Margaret Ann Jones, Sister Sojourner

Margaret Ann Jones belongs to a group called “Women of All Colors” who meet once a month to have, she says, “healing conversations about race.” I hope to join them next month. She performed the famous Sojourner Truth speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” at a meeting tonight of local activists encouraging each other to continue resisting the white supremacist agenda of the new administration. Teressa Raiford, at whose trial I testified last April, was the main organizer of the event. While she is mainly known for direct action in the streets, she also brings together women who have not always seen each other as allies or co-workers.

The meeting tonight included people whose tactics vary from all-out revolution to mild reformism. Teressa urges us to work together to defeat white supremacy and “misogynoir.” “Every person in this country who is not complicit with the administration has a job to do,” she says, and she adds that it’s up to each of us to find our own way to contribute to the movement for justice, based on our abilities, our personal inclinations, and our passions.