Update: A friend of the family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with this baby feminist's medical bills.
Is there anything that sends a glimmer of hope into our weary, jaded hearts quite like a tale of a tiny tot being feminist AF? The latest in our pint-sized would-be girl gang is this preemie baby in her cranial helmet that reads "Nevertheless, she persisted."
Her mom, Lori, posted the photo to no-longer-secret Facebook group Pantsuit Nation this week. The quote, of course, is part of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's "explanation" of his attempt to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she read a letter from Coretta Scott King that criticized Sen. Jeff Session's history of racism.
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Afterwards, the quote became a feminist mantra for many — and Lori found it a fitting battle cry for her daughter's own struggle.
“My little girl was born with some health issues that resulted in some pretty intense interventions that ended up saving her,” Lori wrote on Facebook. “We were told by the doctors some pretty scary news...we were given an explanation of what to expect but nevertheless, despite the rollercoaster, she persisted.”
“I watched Senator Warren as she was trying to read the letter from Mrs. King," Lori told The Huffington Post. "I saw the look of shock as they tried to silence her and her disbelief that they wouldn’t let her read the letter regarding Sessions. I was in shock myself...So let’s take what he said and empower ourselves with it. Let’s make it a phrase for every female that keeps pushing ahead despite obstacles.”
Lori's daughter was born six weeks early due to a blood incompatibility. “Her bilirubin was so high that she turned green," Lori explained to HuffPost. "Her skin was literally green like the Statue of Liberty, and it stayed like that for months."
The baby girl was kept in the NICU for weeks. Now healthy, she nevertheless suffers from plagiocephaly and brachycephaly — a.k.a. a somewhat misshapen head. Hence the super chic helmet, decorated by Mom.
"It hit me: We were told bad news by the doctors, we were given an explanation of what could happen, but look at this little girl!" Lori says. "Nevertheless she persisted, just like all NICU babies who fight and all strong women, too.”
Elizabeth Warren would be proud.