A group of women lawmakers made a silent protest during President Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. The Democratic congresswomen dressed in white as an emblem of support for their definition of “women’s rights” — abortion, equal pay and the like. The protest is seen as a form or resistance to Trump’s presidency and presumably a nod to the women’s suffrage movement, which urged women to dress in white as a symbol of purity.
But it also calls to mind a contemporary women’s movement in which female followers don white as a sign of protest. The Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) are a group of wives, mothers and other female relatives of jailed dissidents in Cuba. Since 2003, they have attended Catholic mass each Sunday morning wearing white clothes then marched through the streets of Havana, usually silently. They wear white as a sign of peace. And many of the women wear buttons bearing a photo of their imprisoned loved one and the number of years he’s been sentenced to serve. The Ladies have won several international human rights awards for their courage and witness.
This simple protest has attracted violent pushback from Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Ladies have been beaten, jailed and harassed by state police and civilians who support the government. Just last Sunday, more than 50 members of the Ladies in White were arrested and prevented from making their peaceful demonstration.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
