Loud & Clear
December 2021
Welcome New Members
Mary Bryant
Maryn Olson
Randee Steffen
Nancy Zemcuznikov
Words from Our Co-President
Two Verdicts: The Arc Bends Once

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Abolitionist Theodore Parker developed this metaphor, often used by civil rights activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King. The events of this past month have led us to consider it to both assuage our anger and to bolster our hope. Women’s Voices released the statements below in response to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse and to the guilty verdict of the three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery.

“Our organization is outraged at the miscarriage of justice in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse is a White teenager who illegally obtained a "cool" AR-15 rifle. Previously he was shown to be linked with The Proud Boys and flashed White supremacist hand signs. He went to a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Kenosha freely. He brought his gun. No one attacked him until he acted, yet he claimed self-defense. This is one more example of a broken criminal justice system. The outcome indicates that a White person can carry a gun anywhere, provoke violence, and kill people without repercussion. This is an example of vigilante justice for which White people have never been held accountable in this country since the time of slavery.”

“Yesterday a jury found three White men guilty of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Mr. Arbery was a young Black man who was jogging in a Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood when the three convicted men pursued him and shot him. The verdict does not lessen the tragedy of the senseless death of an innocent man. But justice has been served by the mostly White jury. Women’s Voices joins social justice advocates around the country in celebrating the guilty verdict.”

The moral arc of the universe bends because people are committed to creating a society whose basis is justice and equity. It bends because people speak up and stand up to create change. People like you.

Ruth Ehresman
Lunch & Learn with Cristina Garmendia, founder of URBNRX
A Tale of Two Cities: Affordability in the St. Louis Region"
Tuesday, December 7, noon
Virtual Program

Speaker:
Cristina Garmendia is founder and principal at URBNRX, where she advises governments, foundations, and nonprofits on accountability and the use of data to inform decision-making. In addition to the St. Louis Affordable Housing Report Card, she designed the City of St. Louis’ Equity Indicators, and authored its Baseline Report released in January 2019. Her unique background in government innovation, data and technology, and impact assessment informs her approach to developing accountability tools with a focus on racial and social equity. She currently serves on St. Louis' COVID-19 Regional Response Team, where she led the PPE Coordination Campaign during the pandemic. Cristina graduated from Washington University in St. Louis' Sam Fox School of Design with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master of Public Policy.
Limiting Access to the Trigger: Guns, Trauma and Suicide Prevention
Thursday, December 9, 7 p.m.
Virtual Program
Firearms accounted for 76% of homicides in the U.S. in 2020, according to a September 2021 FBI report—29% more than in 2019. And the number of children and teens killed by firearms has been on the rise in recent years, due in part to easy access to guns.
But hidden in all the news about firearms violence is a startling fact: nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides.

Recognizing the severity of this problem, the Biden Administration just announced steps to prevent suicide, including promoting safe gun storage. Studies have shown that reducing access to lethal means can save lives.

To learn about efforts in St. Louis and Missouri to reduce gun violence through suicide prevention measures, including safe gun storage, please join us for this important program presenting two experts who will address these issues.

Speakers:

Kristen Mueller, MD, assistant professor in Emergency Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Katie Ellison, MA, MS, NCC, project director for the Safer Homes Collaborative at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis
Fatal Shooting by a Toddler
In late November a man was fatally shot in his St. Louis home. The shooter? His two-year old son, with a rifle that was loaded and not locked.

Many gun owners do not secure firearms in homes where children live. Many believe that they have hidden firearms from children. But all too often, children and teens find guns – with tragic consequences.

Many people also think that young children lack the strength to shoot a firearm, even if they found one – but this story explodes that myth.

KSDK interviewed Women’s Voices member Cathy Gilbert after this tragedy. Cathy explained that unintentional shootings in homes are entirely preventable if firearms are securely stored: locked and unloaded.

Women’s Voices’ Lock It for Love program has free gun locks available at all 30 St. Louis City fire stations and at selected St. Louis City and County library branches. Watch Cathy’s interview here.
Building Community Through the Arts
At our virtual November 8 Lunch and Learn, Adam Flores of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and Aaron Williams of 4theVille described how their organizations are restoring The Ville and Sumner High School. With their focus on the arts, they have brought together many organizations and community members. They suggested how we can support their goal to reach out to broad, diverse audiences: tour The Ville; attend arts events there, and look for opportunities to help revitalize this historic neighborhood that has been home to many notable St. Louisans such as Chuck Berry, Josephine Baker, and Grace Bumbry, as well as Black doctors, educators, and entrepreneurs. Read the full report here.
Voter Sabotage: Will YOU Be Able to Vote?
At the November Women's Voices program, speakers Denise Lieberman, from the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, and Mo Del Villar, from ACLU of Missouri, outlined voter sabotage efforts happening in MO and nationwide; laid out the protections outlined in the Freedom to Vote Act and provided suggestions for how we can advocate for its passage. Read the summary and link to the recorded program here.
Need Meeting Location Suggestions
Women's Voices has decided to continue live streaming our meetings after we return to in-person meetings. To meet this need, we are considering moving our in-person meetings to a new location that has live streaming technology. Since numerous places of worship have this technology, we need your help. Do you know of a place that is centrally located and not using their sanctuary on the second Thursday of the month? If you do, please pass that information on to education programs director Ellen Wentz at info+program@womensvoicesraised.org.
Women's Voices Members respond to injustice!
Andrea Bauman, in her letter to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, writes that the Missouri legislature has dismantled commonsense firearm requirements resulting in an increase in homicides and suicides.

Ruth Ehresman, co-president of Women's Voices and resident of the City of St. Louis, in her letter to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, writes about the lack of transparency in the city ward redistricting process and says for the sake of democracy we must do better going forward. 

Pamella Gronemeyer, in her letter to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, writes that we must stop the privatization of Medicare.
 
Individual members' letters do not necessarily reflect the position of the organization.
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Looking for tips on writing letters to your newspaper? Click HERE for general guidelines
on writing a letter to the editor and contact information for Missouri newspapers. 
Have something to submit for Loud & Clear?

Loud & Clear is the official monthly e-newsletter of Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice and is usually distributed on the first Monday or Tuesday of the month. The general deadline for article submission is the Wednesday prior to publication. Click here to contact editor Laura Rose.
Membership Info
Even if you can’t come to meetings or become personally involved, your membership is important…and greatly appreciated.

Benefits of Membership
When you join Women’s Voices you:
  • Make our voice stronger when we advocate with elected officials.
  • Provide support to the organization by adding your name to our advocacy efforts.
  • Provide ideas and suggestions to help determine how to define our positions and choose our causes.
  • Participate in advocacy activities in any way that you want or is possible for you.
  • Take pride in your affiliation with a strong, progressive group of women working for social justice.
  • Help cover our administrative and outreach costs through your dues.
Annual Dues:

$40 (Regular Membership)
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or
Send a check (payable to Women's Voices) to: 
 
Women's Voices
7401 Delmar Blvd. 
University City, MO 63130