Trenise Bryant, board member of the Miami Workers Center, speaks about the upcoming Florida March for Black Women surrounded by fellow advocates and activists.

Staff Report

MIAMI – Miami Workers Center (MWC) hosted a press conference on Thursday, August 31 announcing the 30-day countdown of the Florida March for Black Women.

Community leaders and advocates stressed the importance of public participation in the march, emphasizing the need to address issues like education equity, the gender wage gap, reproductive justice, the school to prison pipeline and the criminalization of black women.

Speakers at Thursday’s press conference included: Miami-Dade Public School Board Member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, New Florida Majority (NewFM) Organizer Valencia Gunder, Miami Workers Center Board Member Trenise Bryant and Power U Center for Social Change Youth Organizer Kera Carr.

All of the speakers weighed in on how important the march is to improving the lives of women.

“We know that the issues are pressing, but we stand ready to make sure that all that we can do, we do it now. We can’t wait,” Bendross-Mindingall said. “As a lifelong educator, I know firsthand the consequences of a lack of investment in education. … We are not here for a photo op, we are here to make a change.”

“We take on these fights all the time but it seems like we never make space for black women. When we talk about prison reform, criminal justice reform, where do formerly incarcerated black women fit into that? Where do incarcerated black women fit into that,” Gunder asked. “Yes, we are marching for black women. But we live for black women, we fight for black women, we speak for black women and we won’t stop.”

“Black women and girls need reproductive justice. We all know that reproductive justice is the protection of women’s human rights, but its more than just rights, it’s the freedom of having bodily autonomy,” Carr said. “Comprehensive health care services should be affordable and accessible regardless of age, pre-existing condition or ability.”

“We are here today to center the stories, struggles and resilience of all black women and girls,” Bryant added. “We are here to demand the freedom and safety of all black women and girls.”

Participating organizations (MWC, NewFM, Power U Center for Social Change, Women’s March – Florida Chapter, Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida and others) are calling on women and allies across the state to travel to Miami for the march.

They will join a national effort to denounce recent actions by the federal government and leaders to dismantle the civil and human rights of black women by plotting to undermine access to health care and reproductive health, investing in policing and not education, failing to address the violence against ‘cis’ and trans-identified women and much more.

The sister march will take place in Miami on September 30 and run concurrent with the national march held in Washington, D.C. where Black women will march at the center of the March for Racial Justice.

For more information about the march, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/florida-marchfor-black-women-tickets-36496937322.