Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters

Its #matriarchmonday and the last Monday of #Blackhistorymonth so we had to bestow our highlight on Auntie Maxine! Maxine Waters is a political leader who is serving her fifteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing a large part of South Los Angeles on Tongva land. She is also the Co-founder of Black Women's Forum and the Co-Founder of Community Build.

Maxine has gained a reputation as a fearless and outspoken advocate for women, children, and people of color. Recently, Congresswoman Waters voted yes for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act.

From an article in Harpers Bazaar: "Rep. Maxine Waters knows the power of willfulness and self-possession. Currently the longest-serving Black female member of Congress, she has seen how much has changed for Black women and girls in this country and how much has, dispiritingly, stayed the same. But in her leadership and uncompromising drive to speak truth to power during the Trump-era, Rep. Waters provided another avatar for Black women and girls to imagine: the woman with the gavel, the one who decides how to spend her own time."

When asked about responding when someone tells her to stay quiet or to not speak up, she shared, "I come from a huge family. I had 12 brothers and sisters...When you're in a house with 13 kids, you better be outspoken. If you want to make sure that all the dinner's not gone when you come in from your practice, you have to learn to speak up. I've been controversial because of that, because I dare to speak up. But outplaced criticism doesn't bother me. I am outspoken and that's who I am."