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Thame Belles & Black Lives Matter

 

Breonna, George and Ahmaud  

 

We know their names and short life history because of the ugliness of brutal injustice splashed across our newsfeeds, yet again. . And their stories are just three out of many many more.  “I can’t breathe” has become the signal phrase for so many people who have fallen victim to uncensored brutality. As America foments and tries to come to terms with what these needless deaths mean to their society, conscientious folk - including our own Women’s Institutes – consider how they should change their thinking and attitudes.

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It is easy to close your mind to the violence, anger and outpourings of grief and rage that have appeared on every news channel and newspaper over the past weeks. You turn off the TV, change the channel. Walk away. It is easier still to write that we’re going to be more inclusive, more diverse, sign a few petitions and then everything stays the same.

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Our own freedoms as women in England were equally hard won. Women suffrage crossed and re-crossed the boundaries of acceptable conduct to achieve a semblance of equality and ultimately, the vote for women. 

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Over the coming weeks and probably months, the Belles Committee will look at how and where we should be active - in welcoming more women who represent the breadth and diversity of our society.  Whilst we cannot cure the ills of the world, we should work harder on our agenda of inclusivity, female empowerment and of managing to be apolitical yet shaping the legislature to improve the lot of women from every race, creed and culture.

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Sarah, President

Thame Belles WI

June 2020

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