Brittany Martinez came to Washington with friends and their mothers to protest for women’s rights and immigration Saturday.
“We really wanted to come to support women, equality, immigration, everything that really feels like we don’t have much of a say in right now,” she told USA TODAY.
The six women were waiting in a park for the People’s March, the largest anti-Donald Trump protest planned before his inauguration Monday, to begin moving. Martinez of Jacksonville, Fla. held a sign that said “Public cervix announcement. My body, my choice.”
Thousands of people surrounded them in pink knitted hats, scarfs with the Planned Parenthood logo or Kamala Harris gear. A little girl sitting on her father’s shoulders carried a sign that said “pizza rolls not gender rolls.” Others held handmade signs that said “new year, same fight,” “I’m pissed,” “feminists Trump fascists” and Trust Black women.”
Protest ahead of Trump inauguration
The march began at three parks spaced a few blocks from each other in downtown Washington, with attendees converging at the Lincoln Memorial for more speeches and a resource fair. Each location had a different interest focus like immigration, the right to an abortion and birth control, or climate change, so attendees could connect with a topic they care about.
It’s been compared to the 2017 Women’s March, which drew millions of protesters upset over Hillary Clinton’s loss and Trump’s record of misogynistic comments and sexual abuse accusations. The historic nationwide protests the day after his inauguration in 2017, attracted an estimated 2.3 million attendees in the U.S. and internationally, dwarfing Saturday’s crowd. The Women’s March was one of the organizers of the People’s March.
Tamika Middleton, managing director of the Women’s March, told USA TODAY, that organizers didn’t set out to replicate that march.
“There was a really specific energy in that moment that I don’t think we’ve ever set out to recreate. And I think it would be a misstep for us to try to recreate the sort of unique energy of that moment,” Middleton said. “What we are doing is trying to move with a different kind of intention around not just how many people we can get in the streets in that day, but how many people we can move into the movement for the long term.”
The march, which stretched for more than five city blocks, occurred shortly before a snow storm and a cold snap that re expected to hit the Washington area Sunday. Smatterings of rain had many people sporting ponchos by the time the march began moving. Volunteers handed out hand warmers, granola bars and free signs.
The expected drop in temperature drove Monday’s inauguration indoors and stranded thousands of Trump supporting tourists without a way to watch the ceremony in a group. Few of them showed up to heckle the anti-Trump protesters. One man, who shouted into a bullhorn repeatedly that Jesus loves attendees if they repent, was drowned out by the crowd.
‘Just as relevant now’
The crowd felt similar to the 2017 march, with pink knitted hats dotting the crowd.
Joan Snowdon said when Trump was re-elected she dug the suffragette style sashes she made for the 2017 march out of a drawer. She traveled from Boston.
“Right after the election, we’re going and where are those sashes? Because they’re just as relevant now as they were four years ago,” she said. Snowdon said she liked that the March broadened to cover other issues but still felt like it kept women’s rights at its core.
‘Silence is deadly’
Deb Caldwell drove in from Plymouth, Mich. with her sister in law and her niece. She’s been protesting for women’s rights since she was 17, but wasn’t able to make it to Washington in 2017.
“We have to keep resisting and speaking up because silence is deadly,” Caldwell said. “I’ve become a radical feminist as I’ve gotten older, just because I see that women are truly one of the oppressed groups, probably possibly the most oppressed group in the world. And it becomes really troubling to me. I have three granddaughters, and people just need to keep speaking up.”
Sarah Wood said she and some girlfriends made the trip from Philadelphia by bus. She wore a crochet hat with ears that resembled the American flag pattern. Saturday was her first march.
“I think the last time I was sort of angry, but in disbelief and thought, maybe naively, that it might not be as bad as I imagined it could be, and it was worse. I can only imagine how bad this new administration’s going to be,” Wood said.
‘This time, I’m not waiting’
Kim Irish traveled from upstate New York with her daughter, who she said was too young to attend the 2017 march. She said she regretted not going.
“This time, I had a friend say to me, ‘Well, shouldn’t people do something wrong before you protest?’ I’m like, I kind of know what Trump’s all about. This time, I’m not waiting,” Irish said.
Jackie Greto boarded a bus in Philadelphia at 3 a.m. in order to reach the march. The bus will return the same day. She felt like she had to come after not attending in 2017.
“You think about your mom, your grandmother’s, they all had to fight for the same stuff, and you just going back again. And we shouldn’t,” she said. “We have young nieces and daughters and stuff. What if something happens to them and they don’t have a choice?”
