Women and the Vote
Special | 56m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Filmed on Election Day 2020, WOMEN AND THE VOTE, reflects on New York’s suffrage legacy.
Filmed on Election Day 2020 in cemeteries across NY state, WOMEN AND THE VOTE is a mosaic on the past 100 years of women's political equality, the present moment, and the future. Interviews with visitors in The Bronx, Sleepy Hollow, Auburn, Rochester, and Buffalo intertwine with rich historical elements to generate connections between New York's suffragist legacy and contemporary voters.
Women and the Vote is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television
Women and the Vote
Special | 56m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Filmed on Election Day 2020 in cemeteries across NY state, WOMEN AND THE VOTE is a mosaic on the past 100 years of women's political equality, the present moment, and the future. Interviews with visitors in The Bronx, Sleepy Hollow, Auburn, Rochester, and Buffalo intertwine with rich historical elements to generate connections between New York's suffragist legacy and contemporary voters.
How to Watch Women and the Vote
Women and the Vote is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
(enchanting music) - [Announcer] This program is funded by the Sea Stone Foundation; Supporting film, art, and creative endeavors that seek to advance justice and transformation.
(upbeat music) (calm music) (leaves rustling) - [John] Well, good morning folks.
John Kucko with you here on the News-8 Facebook page.
Welcome from a chilly Mount Hope Cemetery, here in Rochester, New York.
Temperature at 41 degrees, feels like 35.
A little different from four years ago on election day when it was in the 60s, it was sun splashed and there was a lot of fall color in the backdrop here at the iconic resting place of Susan B. Anthony.
I'm gonna fix this with a...
I didn't bring a hammer.
- Yeah.
- Just give us a minute, okay?
- [Woman] Not a problem at all.
- Sure.
- How does it look?
- It's good, for the moment.
- Four years ago, actually in 2016, we had 10,000 people here.
And the idea of every election day, you would come, and very reverently put a sticker on Susan B. Anthony's stone, became a Rochester tradition.
We as a restoration committee, as part of our organization, we realized that we had to do something to protect the stone, but we also had to preserve this custom.
Thank you so much.
- [Man] You're welcome.
- Thanks so much for coming.
- Thank you.
- Well, what I think is most inspiring about Susan B. Anthony was how she did mobilize people.
She was the general as they say, but really her power was in truly being a leader and getting other people to be energized and excited about the work that was going on.
So I think the same holds true for today.
Every single person can do one small part and collectively those small parts can really make a huge difference to make great strides.
(calm music) - [Woman] Today's a really special day because I hope we're electing the first female vice president of the United States.
(calm music) So I was thinking a lot about that and about the activist women like Stacey Abrams, who helped drive voter registration and voter rights in the South, and the women who fought and fought and fought to give me the right to vote today.
- [Woman] These wonderful women are women who walked these same streets that we walk.
And thank all of you women who went before us, who endured so much.
- I just think there are just a few women who I was taught to think of as having fought fiercely, when people maybe told them that they shouldn't, or they couldn't, that they didn't belong, they had to give up, some things, a lot of things, to try to contribute.
And I didn't have a plan to come out here today, but I knew that Shirley Chisholm was buried here.
I couldn't concentrate today.
I'm supposed to be writing my book.
And I thought, oh, this is, you know, these are difficult and scary times.
And I thought, let me go see where she's buried and just spend a minute thinking about the country and what I hope for it, yeah.
I'm an educator, so I just keep hoping if I can teach students to think critically.
And I'm always struck by how when my students understand history, their first thought is, "Oh, okay, where am I a part of it?"
But it gets them thinking about their own lives and what they have, what people fought for them to have, and what they have to do to keep it.
(pensive music) - I stand before you today, as a candidate for the Democratic nomination, for the presidency of the United States of America.
(audience applauds) I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud.
(audience applauds) I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I'm equally proud of that.
(audience applauds) I am the candidate of the people of America.
(audience applauds) Give me your help at this hour, join me in an effort to reshape our society and regain control of our destiny as we go down the Chisholm trail for 1972.
(audience applauds) - Well, I think my whole life I've been kind of a follower and not a leader.
And it took me till probably my 50s or 60s to find a voice for myself, to speak up for women, and to understand that I do have a voice.
So I guess I was a slow learner.
- I feel like the loudest voices are heard and you have to decide where you wanna be the loudest, because not everybody's gonna listen.
So, you know, in Washington, my specific voice might not be heard, but in my little village it's gonna be heard, and it's a good place to start.
