The Statue of Liberty was literally throwing shade last night

Late Tuesday night, the lights illuminating the Statue of Liberty went out for more than two hours, immediately sparking widespread speculation that it was an act in solidarity with today's A Day Without Women strike for International Women's Day, or in protest of the recent reconfiguration of the United States' immigration policies. The National Parks Service poo-pooed these claims, though, stating that the statue's temporary darkness was "likely" due to a new emergency generator and other recovery project work that's being done on the monument as a result of Hurricane Sandy. 

Some lights on the Statue were temporarily off tonight. Likely related to new emergency generator/Hurricane Sandy recovery project work.

— Statue of Liberty NM (@StatueEllisNPS) March 8, 2017

Whether or not it was an orchestrated statement, the symbolism is way too strong here. Today's strike and series of protests aim to shine a light on the stark disparity in rights and opportunities for women and gender non-conforming people across the country. The current state of politics in America has only lit a fire under conversations about reproductive rights, the gender wage gap and a medley of other inequities that are pretty infuriating when you remember that it's 2017. 

The outage may have been an "accident" or a "whoopsi-daisy" by an engineer, but one would be hard-pressed to come up with a more timely metaphor for a day of solidarity and action. I mean, Lady Liberty was literally throwing shade.