I am not a pussy-hat wearer, a snarky sign-maker, a shouter of chants or a rabble-rouser. I admire the power of a “Nasty Woman;” I don’t identify with being an Angry Bitch despite agreeing with most of the platforms they’re fighting for (and I know Angry Bitches get shit done). I appreciate these things, but they are not me. I despise our current president; though I may snigger at the tome of insults expressed towards him, I don’t feel they are particularly constructive. I am an introvert and dislike crowds. So why did I attend the Women’s March on Washington? I wanted to gain strength from a shared experience with folks who are ready to take action. I wanted to hear speeches from an array of inspiring activists. I wanted to be present for an important moment in history and to get out of my comfort zone. I am one of many who must heed the calls of “don’t let this be the end” and “stay involved.” Here is a rundown of my experience. I welcome feedback from those who were there, those who wished they were there but couldn’t be, and those who don’t understand what the point of all this was (though if the latter describes you, I’d request that you read this fully before chiming in).
As expected, Metro was packed to the gills but we made it in pretty much on schedule. Yay for buying cards in advance. Big props to Metro police – they seemed to be doing a great job of keeping everything moving and orderly. The march truly started for us at the New Carrollton station – people were Ready To Go!
rob and I got to the rally site around 9:15am. The “pre-rally” speeches didn’t seem to be happening (just sound checks and trying to make the jumbotrons work) so we just tried to figure out the best place to be. Ended up about a block in front of the stage, behind the porta-potties on the right side. Kind of isolated from the main crowd (not necessarily a bad thing) but we could see a jumbotron. As time went on people pressed together tighter and tighter. Eventually we were really sardined in there. Except for one small incident with a person who was probably overwhelmed by the crush of bodies, everybody was extremely considerate – apologizing when they had to cut through the crowd, making way when needed, yielding to moms with strollers, folks with wheelchairs/walkers, older folks in general (quite a lot of 60+ people attending, I thought). I think coming in at the metro station we did (Federal Center) and being a little bit early enabled us to be actually somewhat close to the rally proper. I know many of you were not able to, but it sounds like it was still worth being there if that was the case.
If you read the organizers’ platform, you know that there were many, many causes, issues and viewpoints that were represented in this event. The breadth and diversity were just amazing. Black, White, Native, Latinx, Asian-American, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Lesbian, and Trans women gave incredible speeches. And some men too. š We heard from not just “women’s issues” groups about reproductive freedom, access to health care, equal pay, LGBTQIA rights, sexual assault & domestic violence, but also: environmental causes, clean water (big presence for Flint and Standing Rock), Black Lives Matter and other racial justice groups, criminal justice & prison reform, education, immigration reform & DACA, civic involvement in general, and more. Kamala Harris had a good point that these are ALL “women’s issues.”
On the one hand, taking in all that information over the course of 5 hours (standing in one spot!) was overwhelming. People may say they were trying to tackle too much. But it showed just how many things we have to fight for and must fight for. There had been a lot of criticism beforehand of the event not being inclusive enough of all perspectives in the feminist movement. There is a lot of infighting in the movement and distrust of white feminism that I don’t have the clearest grasp of, but I am trying to remain open to and aware of all the voices that are needing to be heard.
Despite [what I thought was] an incredible diversity in the speakers at the rally, my overall impression of the march attendees was that it was overwhelmingly white, upper-middle class. I was kind of expecting that. But hopefully all us white folks got a lot of new names to follow; a lot of information about perspectives that are not our own. There are some incredible organizers in these movements and they are passionate and articulate. Here is a list of the speakers from the march website – I’m pretty sure there were quite a few more that happened at the actual event.
https://www.womensmarch.com/speaker… . I am following many of these people on Twitter now to keep in the loop on what they’re doing.
The scheduled 3-hour rally went into 5+ hours. After the 3rd hour, folks were clearly getting overwhelmed, tired, and ready to move. I was feeling it too but dug in for the whole thing. These people dedicated their lives for the last 3 months to organizing this and I wanted to pay respect to all of the people coming across that stage. This really needed to be a weekend (at least) summit though, with all of the music as well. It was a lot for people to take in and I think some steam was lost towards the end. Still, I give huge credit to the organizers for pulling this all off. They should be extremely proud of their work and inspiring millions across the world to march as well.
When I saw later that the huge numbers of people made it not possible for the actual march part to happen as intended, I wondered if the rally purposely went into overtime to compensate for that. Though I think many of the speeches near the beginning probably went on for way too long (uhh…Michael Moore) and that affected the pacing. I definitely had been waiting for a āOK, LETāS MARCH!ā moment and that did not happen, but I think the rally was the more important part. We ended up walking with a pretty large crowd for several blocks back towards the monument, but cut out as we neared our preferred exit station.
