Busloads of Canadians join the 500K-strong Women's March in D.C.
For a time the march became, instead, a stand.
An estimated 500,000 people converged on Washington, D.C., for the Women’s March on Saturday. They arrived via Metro; women on foot, women in wheelchairs and on crutches, men and women carrying children on their shoulders; thousands upon thousands carrying colourful signs supporting women’s rights, the environment, the Black Lives Matter movement, science and evolution, and numerous other issues.
By 1 p.m. the crowd was so large that people came to a standstill and there was no way to actually march to the Washington Monument as had been originally planned; instead hundreds of thousands of attendees, many wearing knitted “pussy hats” in shades of pink, stood in formation, rocking, singing, drumming, and chanting. The hats were a subtle reference to President Donald Trump’s comments in a 2005 video in which he talked about the ease with which he could grab a woman’s private parts. After several hours, attendees were walking slowly along Constitution Ave, on Independence, on 3rd and 4th streets, all the way to the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and beyond, with joy and respect.
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“We are marching in solidarity of equality, diversity, and inclusion,” said Marissa McTasney, who helped arrange for six buses to transport Canadians from Canada to D.C., ahead of the march.
“And this event is definitely about awareness. It is around the world in more than 32 countries and has become a global movement. Everyone’s voice will be heard, and that is the message.”
McTasney, president and CEO of MoxieTrades, which makes safety boots for women, explained how this was her first march and that she while she had been making safety gear to assist women on the outside, it was now time for her to “focus on the inside.” She was also clear that the real work would begin in the days, weeks, and months after the march.
Which is why the organization released a letter template on its website to assist Canadians who wish to lobby their MPs. The letter contains calls to action highlighting women’s health care, economic security, Indigenous issues, and women’s rights overall. Specifically, it discusses: “a national child care strategy, a national housing strategy, access to women-centred health care,” all of which the group says are under attack in U.S.
Ahead of the march, Gillian Sonin, the Canadian march’s national PR manager, and one of the organizers at the Montreal rally told Yahoo Canada News: “The message we are hoping to send with sister marches across Canada is to show solidarity not only with our sisters and brothers to the south but to the people in our neighbourhoods who are marginalized in our own cities and provinces.”
Gloria Steinem, one of the co-chairs of the D.C. March, drew enormous cheers when she encouraged attendees to keep up the momentum of this movement. “When you elect a possible president you go home,” she said. “We’ve elected an impossible president and we are never going home!”
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore told the crowd that Saturday’s march was the beginning and gave them a to-do list. He encouraged them to call Congress daily. He provided the phone number and drew laughs when he did a call-and-response to ensure people had memorized it. He urged folks to “take back the Democratic National Party,” and to run for office.
Actor Ashley Judd didn’t mince words in her speech to the crowd: “I feel Hitler is in these streets,” she said. “A moustache has been traded for a toupee.” She ended her lively speech by reminding the audience that Trump had called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during the campaign. And she said a woman’s genitals weren’t for groping, “They are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, you name it — for new generations of nasty women.”
She added: “So if you a nasty woman, or you love one who is, let me hear you say, hell yeah!”
And the crowd roared: “Hell yeah! Hell yeah! Hell yeah!”
