I’ve seen so many people trying to understand why we marched, so I’ve decided to try to explain.
First and foremost, “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” and yesterday I was TRULY proud to be an American and taking part in such an event. The unity, strength, and love that was shown yesterday were remarkable. It was so empowering. Thousands of people (millions worldwide) showed up to support each other and to walk together in unity.
Men, women, children, gay, straight, Jews, Muslims, Christians and atheists all walked side-by-side in solidarity. There was no violence and only 4 arrests nationwide. It was a demonstration of radical peace and solidarity. We sang, we danced, we embraced and we cried, but most importantly we were there for each other.
My below statements are about the overall intent of the march as I understood it from the organizers. There will always be those few who have their own agenda which the media tends to focus on, but I am speaking for most of the marchers in this event.
The march was not a protest of the election. The march was not an “anti-Trump” event, even though the media likes to give it a catchy headline and summarize it in such terms. The march was not a “temper tantrum” because we “lost”.
The march was in response to the proposed policies that Trump and the GOP want to enact. Trump isn’t the one who will be passing bills or eliminating rights, (for the most part) that’s congress’ job. The GOP now controls everything and their agenda infringes on the rights of millions of Americans. So yes, Trump is the leader but he’s not the only one that we were speaking to.
The march was about equality and demanding equal rights, representation, and respect for EVERYONE.
Rights: Regardless of class, creed, or color we are all equal and deserve the same rights and freedoms. Rights like clean drinking water, help when you’re sick or old, or being able to love whomever you want.
Representation: Hear us! See us! Know that we are watching you.
Respect: When you insult, threaten and degrade us, we will not go away quietly. When you threaten our grandchildren’s future by disrespecting our planet we will march and show our strength, reminding you that you work for US.
The march cannot be summarized in 3-word click bait so people assume that we didn’t know why were we there. There isn’t a single issue that could be easily summarized because so many rights and groups of people are under attack. The march showed support for everyone that is in jeopardy of not fully living the American dream.
The negative responses to this march and the attempts to marginalize and diminish its significance, only prove to us that we will need to do more of these. There is NOTHING more American than speaking up for ourselves and we marched to preserve that right.
United We Stand. United We Marched.
For those of you who asked for an explanation, this was for you.
For those of you who assumed what our motives were, this is for you.
For those of you who will still belittle the intentions of the march and the people who were involved, you’ll be hearing a lot more from us.