You just move up slowly.
- My sentiments exactly.
- I still think that there's inequity in terms of whose voices get through and how people's voices are discounted.
And I think that's part of the problem, that, you know, this whole liberals versus whatever the right is, you know?
That people pigeonhole each other quickly into oversimplified camps, you know, labels, and that prevents people from hearing each other.
- Well, I think we have to let go of some fantasies about the United States.
I think we have to understand that we use language and we're not always precise about what it means.
We can't pretend that it's just hard work, right?
That's what we're all told; If you work hard then you'll be successful, and that success is the by-product of hard work.
I would want us to understand that we have to think about whose hard work and where your hard work takes you.
If you have what you need, your hard work takes you further, and we have to understand that.
There are other histories that need attention, so I just wanted to come here and pay some homage to that.
(pensive music) - [Woman] Votes For Women Symposium speech 1915; "It should not be necessary to struggle for ever against popular prejudice.
And with us as colored women, this struggle becomes twofold; First because we are women, and second, because we are colored women.
Although some resistance is experienced in portions of our country against the ballot for women, because colored women will be included, I firmly believe that enlightened men are now numerous enough everywhere to encourage this just privilege of the ballot for women, ignoring prejudice of all kinds."
- [Woman] I voted last week, early voting in person.
- [Woman] My sister and I voted, early voting on Tuesday, last week.
- [Woman] I voted early.
I stood in line for over an hour and a half to vote.
Should I put my name by yours?
Do you have the top?
- I do.
I voted early by absentee in this election, and I delivered my absentee ballot to the early election place.
This feels very emotional to be here today, especially on election day, and in a time of such incredible upheaval and chaos in our country, is the way I see it.
Certainly how Harriet Tubman lived her life and had to live her life in the struggles of that time.
So to look to her for guidance, and that gets very emotional.
I am the first and only woman to have run for elected office as mayor here in Auburn, and won that election 20 years ago.
So to be here on election day is again an opportunity to celebrate her leadership and her dedication to freedom and peace.
- Tears are right at the surface.
It's meaningful to be here and to be able to do something symbolic like this.
But there are a lot of worries in the world and moments like this just bring them all to the surface, and I'm grateful, and I'm also very nervous today.
We came here, um... - We came here in the 2016 election.
- Yup.
We left our last voting stickers here with Susan B. Anthony.
And we decided that from here on out, every time we vote we're gonna do this.
- Since then we had two daughters.
- Yup, since then we had two daughters.
- The significance of Susan B. Anthony is something that I think is pretty special to be able to come and celebrate every year with these two.
- So the reason that we came out today is that it's a historic moment.
I mean, we might get our first woman, African-American woman at the same time as vice-president, and it's a big deal.
And I think that Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas would be just really proud that their work had led to this moment today.
And without them, you know, Kamala Harris stands on both of their shoulders as a African-American and as a woman, so it's a big deal.
And so I'm glad that the kids got to see both of their graves today, and, you know, just get a chance to say thank you.
- To be here today, and to be here with my wife, who's a Black woman who is running for office, I feel like she's standing in the legacies left by both of those really iconic individuals.
So it's a really proud moment.
(calm music) - I mentioned to some people that I was gonna come over to Woodlawn Cemetery on election day, and they were like, "Why?
Why are you headed over there?"
And I mentioned about all of the women suffragettes that were buried here, and all of the wonderful history that's here, and then they start to understand.
And so I feel very strongly about not forgetting who fought for the right to vote for women.
I feel very strongly about not forgetting the history and the struggles that are still happening today.
And to be here today and learn about these different historical women, and the different figures, and some of the men who were also advocates for women voting.
I think it's important to show it's an ongoing process.
And if we stop paying attention, you know, we don't wanna ever go backwards.
- Up until the last three years voting didn't mean a lot to me.
I kind of always figured it as another blue vote in a blue state and that my vote didn't really matter whether I got there or not.
But these past few years have made me realize that voting is a right and a privilege that you have to fight for, because what goes on in our country right now, I don't know what rights will be there in the future.
So here I am today to make it matter and make it count, and make it loud.
Well, I love gilded age history.
I come here a lot just to look at the history of the cemetery.
And until recently I never knew that Alva was a suffragette.
I always knew she was a gilded age socialite.
I heard all about her parties and her homes in Newport, but her suffragette history is kind of just thrown on the wayside.
And I wanted to come here today to visit her and honor that.