Some will say there was too much of a celebrity element. I was worried about that. I think having it spaced out in the context of a summit or weekend rather than a single rally would have been better, but…no complaints, really. I’m sure this won’t be the first event of its kind. Despite mostly crappy sound at least from where we were standing (not that one could expect it to be perfect considering all of the challenges involved), I enjoyed all the music performances. Music inspires us and is an important addition to the movement. It was cool to see Scarlett Johansson as a real person speaking about her own experiences. No, I don’t think celebrities should keep their political opinions to themselves. They have as much of a right to express their opinion publicly as any “regular person” (if their work legally permits it) – and in terms of helping to disseminate a message, we need them too (though we must let the non-celebrities be the main voices of the movement). I did get the feeling that the celebrities who spoke or performed were truly passionate about being there and contributing, and not just doing it for a PR stunt. True, as millionaires they probably donāt have the best grasp on how some of these issues affect the rest of us…but many of them started where we are. And…it is possible to have empathy and feel solidarity with people who are struggling more than you personally are. That is kind of the point of this whole thing.
Despite the march platform specifying this was “not an anti-Trump rally,” well…it was. That’s no surprise. The base is angry and disgusted at him; we needed to express that. We are frustrated with an electoral system that elected him despite a clear majority of the popular vote for HRC (note the distinction of accepting that this is the result with the system we have). The signs tell the story; there was also a fair amount of anti-Trump-ness in the speeches. Though throughout the day there were pleas to get more involved by calling your representatives, joining organizations, giving time/money, running for office or at least supporting someone who is…I guess I would have liked to hear more specific suggestions from speakers about constructive ways to channel anger into action.
Though in no way did I expect this to be an event that focused on “let’s come together with our conservative/Republican brothers & sisters,” “let’s unify, etc,” I was glad that one speaker (Van Jones) reminded us that calling “those red state folks” stupid, ignorant, gullible, etc was not going to do us any good. “We have to fight for them, too” he said. I strongly believe that, as I think the incoming administration’s policies will harm us all, including those who voted it in. There has to be a way to stand firm and not accept what is unacceptable to us, and still be able to see the humanity in “the other side.” I don’t think there’s anything about these marches that “the other side” will see and think “oh, I’ve gotta change my mind; these people have a point.” No, they will snicker at the pussy hats and the “crybabies” who are still pining over Hillary’s loss, and they’ll say that by not accepting or validating their views, we are as hateful as we say THEY are. I would definitely heed Van’s challenge to us to “be better liberals” in that regard. But, this march was not for them, it was for US. To be inspired. That clearly happened.
Other thoughts:
Harris/Duckworth 2020. Like, holy crap. I see the hype with Kamala Harris; she is amazing.
I was surprised to see Debbie Wasserman Schultz on stage. As a woman Democratic Rep she is part of the movement I guess, but there was much talk at the rally about major change needed in the party, and I’m sure many people there thought she was part of that problem. At least she didn’t speak, but she was really out there in front during someone’s speech (can’t remember which one).
I wished that Freddie Gray was included in Janelle Monae’s “say their names” piece. Maybe I missed it. Or maybe there’s just too many of these names to include them all.
Off-topic, but: I really need to do a DC museums day/weekend. So much to see.
Cried at Sophie Cruz. I don’t know her particular story but will read up – what an awesome little girl. The Native woman who sang at the beginning of the rally also put a lump in my throat. Anybody remember who she was?
One small gripe about inclusivity – it would have been nice to have a shout-out to Atheists/Agnostics. I bet there were quite a few in attendance.
We only ran into two people we knew during the whole day. Considering the mass of humanity that’s not surprising, but I wished I would have found more of you I knew were there. I regret not meeting up with my sister – it was just too crazy (phone essentially did not work for anything but taking photos), but her commitment to come down from NY was largely responsible for me deciding I needed to be there too.
As has been documented widely, everything we saw on Saturday was peaceful. Really didn’t encounter many cops at all, but get the impression that any interactions people had were fine. There was a tank near our intersection with some National Guard guys on it for the duration. They were unarmed (as far as we could see) and one spent much of the time on his phone and taking photos.
Going forward:
I hope to see what you all are doing to continue your involvement. I will need encouragement. I haven’t yet made any calls to elected officials. I am proud to say that
my Maryland reps and senators are so far doing everything I would want them to do, but I know I can’t let that be an excuse. I’m grateful to live in a country where we are allowed to have this type of event; where we can occupy the streets of our capital city and other cities in a peaceful way, making our voices heard.
Thanks for reading, if you got this far. š
