More than three million people joined the women’s marches in more than 500 U.S. cities on Saturday, Jan. 21, in what may have been the largest demonstration in U.S. history. I had the pleasure of participating in the march in Houghton and the most impressive thing was seeing over 200 community members show up to express solidarity with the national movement. Additionally, witnessing the wide range of causes that people came out to support. From equal rights and social justice to healthcare and environmental reform, these people marched because they were concerned about their future and the future of their children under a Trump administration.
Alumnus, Shannon Healy, for example, came out to express her concerns about public education. “I lived in West Michigan for several years working at a public education institution. I saw the effect money from the DeVos family had on public education and wasn’t pleased,” she said. Shannon went on to express her frustration with Trump’s pick of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. DeVos has been criticized by progressives for working to create programs and pass laws that encourage the privatization of public education.
While Houghton’s march was impressive, the largest march in the country occurred in Washington D.C., which hosted more than 500,000 people. My friend Robert Godfried was fortunate enough to attend. A grassroots organization helped bus people in from New York City where he attends Columbia University. Godfried said that the crowd was so large that it could barely fit on the National Mall. “The city was well over capacity,” he said. Godfried was inspired by the march, saying, “I don’t think that one protest is enough. I think we need to keep the spirit.”
Trump responded to the Women’s protests via Twitter. “Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly,” he wrote. Trump brings up an interesting point. Had the Women’s Marches occurred before the election, perhaps people would have been more united against him and gone out to vote in the places where he won by narrow margins.
Trump won by the rules and progressives will have to suffer the consequences until the next election. However, I’m optimistic that progressives will continue to protest as long as the issues they care about are under attack by Trump’s administration. Environmental activists may be the first to hit the streets again. On Jan. 24, Trump revived the Keystone XL pipeline that had been rejected by Obama. Furthermore, he will be expediting the Dakota Access pipeline, which has been stalled for months due to organized protests by the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
My hope for future peace marches is that the participants channel their energy into political action. People need to trust in the political system again and the Democratic Party must be more representative of the working class Americans who are being left behind by globalization. The moment hasn’t been better for young people to get involved. This was obvious to me in the passion that I saw and heard on the picket signs and chants of the peace marchers last Saturday.