(pensive music) - [Woman] Letter to the editor, the New York Times.
July 7th, 1917.
"So many letters from eager and intelligent men and women have come to me inquiring as to the purpose of suffrage picketing, that I feel it is due those seeking information to be told of the great motive, animating the suffrage sentinels to their duty.
I hope therefore that you will make public this letter, which perhaps in part answers the questions asked.
Few people realize perhaps that picketing is just an advanced form of demonstration, which the women are forced to make in order to call the attention of a resisting government and an indifferent mass of people.
The claim of women, now of all times, to participate in the government on equal terms with men.
Every new form of appeal which women have with great resourcefulness, been forced to use has been condemned by the unthinking and the conservative.
It was so with processions, beautiful as they were, it was so with street meetings, necessary as they were, it has been so with deputations, conventions, lobbying, automobile and steam car tours of suffragists, and now, and we hope lastly, the necessary picketing and unjust imprisonment of the silent sentinels who so courageously plead for the enfranchisement of women."
- Women still earn less than men.
Women are still underrepresented in Congress.
They're underrepresented on the Buffalo Common Council.
They're not represented at all in the Buffalo Common Council.
So they're underrepresented in elected office, they're underrepresented in institutional leadership, the things that drive power in this country.
And so are people of color, frankly.
And so until we have that representation, I don't think that we'll see equity.
But no, I don't believe there's equity between women and men right now.
- Is there equal representation?
No.
If we're 50% of the population then 50% of our representatives should also be women.
And I like what Ruth Bader Ginsburg said about, you know, no one ever questioned having nine men on the Supreme Court, so why not have nine women on the Supreme Court, you know?
I'm not sure what equality looks like exactly, but I think having more women in office is better.
- In terms of women and equality in politics, I think the makeup of our Congress speaks for itself.
We might have more women in there than ever, but they are treated harshly, their outfits are criticized, the way they speak is criticized, if they pose for Vanity Fair or Vogue they're criticized.
And I don't think a male representative, or a male Senator would ever receive that same critical lens.
- Civic engagement isn't just on election day, right?
We need to keep talking about the issues and keep paying attention to what our politicians are doing.
We talk about a lot; We talk about issues, we talk about fairness, we talk about who we want to lead us and who we want to make things better, right?
'Cause we know making our country better and making our programs, and schools, and our communities better is an ongoing process.
- I'm excited that we get to vote, and I hope that who we voted for is going to be President.
- First person I voted for was, Bill Clinton.
- I think 76 was the first year that I voted, and I truly can't remember who I voted for.
I had a lot going on in 76.
- I'm ashamed to say that my first vote was in 2008 for the midterm elections, and this is my first presidential election I've ever voted in.
- I voted for the first time today, a couple of hours ago.
- My first presidential election was 1980.
I didn't vote for the guy who won.
(enchanting music) ♪ This is the day ♪ For the national jubilee (indistinct singing) - Good.
(indistinct chatter) - Hi ladies.
How are you?
You want a picture with Miss Anthony?
Sure.
- Like a selfie kind of thing?
- [Woman] We are here to see you?
- [Woman] Aw, that's so nice.
Hello.
- We got you some water.
- And a birthday gift.
- It's a happy birthday gift.
It's a pearl necklace for RBG.
Sonia made it for you.
- Oh, of course.
- [Woman] B. Anthony taught my school at Canajoharie.
- Oh, how wonderful.
Thank you for coming.
- You're welcome.
- Freezing weather and a walker.
This is why women are always getting it done.
- Exactly.
- Look at you, little dude.
Come here.
(indistinct) then we'll have my picture with mom.
I know we're not supposed to be quite so close, but we just have to do this.
- [Woman] One, two, three, (indistinct).
(woman laughing) - Thank you for coming.
- [Woman] Thank you.
- [Man] Give one take one, right?
- The opportunity to participate in shaping a nation and to say thank you to Susan B. Anthony and women like her.
So many who as pioneers, when this country was just a few decades old, had a vision that we really could become a nation of the people, by the people, for the people.
So it's a pilgrimage to say, thank you.
If we're okay, if we're feeling safe, if you guys feel safe.
- [Man 2] Oh yeah, absolutely.
- I'll go ahead and do this, all right?
We're looking into history, and what we discover is this reflection of what we've been doing well and what we've been doing terribly for years.
And so history is today, human beings repeat the same problems, especially if we're not willing to look honestly at history.
