Future Constituents, Friends, and Family:
Women's rights are on the ballot. The Dobbs Decision took us backward and codifying Roe v. Wade can take us forward. Women should have full bodily autonomy. An abortion is a private, personal, and psychological matter that ought to be addressed by the impregnated and her medical providers. Women should be cherished, protected and respected. The counter is happening in the courts and proposed in legislative halls. Central Arkansas and America can coalesce on principles to move women's rights and reproductive freedom forward forever and backwards never.
Everything we think about pertaining to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a women's issue. Therefore, we should not limit our conversation about women to abortion. Women cannot be pigeonholed into a single issue or solution. Henceforth and with immediacy, we ought to shrink the gender and opportunity gaps in employment, education, the boardroom and the courtroom, and every area of human endeavor.
Women In Politics And History
Women must be visible in the political arena and lift our voices. Women must have victories up and down the ballot. There are women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community seeking office in the state of Arkansas who will make history as the first and some the only. We are educators, entrepreneurs, mental health executives, medical professionals, real estate agents, social workers and foster mothers, women and girls advocates, nonprofit professionals, public accountants, political recruiters and trainers, federal, state, and local employees; voter registrants, and elected officials.
We walk in the footsteps of the women who came before us. For they blazed a difficult trail so that these days are a little easier. The following women helped shape my political worldview. Their message and mission moved me to join public service. Some I know personally, read and heard their words, and was pricked in my heart to take up the baton to work to provide liberty and justice for all.
Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer
Her speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention set the world on fire. She told us about the horrific injustices and tribulations of being treated as a second class citizen. Yet, she capitalized by running to be a congresswoman from the great state of Mississippi.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
She advanced civility and demonstrated the radical power of agency. She approached inequality with transparency and dignity. She raised the consciousness of multiple generations of America's sons and daughters at Bethune-Cookman University (formerly Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls).
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (NY-12)
Her presence was powerful. Her pronouncement was powerful. Her passion for people and public service was powerful. She was unbought and unbossed which was powerful. Founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. First African American And Woman To Run For The Presidency On A Major Party Ticket. Powerful.
Dr. Diane Nash
Her organization and mobilization loomed large during the American Civil Rights Movement. Her fight for freedom and liberty was and is beyond measure. She inspired the hope of the nation's youth and prompted a generation to believe in civil disobedience.
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (TX-18)
She gave us racial uplift and made tangible for every person that the South is rising and needs the leadership of African American women. We, Stacey Abrams, and many others stand on your shoulders. We thank you!
Mrs. Septima Clark
She is an unsung heroine of the historic Civil Rights Movement, yet her words and work sing in my heart in present-day. She educated at the Highlander Folk School, a social justice training center where Dr. M. L. King, Jr. and Mrs. Rosa Parks attended and taught. She registered voters in Jackson, Mississippi where I once lived during undergraduate school at Jackson State University. For her courage is beyond compare when facing the terror to advancing voting rights despite the threats of "blood running down the streets like water."
Mrs. Daisy L. Gatson Bates
She was the only woman to speak at the 1963 March on Washington. She was and still is a tower of power. A street named after her near downtown Little Rock and Little Rock Nine Way are a testament to her mentorship and leadership.
Former Nashville City Councilwoman At-Large, Dr. Carolyn Baldwin Tucker
My political role model, my mentor, and my sister in Christ. There are no words to truly express her impact on me and the political arena. I do my best to walk in her footsteps. She gives me sound erudition and motherly wisdom. She breaks barriers which open doors for the masses. Everything that matters to metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee for the last fifty (50) years, somewhere, some way she had a hand in it. We are better because of her. I love Dr. Tucker and her entire Tucker Family.
Senator Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois)
She is a force who is fixed in our minds. She stood alone as the first African American woman elected to the United States Senate. She is a champion for women's rights and holds up a banner for civil rights. If given the blessing and opportunity to become the next congresswoman from the state of Arkansas or at any other time, I would like for our paths to cross and I personally thank her.
State Senator Thelma Harper (Tennessee)
I loved her hats and beautiful smile. She sits in a special place in my heart still. She read to my third (3rd) grade class and while there she planted a seed which later compelled me to run for public office. I knew from that singular experience at the tender age of eight (8), I wanted to dedicate my life to politics and serving people.
Mrs. Ida B. Wells
An Educator. An Investigative Journalist. A Founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (which I am a lifetime member). My alma mater, The Jackson State University Department of Political Science gave me the Ida B. Wells Scholastic Achievement Award while attending. Since that day, I have tried my best to live up to that promise and expectation. For her message to shed light on the denial of equal rights was strategic, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. She brought to bear national socioeconomic and political ramifications and implications which we were not ready to grapple with. She held up a mirror to America, made her examine herself, and we are better because of her. America's moral imperative was at stake in the minds of men and women and she aided in creating that conversation.
High Voter Turnout
This 2022 Midterm Election has the potential to be among the highest turnouts in Arkansas state history. When we have high voter turnout, the nation shifts. When we have high voter turnout, a new vision for a more perfect union becomes clearer. When we have high voter turnout, progress flows like a mighty stream. When we have high voter turnout, meaningful reform happens. When we have high voter turnout, we transform from a low-wage economy and high inflation to a surplus-labor and bull economy. When we have high voter turnout, we reshape landscapes and the picture of America shows variation and the beauty of her contrasting colors. When we have high voter turnout, the mantle of power is shared with women. When we have high voter turnout, the constitutional right to equal protection under the law becomes real. When we have high voter turnout, a strong definition of equality is spelled out and made plain.
Women's rights are on the ballot. We must vote with all urgency and intentionality. We have a decision to take Central Arkansas Onward, Forward, Upward, and Outward. Let's make Hathaway the new way come Election Day.
Dr. Quintessa Hathaway
Democratic Nominee
118th United States Congress (2023-2025)
House Of Representatives
Arkansas' Second District (AR-02)
Metropolitan Little Rock, Conway, Saline County, Searcy
