‘Keep the courage, keep the sisterhood up’
Core committee member of the Women’s March of New Jersey, Loretta Winters, tells how she celebrates International Women’s Day, every day.
Loretta Winters is a product of a Filipino mother and an African American father. Growing up in a culturally diverse family, she said she embraced it, enjoyed it and learned from it.
“It’s strange times for women right now. We have to keep the courage, we have to keep the sisterhood up; we’re under attack,” said Winters, president of New Jersey Gloucester County NAACP, Deptford Township School District registrar and Williamstown resident. “Many were beaten and killed to have the rights that we have today, and we don’t have to go through that now. The struggle now is in the courts more than it is in the fields. We can’t take anything for granted.”
Winters was a core committee member for the Women’s March of New Jersey, which hosted more than 7,500 women in Trenton. She is also coordinating The Phenomenal Woman Empowerment Conference, an all-day conference with workshops on leadership, human trafficking, domestic violence and education for women, in Williamstown this May.
“One of my goals is to make Gloucester County the premiere county of what diversity is in America, and how we all can get along without feeling it’s an intrusion, or that someone is better than someone else,” Winters said.
Through the NAACP, Winters has worked closely with police chiefs, prosecutors and superintendents across the county. Within the past two years, she said, through a recruitment initiative, diversity among police departments in the county has increased 14 percent.
“In our [NAACP] mission statement, it uses the word ‘all;’ a community of all. We fight for all civil rights,” Winters said. “I’m from a community in Gloucester County, and I’ve been blessed to be here because the leadership here understands that.”
Winters is a wife, a mother of seven with three boys and four girls, and has 14 grandchildren. She said as her children grew up, quality time was sometimes spent at meetings, teaching them to use their voice and get involved with the issues they are passionate about.
“My daughters are very much involved in the women’s movement and NAACP. The men in our household are the same way; they advocate for women, civil rights, and they do it in a positive way. I’m most proud of that,” Winters said. “You plant those seeds and let them grow.”
International Women’s Day focuses on “unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action,” on both a local level and global scale. According to Winters, these terms are a movement.
“You have to be energized about what you’re advocating for, be organized, get people together and then strategize. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Then, mobilize your plan; put boots to the ground. Once it’s done, you can celebrate, but it doesn’t stop there. It’s something that’s constantly moving; it’s like water — if it stops, it gets stale,” Winters said. “Whatever your passion is, you can’t lay down. You still have to maintain it and make sure your rights aren’t taken away later.”
Winter’s advice on fighting for your beliefs is to continually advocate, support one another, speak up and stand up when faced with injustice, and exercise the right to vote.
Women in Gloucester County believe education, advocacy and determination is how women can make a difference globally and locally this International Women’s Day — and beyond. Hear more empowered voices from women in Gloucester County here.