Either we're gonna become the nation that declaration of independence hinted about, even though we know they didn't really intend to include everybody, or we could become something else.
- [Woman] How wonderful, I'm so glad.
- So I actually wore my RBG t-shirt underneath this today, speaking of the women, and of course having just lost, you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg this year recently, and the power from one multi-generation generation up to that moment, and who's gonna take the gauntlet next, you know?
Her seven granddaughters, my two granddaughters, we're counting on all these women to step in these same footsteps of these two great women.
- Yeah.
(pensive music) - Leslie's weekly, March 3rd, 1900.
"From the cradle, the children of the manly woman and womanly man of the 20th century will be trained in the principles of good government.
They will be taught that might is not right, either in the home or at the state.
That arbitration rather than human slaughter should settle all international difficulties, precisely as an individual should appeal to the justice of the courts, instead of resorting to a brutal attack upon enemy.
And that the disfranchisement of one half the people is a relic of barbarism not to be tolerated.
I may not be here to witness the full fruition of this balancing of the sexes, but already we see the promise of its coming and future generations will reap its blessings."
- If I were to ask Susan B. Anthony, whether we had equality today, I think that she would recognize the progress that's been made, but she certainly would still be fighting for more.
I think she would understand that although on the surface of things we all have the right to vote, there are obstacles that have been intentionally put in many people's way to exercise that right to vote.
And she would not be silent on that fact.
I have to believe.
(indistinct) - Susan B. Anthony was definitely a fighter and she would not have stopped where we are today, she would have kept going until she couldn't anymore, which is exactly what she did until she died.
- Even today, I was already hearing people spin what this election is about.
And I wish we didn't do that.
I heard somebody say that this election is about the pandemic, this election is not about the pandemic.
2020 has been impacted and we've been impacted about the pandemic, but this election is about something much broader and much deeper.
It is about that question about the social contract, what freedoms am I willing to give up, and for whom?
As we've been dealing with issues, George Floyd, or in Rochester, Daniel Prude, the whole question about, do we have a military police or do we have a society where we have public safety?
How do we address this?
I hope that we're not gonna get confused about maybe something that got somebody out to vote, or something that got people interested or critiquing the leadership had to do with how we're handling the pandemic.
But this election is about so much more than that.
It's really about a place at the table.
- [Woman] Good afternoon, how are you?
- I'm all right.
- [Woman] Good, thank you.
- [Lt Gov Kathy Hochul] Whether or not you care about issues, like how do you think they're gonna get resolved?
How do you think we're gonna make things better for your family and your community, and for yourself?
I wanted to come here just to be at the grave site and to honor her on election day with putting my sticker that I voted on her grave site.
It's something I've been doing for many years.
- [Woman] Thank you, Lieutenant governor, for being here.
- Good seeing everybody.
- [Woman] You too.
- Happy election day!
- [Woman] Yes.
(calm music) - So there's a lot of markers and reminders around our state about these people from past generations.
Harriet Tubman, I've been to her homestead, her grave site, not far from here as well.
People recognize her more as being a conductor on the underground railroad, freeing slaves, but she was also a suffragette.
(calm music) We celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote.
100 years from now, what will the people of the future say out the women of our time and the men of our time?
What did we accomplish that could compare to what these other individuals who were so brave, so audacious, they went against the tides of their time, they went against their churches, their families, their communities.
They marched on Washington in the 1800s and early 1900s, what are we doing in comparison?
How have we moved the marker forward for women to have more equality and more rights?
And I put that burden of guilt on everybody.
How will we be judged by people of the future, and will we be satisfied with that?
We have a lot more to do to fight for women's true equality, and we're not finished.
(calm music) - [Woman] The idea that there's like one moment when everybody got to a particular finish line at the same time.
And the truth is that's not how history has worked, and if we can just work harder so that we can maybe all get to some finish lines closer together.
(calm music) - [Woman] It's just inspirational when you learn about all the history of what the women from this area did for the women of this country.
And when we learned about it, we thought we have to be here.
We absolutely have to be here.
(calm music) (leaves rustling) - The New York Times, November 14th, 1920.
"The League of Women voters is nonpartisan.
Some of us belong to one political party some of us to another, It is not a tail to any political kite.
The League cannot endorse candidates as an organization and therefore cannot throw the weight of its organization to one or the other side in the campaign.
It believes that education is the cure for bad government, not the election of one or another group to office this year or next."
