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Gloria Steinem's Historic Women's March Speech is Exactly What You Need to Hear Right Now

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As one of the co-chairs and keynote speakers at Saturday's Women's March on Washington, Gloria Steinem spoke to an estimated crowd of 500,000 (more than double organizers' original estimations of 200,000), and basically said everything we needed to hear as we enter a four year period of uncertainty.

Steinem began the speech by thanking all of the politicians (*cough* not Trump) and activists who have helped to empower women, giving a shoutouts to Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and the Obamas.

"Now, our great leaders like Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are still with us and remember how much we feared they might not be, and how much threat there was, in fact, on their lives," she said. "And they are with us. And now, our honored Bernie Sanders is still with us. And not only with us but he's focusing on economic justice and achieving free universal college education in my state of New York. And now Hillary Clinton is alive and definitely not in jail."

As she continued, she wasn't afraid to call out the 45th U.S. president, who now poses a major threat to the rights of women, minorities and LGBTQ people.

"I'm not trying to deny the danger that this day initiates," she said. "Trump and his handlers have found a fox for every chicken coop in Washington, and a Twitter finger must not become a trigger finger."

While she acknowledged the terrifying nature of the fact that Trump is now officially the president, she ended the 10 minute speech by reminding the crowd of the power of resistance in numbers - and that the resistance shouldn't just end after today.

"We are linked. We are not ranked. And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together. Each of us individually and collectively will never be the same again. When we elect a possible president we too often go home. We've elected an impossible president, we're never going home. We're staying together. And we're taking over."

The speech was one that will no doubt go down in history as a major moment for female and minority equality - especially considering Steinem's status as a longtime feminist and civil rights icon.

Watch the full speech below - and try to not get chills. We're in this for the next four years together.


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