Keep Marching with Suffs

Image: The marquee sign for the Music Box
theater advertising Suffs the musical against
a brilliant blue sky

The day after a massively disappointing Election Day, a mom-activist I know asked her followers, “What song are you listening to on repeat right now?” I replied, in honesty, Christopher Cross’ “Never Be the Same,” which is a terrible answer. Thankfully, something far more meaningful and inspirational quickly replaced the inane yacht rock tune: “Keep Marching” from the Broadway musical Suffs. I’m still singing it today.

I hadn’t heard of Suffs until another activist at an election postcard writing event raved about it. Suffs a musical about Alice Paul and the American suffragists working with her from the period around the 1920s up to passing the 19th Amendment, with a quick jump to the 1970s. I’m not a NY Times culture reporter like my niece, so I’m never going to describe the show in a way that does it justice at all!

Image: Cindy in front of the Music
Box theater wearing a "Keep
Marching" sash

I will only describe the result when I was lucky enough to see it in New York City two weeks ago. A packed audience full of women and a handful of men (including my husband) left the theater in tears from the emotional release of watching women failing and succeeding and failing and getting up again as they advocated with their bodies on the line. Two hours of laughter and tears culminated in the finale sung directly to us and I left smiling and crying, lifted by their inspiration. It was called, "Keep Marching."

The thought of our advocacy battles lasting so long that we may never know if we fail or prevail is wrenching to me. And yes, sometimes the gains feel too small and the losses too large. But I felt the cast was singing directly to me with the lyrics: 

"We did not end injustice and neither will you

but we made great strides and we know you will, too.

Make peace with your incomplete power and use it for good 

'cuz there's so much to do."

Image: My Suffs show poster
signed by some of the cast.

It brings me comfort and inspiration in the same way as Dr. Martin Luther King's words: "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

This would have been an incredible show to see after voting our first female president into power. But it was even more needed after watching fellow Americans put Trump in office a second time and re-elect Missouri lawmakers who consistently work to strip away human rights and protections against gun violence. It seemed for a moment like it was an inevitable part of a history book, that we would put Kamala Harris in the oval office and help her bend the arc toward justice. I was swept up in it, too, and needed to hear the Suffs tell me, "Progress is possible, not guaranteed, it can only be made if we keep marching on."

We activists of this decade can now empathize deeply with the suffragists who experienced the thrilling win of the right to vote and the failure of the equal rights amendment. Some of them didn't live long enough to even see those things. I needed to be reminded that I am a part of a very, very long story. The show felt like a giant empathetic wake up call with women of the past holding us like mothers rocking children, saying, "We know, we know, we know...keep going, baby."

I’m going to leave a link to the cast singing it right at a Broadway event for Kamala Harris here. Here are the lyrics by Shaina Taub with no further comment except…keep marching.

Keep Marching

I won’t live to see the future that I fight for
Maybe no one gets to reach that perfect day
If the work is never over
Then how do you keep marching anyway?
Do you carry your banner as far as you can?
Rewriting the world with your imperfect pen?
‘Til the next stubborn girl picks it up in a picket line over and over again?
And you join in the chorus of centuries chanting to her

The path will be twisted and risky and slow
But keep marching, keep marching
Will you fail or prevail? Well, you may never know
But keep marching, keep marching
‘Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need
That progress is possible, not guaranteed
It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on

Keep marching on
Keep marching on

And remember every mother that you came from
Learned as much from our success as our mistakes
Don’t forget you’re merely one of many others
On the journey every generation makes
We did not end injustice and neither will you
But still, we made strides, so we know you can too
Make peace with our incomplete power and use it for good
‘Cause there’s so much to do

The gains will feel small and the losses too large
Keep marching, keep marching
You’ll rarely agree with whoever’s in charge
Keep marching, keep marching
‘Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need
That progress is possible, not guaranteed
It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on

Keep marching on

Yes, the world can be changed, ‘cause we’ve done it before
So keep marching, keep marching
We’re always behind you, so bang down the door
And keep marching, keep marching
And let history sound the alarm of how
The future demands that we fight for it now
It will only be ours if we keep marching, keep marching on

We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
Come on, keep marching, marching, marching
Keep marching on

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!