Around 500,000 people walked the streets of our nation’s capital Saturday, Jan. 21 in the Women’s March on Washington D.C. to support the unification people of all genders, ages, colors, creeds, political affiliations, disabilities and ethnic and cultural backgrounds to assert a sense of common humanity and declare a strong message of motivation.
A section between 3rd Street and Independence Avenue was already crowded with people two and a half hours prior to the rally which kicked off the event.
At 10 a.m., the rally, featuring nearly 50 speakers, began with a speech by actress America Ferrera.
“We march today for our families and our neighbors, for our future, for the causes we claim and for the causes that claim us,” Ferrara said.
In her speech, actress Scarlett Johannson addressed President Donald Trump, saying, “I ask you to support all women and our fight for equality in all things.”
Six-year-old Sophie Cruz spoke on behalf of immigrants’ right, addressing the crowd in both English and Spanish.
“We are here together making a chain of love to protect our families,” she said. “Let us fight with love, faith and courage so that our families will not be destroyed.”
Children and adults of all ages participated in the march that began shortly after 2 p.m. Transgender people, cis-gendered people, members of the LGBTQ community, people of color, people of diverse religious practices—these were the marchers who turned out to stand in solidarity of the fight for full-fledged equality for every American.
“The March embodied the idea of “We the People”—every different kind of person was there,” senior Cortland Jacoby said. “It presented the message that ‘We the People’ are going to hold this administration accountable.”
The Women’s March was not confined solely to Washington D.C. Sister marches included around 250,000 people in New York City, 175,000 in Boston and 150,000 in Chicago, according to estimates in each city. Sister marches in Pennsylvania were held in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and many other cities throughout the state.
These marches were complimented by similar events in cities across the country. Beyond the United States, other marches took place in all corners of the world, from the Ross Sea in the Antarctic to Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Women’s March on Washington, D.C., originally called the “Million Women March on D.C.,” took shape shortly after the 2016 presidential election. The creation of multiple Facebook pages planning a women’s march on Washington resulted in several pages merging into an official home page.
Sophomore Bekah Smith was motivated to attend the march to provide a counter-argument to the “intolerance that has been magnified even before the election.”
Junior Ryan Thomas marched because his “whole career path is under attack by the administration,” referring to the new Secretary of Education’s plan to cut funding for schooling.
Sophomore Stevie Caronia participated due to fears of the country going “completely backwards and nothing makes sense on the level of the populace.”
As she marched, Caronia said that she “let herself scream out the chants and be heard” as she walked and felt as if she was in “a cloud of positivity” during the march.
Prior to the march’s beginning, Thomas was struck by “the feeling of marching straight up to the Capitol in the moment” of what he was doing and felt “a real unity in the crowd.” Smith said that the assembly of people was a “very nice society to be part of for a day” and “now we all need to come together.”
