Grambling State News

by T. Scott Boatright

Grambling, La. – March 29, 2022 – Persevere by learning from the past to help build a better future was the message given by Louisiana State Sen. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) Monday morning as Grambling State University held its Women’s History Month Convocation at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.

Before beginning her speech Jackson asked if there were any students in attendance coming from Senate District 34, which she represents and serves constituents from at least parts of Concordia, East Carroll, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, and Tensas parishes.
Freshman music education major Quinesha Thomas, who was there as a member of the GSU Choir, which performed during the event, was the only student to stand and was promptly told by Jackson that she was being awarded a $500 scholarship just for being a student from Jackson’s district attending the event.

“I know people didn’t expect that, but I always try to give something back in whatever I do,” Jackson said. “It might always be monetary, but that’s something I always try to do.”

Jackson started her speech by talking about how women’s roles have changed over the years.
“It is so important for us to take the time to reflect on and recognize the magnificence of our gender, so I thank the administration of Grambling State University for acknowledging this very special time of the year and for inviting me to share it with you.

“Once upon a time as women, we were very rarely admitted to attend college. We were destined to be homemakers, charged with raising our children and relying on our husbands to take care of us. …. Today, women not only attend college, but we succeed, and we obtain master’s and doctorate degrees, and we even lead Fortune 500 companies. We as women must recognize that we didn’t arrive here solely based on our own merit. So many women before us fought to prove to others that we deserve a seat at the table. And not only do we deserve a seat at the table, we deserve a prosperous life filled with endless opportunities.”

Jackson then said that in preparing for Monday’s speech she reflected on women over the years, decades, and centuries and that she found that women have continued playing bigger and more important roles through the same ambition and hard work shown before them.

“Each woman tilled the soil, making it a little more fertile and a little more fruit-bearing for the woman coming behind her,” Jackson said. “We all have to bring something to the table to nurture that seed and to see that growth-caused success manifest in all of us. The soil is richer, finer, because a woman has tilled it. I can say and submit to you, with a certainty, that every woman sitting here is meant to go higher than the one before them in the past. We are who we are because a woman helped us, and because we had the tenacity, the gumption, and some may say the unmitigated gall, to think larger than a box that many try to place us in. We are deeper thinkers, greater movers, greater shakers, and we are quick on our feet because we are simply made to lead.”

In her speech, Jackson also touched on great women from the past like American writer and poet Maya Angelou as well as several women who continue making history today, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and current Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“As I look back on the first female Black Vice President, I can raise my hand and say, ‘One nation, under God,’ prouder than I ever have before because we watched her break the glass ceiling for the second-highest office in this nation. However, if you take your own walk down memory lane, you will find Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress. She was also the first African American woman to run on one of the two major party tickets for the office of President. She ran on the slogan of ‘unbought and unbossed.’ Her slogan meant that she couldn’t be bought and that she wasn’t going to sell out her people, her race, nor her gender.

Simply put, Congresswoman Chisholm refused to be bought out so that Congresswoman Harris could be brought in.”

Jackson then moved on to Clinton.

“Hilary Clinton was a woman who dared to run for President in modern times. Even today, no woman has ever held the office of President, but she dared to run. … She ran because she knew when the next woman would come to run for President she was going to face some of the same tough times, but she wanted to make sure that women were strong enough to not care. Each one of these women went higher than women before them, and maybe even in this audience today is the woman who is meant to raise her hand and be sworn in as the first female President of the United States of America.

“And now we stand together with Vice President Harris knowing that America is a better place because women are being placed in higher positions. These women have tilled the soil of politics so that you can go higher — even to the highest office in our nation.”

Then the senator moved on to Supreme Court nominee Jackson.

“In 2022, there is no more ground to cover, no more greater heights to reach,” Sen. Jackson said. “You and I stand to witness another amazing achievement for our gender and our race. We stand at the precise time of the confirmation of the first African American woman to the United States Supreme Court — Judge Brown Jackson. With her ascension to the highest court in this land, women take another seat at the table, knowing that it’s been a long time denied us, and a long time deserved by us. Judge Brown Jackson has persevered.”

Jackson concluded her speech by focusing on the female GSU students in attendance.

“As I take my seat I am persuaded to tell you that you’re going to go higher, you’re going to sit in rooms that we were once forbidden to sit in and that we were locked out of. Today, you are made to open those doors and not only sit in those rooms but pave the way to invite others to join you.”