I watched a PBS documentary about the fascinating late Congresswoman from New York, Bella Abzug yesterday.

I am Feeling Emotions about it.

First… Why did I never hear of her before? She fought for so much shit for women and AFAB people, like for them to be able to have their own FUCKING credit, for them to be able to be legally addressed as Ms., thereby freeing them to not be addressed relative to their marital status, and introduced the VERY FIRST nondiscrimination bill for LGBTQ+ people in the workplace.

Before that, she was a lawyer who made a name for herself attempting to appeal a conviction for a Black man accused of rape, even going so far as to write to the President at the time. It unfortunately was unsuccessful, but women at the time DIDN’T GO TO LAW SCHOOL and didn’t FUCKING DO THAT SHIT.

She fought for EVERYONE. SHE BELIEVED THAT NOBODY IS FREE UNTIL EVERYONE WAS FREE, and I believe that, too.

She was, unfortunately, a Zionist, but the documentary addressed that she had conflicting feelings about that, even back in the ’70s, because Israel was doing fucked shit aided and abetted by the States and toeing too close to the Holocaust for her taste, but she was Jewish and believed strongly in a homeland for her people. So I don’t know how to reconcile that part of her life, and it seems that neither did she.

She had a husband who deeply loved and supported her. She had two kids with him and still did all this. And everything I’ve mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg.

What a complicated, fierce, and important lady. She was also famous for her hats!

-Allēna