#ShePersisted

Have you ever been silenced?  Were you given a warning and an explanation? If you were anything like Elizabeth Warren, you nevertheless persisted. On Tuesday, February 7^th 2016, Elizabeth Warren took to the Senate Floor to read a 1986 letter by Coretta Scott King (activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr.) in opposition of Jeff Sessions. She did not get far into the letter before Senate Majority Leader Mitchell McConnell formally silenced her, stating a little known rule ( rule XIX ) that prohibited senators from insulting other senators. 

In case you’re curious, the rule originated in 1902 after senators were throwing punches at each other.   But hey, reading a thought-provoking, relevant testimonial written by a civil rights leader is basically the same thing right?!

She may have been stopped from sharing the letter within the Senate Floor, but Senator Warren would not be stopped from sharing it with an even larger audience---the public! When the Senate voted to silence her, Warren sat outside of the senate hearing and read the letter live on Facebook---capturing an audience of over 6 million viewers.

                                                                           

If you have been on Facebook within the past week, you likely have seen the hash tag #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak, as the silencing of Senator Warren ignited a feminist battle cry on social media. This is a great example of “when political candidates get their supporters riled up and spreading the word, we call it “energizing the base” (Li & Bernoff, 2011, 55).  Bernoff & Li (2011) explain that energizing the base is a powerful way to use the groundswell to boost your business. Although it was McConnell who helped start this conversation in his attempt to silence Warren, his actions have inspired tremendous support for Warren.

Check out the many memes of powerful women who persisted. 

Trevor Noah interviewed Warren the next day (see above) and asked if McConnell knows how much he has helped her. Warren explained that, “It’s helped us have a better Democratic conversation. [...] We don’t have the votes in the United States Senate to block somebody like Jeff Sessions[as attorney general]. ... So what we’ve got to do is count on people all around this country to make their voices heard.”

Brodeur (2017) funnily describes, If ever a hashtag was handed down perfectly formed from the Internet gods themselves, #ShePersisted was it.  To his point,  the phrase has already lead to the production of “she persisted” t-shirts which will help fund Elizabeth Warren’s 2018 re-election. 

Similarly, Reebok released shirts  following the McConnell silencing. And guess what? As of today they are already SOLD OUT. Rest assured though, they are making more to meet the high demand.

Inga Stenta, Reebok senior director of brand management expressed, "We are inspired and empowered by the senator's recent statements and these t-shirts are our way of showing our support for all women who continue to persist and break down barriers."  What’s even better….Reebok is donating $20 from each shirt sold during the first 100 days of Trump's term to the to the Women's March campaign. 

In a similar vein, Harvard book store created a she-persisted display.  And as I am writing this post, more and more #ShePersisted swag (like the necklace below) is popping up in my newsfeed (Facebook clearly knows what I'm thinking about!) 

Although Jeff Sessions was selected as U.S. Attorney General, revealing the limits to social media, the conversation that was launched and the monetary support pouring in to both Warren’s re-election campaign and the women’s march sheds light on the its power. Warren took the conversation to a much larger stage, empowering more citizens to voice their opinions. It is a reminder that we must all continue to persist towards the outcomes we want.  Once again we see that when you try to silence the groundswell, it roars back exponentially louder.