Governor Hochul: "We've been through a lot in this country, we've been through so much before, but we'll always rise up because that's what the women of this country and the women of New York always will do."
My responsibility as the first woman Governor of New York is to welcome you to this great celebration, overdue, but as I said on the first day I took office, "I didn't come here to make history, I came here to make a difference," and that's exactly what the women on this stage have done, each of you have made a profound difference in the lives of others.
I want to thank Betsy Fantone for being the president of this organization and as you saw, heard from Jennifer, we have great leadership and I want to commend you for what you're doing today, but also a look back to the women who over 30 years ago had a vision, a vision that maybe people thought was a little bit bold, a little bit audacious, but isn't that what New York women do. The women here who had the vision who brought us here all these years later.
Great to be back in this beautiful space. I have seen a resurgence in new energy in upstate communities from Seneca Falls to Geneva and so many others. And those of you who've been studying the history of this, a lot of it began when we had an amazing Senator who actually put the spotlight on upstate New York and our communities and that would happen to be our Secretary, our friend, Hillary Clinton who's here with us today. She never, she may have traveled all over the world, but she never forgot the heart of our state. And I welcome her back today with a heart full of love from so many people delighted to see you.
I will talk briefly about why we're here, but also where we came from. And it was 1848 when a group of individuals, not a small group, think about this, how 300 individuals came from near and far to gather in a tiny place without social media telling them where to go. Wait, how, how did that happen? How did that happen? But they came to this crossroads of Native American rights and the abolitionists and the Quakers, and just a bunch of really brave women who stood up and said no more.
They wrote this declaration of sentiments after spending a number of days writing. If you read the words that are inscribed on the walls near the Hall of Fame across the river, you can feel the anger dripping from every word as they wrote them. They were so sick and tired of being viewed simply as property, having no rights, why'd they even exist? And they stood up, boy, were they courageous, they went against the tides of their time, their communities, society, churches, and in some cases, their own families. But they launched a revolution that was long overdue and the revolution got people focused on elevating the lives of the women in our country. And I am so proud, as the Governor of the state where it started right here, just down the road in Seneca Falls.
And that's why this location has to be finished. We will complete this. And it continues to be a beacon of hope for so many others. And what is shocking to me is we think about that history and it took even longer for us to get the right to vote. I'm happy to say that New York was three years ahead of the rest of the nation, but we always like to be first,1917, 1920 for the rest.
So there was only one woman from the original gathering that lived long enough to see the right to vote. So it's a reminder that sometimes changing the world takes some time, but we've always been on a path where we made progress. We enhanced rights, we added rights, we elevated rights, but for the last 174 years, we assumed that would always be the case until three months ago today.
And for the first time in our history, perhaps, and certainly in my lifetime, we've seen the removal, the stripping of basic rights. And so I call upon the women of this country and this state to stand up as they did all those years ago, right in this place. stand up and say, "We have the rights that we've had for over 50 years in this country with Roe V.
Wade and we also deserve to have the right to be paid equally and to be able to work without being harassed in a sexual way in a workplace. We have the right to have childcare. We have the right to have paid family leave. We have basic human rights as Hillary Clinton said years ago because women's rights are human rights." She said it first. And that is what we are called to do.
My friends, my friends, the torch that was first lit it Seneca falls in 1848 has been passed to us. And as our responsibility as this generation right here and right now to not just pass it on to our daughters and granddaughters, but is also to make it glow even brighter.
What are our accomplishments going to be? And we look back through history. We know what they are. We know what Susan B. Anthony did. We know what Lucretia Mott. We knew what Harriet Tubman. We know what Sojourner Truth did. We have all heard the stories. And now these new women added to the list of over 300, who graced, the names graced the Hall of Fame here. We're so proud of that, but in 2022, and they look back at us 100 years from now, well, they say we advanced the rights of women as our foremothers had done before us.
That is the question I pose today. And that is the one we will leave here, but hopefully more invigorated as we approach upcoming elections, empowered to make sure that our rights are always protected and enhanced.
And that's something all of us across this nation must do. Don't take for granted the right to vote that women did not have not that long ago. Oh, cherish it. Honor it. Protect it. And while you're here in the state of New York, have a spectacular time because there's no place more beautiful, more giving, more steeped in history and not just women's rights, but the labor movement started here, the LGBTQ movement started here, the NAACP started here, as well as the environmental justice movement started here.
So I take that legacy very seriously as your governor and the Governor of this great state, but I want the next generation to know that we will support them and bring them into the cause. And I don't want the young generation to give up hope. You cannot give up hope. Promise me that. Because hope is what we have to lead us onto the next challenges. We've been through a lot in this country, we've been through so much before, but we'll always rise up because that's what the women of this country and the women of New York always will do. Thank you everybody.
And congratulations. Congratulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment