Driving Out the Darkness

On Friday, January 20th, Donald Trump was inaugurated as our 45th President. 

On that same day, I had decided I was not going to the Women's March taking place the next day in Boston. 

I can't actually  remember when I had heard about it, but I remember where - like all things these days, it was an event I had seen posted on Facebook and dismissed as something I was not interested in. Just call me the least political politics & government major ever. 

By 6am on January 21st, however, I had firmly and unequivocally decided that I absolutely had to be there no matter what. I shifted around my schedule, emailed friends, and made my plans to get there before the march started. 

I spent 30 minutes fighting my way through the crowds, trying not to let my claustrophobic brain panic, without cell service or a real plan, so that I could stand with my friends. 

Why?? 

Just me and some sassy, strong women I know and love.

My friend Emily (pictured far left, above), wrote this amazing piece about why she was there:

Why I Marched

My own thoughts echo many of her sentiments. 

To the people who say: if you live in this country, he IS your President, I say:
You are being literal. We are being figurative. I am well aware that Trump is now the President of the United States.
And I am not happy.

Standing tall for their rights.

Here is what went through my head over Friday night:

On August 28th, 1963, 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington D.C. for a rally to shed light on social and political injustices against African Americans. Source (because no, I didn't know that date exactly off the top of my head like I should have)

Today, that March, Martin Luther King Jr's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and the political discourse that followed, are looked on (mostly?? almost unanimously?) favorably and as a major historical event in our history.

If you were alive in August of 1963, where were you?

Pussy(hats)Galore

Did everyone look favorably on the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" in 1963? 

Hell No. 

Did everyone understand the historical significance? 

Did they understand where the March would lead? 

Did they know that in the future, we would look at that March in a positive light? 

Of course not. 

But the people who marched on Washington in 1963 left behind their worries 

about how they would be viewed and perceived. 

                                      They knew they were fighting for something bigger. 

And yes, the peaceful protestors would be grouped in with the rioters and the looters and the violent. 

Different, perhaps even conflicting, messages would drown each other out. 

But still they went. 

                                    I don't know what impact the Women's March will have. 

I have no idea if, 50 years from now, people will look back on those who participated favorably...

or not. 

Gimme dem fundamental rights yo

rabble-rousers

But one thing I did know was that I needed to be there. 

50 years from now (I'll hopefully be alive, sitting in a comfy chair, covered in fluffy cats and sipping on bourbon), if someone asks me where I was on January 21, 2017

             I'm glad I'll be able to say that while I couldn't make it all the way to Washington

I had at least made it to the Boston Commons with some good friends so that I could participate in a March* that nearly rivaled the attendance of the historic 1963 March on Washington. 

*There were so many more people than expected who came to the Boston March that we mostly did not actually march anywhere, so I use the term loosely, although I know that some Bostonians 

were able to get out of the Commons to march. 

So why did I go? 

I went because I am unhappy with the tone he has set as President in even his first few days, and in the months that led up to his inauguration.

I went because I find issue with many of his Cabinet picks. 

I went because I do not believe the Affordable Care Act should be repealed without a replacement. 

I went because I believe in equal pay for equal work. 

I went because I believe in the facts, and not "alternative facts", and I know that the ridiculous memes and fake news sites I see are just that - alternative facts, alternatives to the truth, lies.

Special Snowflake Status = Accepted

I went because Trump claimed that the Mexican immigrants who come to America are criminals and rapists. 

I went because Trump thinks it's okay to joke about sexual assault. 

I went because Trump once mocked a disabled reporter. 

And lest we all forget, here is where America actually stood economically when Trump took office.

I am privileged. I have a good job, with good pay, own my own home, have friends, family, and health insurance. 

But I also know that I am lucky too, that not everything I have earned I received merely from my hard work (although I have worked hard) but also from advantages I've had in my life that others will never see. 

And so I also went for those people, the ones who work hard and see none of the rewards that I do.

America looks sad but at least she has her cell phone.

Because yes, those people exist. 

And I'd like to think I am not a selfish person, not lacking in empathy for my fellow Americans and my fellow humans all over the world.

Despite being a Millennial. 

A sea of pink as far as the eye can see

If you didn't participate on Saturday, I won't judge you. 

We all walk our own paths in life. 

I only ask for the same respect back from you. 

After all, protesting IS American, down to our very core.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. 

- Martin Luther King Jr.