- Today as we speak, on November 3rd, a record number of women are running for office all across this country.
To be here on election day in support of women in leadership positions, especially in government, is quite important.
- Voting is probably the most important right that we have as individuals living in this country.
It is the one way that we can make our values and our voice heard, it is how we hold our leaders accountable to live out the will of people, and it's one of the most basic rights.
And unfortunately, it's something that has been attacked a lot of times in our country; Of rolling back voting rights, suppressing people's voices, which really just shows you how important it is.
- The vote is worth just as much as that billionaire CEO's vote, just as much, today.
I may not be worth as much tomorrow or when it comes to my ability to influence other things in our government, but today my influence is equal.
When I vote my influence is equal.
- It's a way for me to make a statement, it's a way for me to be involved.
It also makes me accountable, you know?
I need to know who I'm voting for, and I would like to see more of that.
I'd like to know a lot more about the positions and the ideas that the people I'm electing believe in.
I don't care about the political party at all.
- I vote because people like Daniel Prude, people like George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, they can't vote today.
So I'm voting for them.
- We got a line foreman behind us, so let's get going here.
This is Susan and that's Mary.
- Be a little more respectful.
I'm a relative of Susan B.
- Really?
Wow.
- That's so cool.
- Today's my 99th birthday, that's been my goal to... (people cheer) - [Woman] Well, we'll be back next year.
- I got one of the one these thingamajigs in my pocket.
- What thing?
You wanna put it on?
Anywhere there.
- I'll put it right on the top.
- [Woman] Okay.
Do it slowly.
- [Interviewer] What's your hope for the outcome of this election?
What do you wanna see happen?
- Oh my goodness, some peace and tranquility.
And that my money will last until I (indistinct) Healthcare is so expensive, so I just I'm hoping and praying that I won't have a long-term illness that will deplete all my savings.
- [Woman] I got my RBG mask on.
You'll leave your mask on.
Put your hand up here.
- [Interviewer] We'll take it on three, ready?
One, two, three.
- [Man] Keep it right up.
That's awesome, perfect.
- Do you think I could do one without my mask?
- Yeah, you can do one without your mask, I'm not the health department, I'm not telling anybody.
Hi, how are you?
Do you need help with photos?
You guys good?
- It'd be amazing.
- [Man] I'd be glad to, fantastic.
Yeah, let's get an action shot facing the flowers.
I can kind of do this and I'll come here, so that way the light's not... - Oh perfect.
Here girls.
Come on this side and put your flower down.
Okay.
You got it, El?
- [Man] Now make sure you're looking.
- No, it's okay.
- [Man] Okay.
- Put it down.
- [Woman] Good girl.
- [Man] You wanna do a group shot behind you?
- Please.
- [Man] Got it.
Perfect.
- I've lived in Rochester my whole life.
This is my first time ever up here.
(indistinct chatter) - [Woman] How are you?
- [Man] I'm very well, you all ready to go?
Fantastic, so we're gonna do an action shot.
All right, you wanna put your sticker on, and I'll get a picture of that and then we'll get a group shot, how's that?
There we go.
- Okay.
- Okay, let's just make sure I get a good one here.
- [Woman] Can I see the photos?
- [Woman] Yeah.
(calm music) - The Woman's Suffrage Address before the Woman's Suffrage Association, April, 1888.
"There are a few facts in my humble history to which I look back with more satisfaction than to the fact recorded at the history of the women's suffrage movement, that I was sufficiently enlightened at that early day, and when only a few years from slavery to support your resolution for women's suffrage.
I have done very little in this world in which to glory, except this one act.
And I certainly glory in that.
When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself.
When I advocated emancipation, it was for my people.
But when I stood up for the rights of women, self was out of the question and I found a little nobility in that act."
- I think we come together by talking about the values that bond us, and by speaking truth to power, and by treating people... You know, I go back to this, by treating people equally.
Equally, regardless of race, equally, regardless of if you live in a city, a suburb, or a rural area.
That's what our country stands for.
And that's what it should stand for.
And I do believe that more people in the US believe in that.
- We all have Republicans and Democrats in our family.
We have people on multiple sides of issues.
But the one thing that we can all agree on is that we wanna have a safe community.
We all want to be able to raise our families and protect, and love, and care for the people who are vulnerable.
And we can all agree on those things as human beings, then we can come together and overcome division.
- This is the first election I ever thought that we would be hearing on TV, that police forces were out waiting for things to happen at polling places.
A new fence went up around the White House, it's scary.
