caucus in congress but we might be the fastest growing. we are 50 something? what are we, kate?

we are over 50 members u.s. house members that are part of this caucus. we are only one year old. this is because the work the doing in the community think you'll for pushing, pushing for the era. [applause] yes. and i want to thank this and for the visionary leadership to say we needed to have an era caucus. it is never hard to say is to you. whatever table you sit at changes on the way. this is so important for momentum and educational awareness. shocked by the number who believe gender equality are enshrined in our constitution. they just assume it. i am going to give some calls to action but you've all got your phones out?? those like me do you have paper?

i love paper. thank you, thank you. our staff like please, no more paper. ask you remember of congress if they have not already to join the era caucus. secondly, ask them if they are on any legislation that serves to advance equal rights amendment too. we have beened exhausted as legislators. the women of this country are exhausted. whether it is legislation for the archivists to make this real or it is a legislation to do with the arbitrary deadline. our weather dissenting the discharge petition that is at the desk. or almost at that magic number in the 1970s that is how a vote was brought was by discharge petition. i would just say on this even though it's taken us 101 years

too long we do have more momentum probably 40 years we did get a hearing in the senate under dick durbin. we do have mail allies and we had two republican allies and also in collins we are grateful to senator durbin, senator cardin, all of our senate allies in this movement. the displayed call to action. call the question for those who are not supportive of this they think it's already happened it could be 12000 active pieces of legislation. so, just call the question of you remember asked them to be supportive of the legislative mobilization efforts. >> with the heavy lift like she

said to educate components will do the heavy lift. we'll make sure they get the information our team is good at that they'll work at that will do that part of make it easy for them. >> we cannot thank you for that leadership, the energy, the brilliance, the heart you brought to the struggle. with a roomful of addicts kids who were here to back you up to give the arguments you need to get bodies on the line, thank you so much of being a partnership in the struggle and for all you're doing. were going to let you go back to the other things you were doing before you came over here. thank you so much for giving us your time today.

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