Sightings
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Kavanaugh Protests Continue: "Sexual Predators on the Court, Hell No, We Don’t Support" and "November Is Coming"
Jo Freeman Writes: Hundreds showed up for the standard pre-protest training at a nearby hotel, they were told that the real action would be on the steps on the east front of the U.S. Capitol. Shouting "Sexual Predators on the Court, Hell no, We Don’t Support," they role-played getting arrested and discussed how much resistance or non-cooperation to offer. The crowd was told that the Capitol cops had barricaded the Capitol steps to keep protestors from occupying them. They were told to go to Hart atrium instead. An hour later a fraction of those thousands had gone through the security screeners. Several offices, probably of Democratic Senators, also displayed signs in their windows saying such things as "We Believe Survivors" and "Kava NO." more »
Self-blame and Not Recognizing Rape as Rape: Why Many Sexual Assault Survivors May Not Come Forward for Years
(Flickr/Fibonacci Blue)
From Journalist's Resourcee: Leading up to the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Journalist’s Resource will be focusing on some of the controversial issues that divide the United States. Allegations of sexual assault loom large in… more »
The Nobel Peace Prize: For Efforts to End the Use of Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War and Armed Conflict
Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad have both put their personal security at risk by courageously combating war crimes and seeking justice for the victims. They have thereby promoted the fraternity of nations through the application of principles of international law. This year marks a decade since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1820 (2008), which determined that the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict constitutes both a war crime and a threat to international peace and security. This is also set out in the Rome Statute of 1998, which governs the work of the International Criminal Court. more »
Kavanaugh Confirmation: Led by the Center for Popular Democracy and Mobilized by Different Groups, Protesters were Overwhelmingly Female and Mostly Middle-aged
By Jo Freeman
Photograph: Planned Parenthood Action
The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court stretched out for the month of September as the Hart Senate Office Building was repeatedly occupied by protesters… more »