Sort of depressing too.
- Even here in Buffalo, you know, they cracked a man's head open because he was standing up for each other.
Standing up for each other, as I said, has got to be the way we go and more of us should do it.
And if more of us do it, as more of us do it, I think it will get harder and harder for people to push back against.
- I don't really understand when I try to talk to people and their position is so solid that there is no room for movement.
There's no room for compromise.
Then it becomes very difficult to talk, you know?
And so people that disagree have to learn how to try to understand the other person's point of view.
- These are tough questions.
I don't know.
I don't know where it is from here, to be honest.
I don't think we've been here before.
This is new territory, so.
But not to be rude, but I think the media is not helping right now.
I think if the media started being less divisive and less confrontational, or if people stopped watching the news as much and started talking to their friends and neighbors, it would help.
- It's been a long four years, but a short four years.
And knowing that, that without this kind of a struggle, there is no progress.
So there must be progress because, man, does it hurt?
So kind of Frederick Douglas's words that are on my school, are a really good reminder that.
Things are working because it feels painful sometimes.
- This is a time of great division in our country.
On some level, I think it's not any different from any other time.
There's always difference of opinion.
And I think that there still is the opportunity, and exists every day, for a peaceful coexistence, even those of us that have disparate views from one another.
- Hmm, things that people could do.
Be kind for one, I don't think there's enough kindness in this world.
We're going through, you know, we're slowly tiptoeing out of a pandemic, and I think people need to understand that we are all human.
We all have feelings and to just be kind to one another, just walking down the street, smiling, waving at someone and saying hi, could go so much further than anything.
- I was thinking about this this morning before we came over.
About what it is that's the most important thing about this election.
And it's to get decency and humanity and civility and respect.
It's not that I don't care what the issues are, certainly I do, I don't mean to minimize that, but that to me is probably the most important thing.
Because that governs everything else.
Everything else is governed by that kind of an attitude, when you're compassionate and inclusive, and caring about each other, every decision that's made is made out of that space.
- Anyone can be a modern day suffragist.
Anyone can stand up and say that I believe in everyone's right to vote, and I wanna make sure I protect it.
It can be poll workers, poll watchers, they can be advocates, they can be activists, they can register people to vote, register their neighbors to vote, text their friends, call their friends.
I mean, to me, this is about making sure that everyone is able to vote legally, but also that we make it easier for them.
And I think that there's a lot that we can do in New York state to make it easier to vote.
- [Interviewer] Do you think you could do be president?
- I said to my mother a few years ago, I wanna be the first woman president.
And she said, "I hope there's a woman president before that."
- [Interviewer] So when you wake up tomorrow what do you hope it will be?
- I hope that everything will be equal and that the president who is president elect tomorrow, if it's President Trump or Mr. Biden, I think that both of them could do good things.
But I would really like there to be a woman president 'cause I think women are very powerful.
(pensive music) - It's been up for two weeks and we're so grateful to all of the people that have come here with such intensity and put their stickers on Susan and Mary's graves.
However, this grave site belongs to the Anthony family, and at this point it's our obligation in respect to them to put it back to the way they had it, okay?
So why don't we take these off, and I've got a box over here for the flowers.
And I'll get the box.
Thank you so much for coming.
(people clapping) (calm music) - [Senator Brouk] I Samra Brouk.
- [Woman] Do solemnly swear.
- [Senator Brouk] Do solemnly swear.
- [Woman] To faithfully discharge the duties.
- [Senator Brouk] To faithfully discharge the duties.
- [Woman] Of a member of the New York State Senate.
- [Gov Kathy Hochul] That I will support the constitution of the State of New York.
- [Woman] And that I will faithfully discharge my duties.
- [Gov Hochul] That I will faithfully discharge my duties.
- [Woman] Of the office of Governor of the State of New York.
- [Gov Hochul] Of the office of Governor of the state New York.
- [Woman] To the best of my ability.
- [Gov Hochul] To the best of my ability.
- [VP Harris] That I will well and faithfully discharge.
- [Justice Sotomayor] The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
- [VP Harris] The duties of the office upon which I am about to enter.
- [Justice Sotomayor] So help me God.
- [VP Harris] So help me God.
- [Man] All right.
(people cheering) (bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] This program is funded by by the Sea Stone Foundation; Supporting film, art, and creative endeavors that seek to advance justice and transformation.
(enchanting music) (theme music)
Women and the Vote is presented by your local public television station.
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