BACK ON THE march
In Santa Fe, a second Women’s March will greet the second year of Trump
There was snow on the ground and on the trees, but Nancy McDonald doesn’t remember ever feeling cold during last year’s Women’s March in Santa Fe. She described the event as something she’d never seen before: a powerful, “peaceful” moment when women, men and babies pushed in strollers took over downtown with posters and banners. Along with people in cities across the world, a crowd that local police estimated as large as 12,000 to 15,000 people — the biggest political march anyone could remember — showed up and walked in Santa Fe the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“It was almost like a ’60s thing: peace, love,” McDonald said.
McDonald, a 68-year-old mental health counselor in Santa Fe, didn’t want 2018 to go by without another powerful statement like that first march. When she learned that last year’s organizer wasn’t planning a followup, she and friend Karen Cain decided to take it on. From there, local Democratic Party leader Margaret Romero got on board, and the City Different is now one of hundreds planning a second anniversary march.
Will participants who came out last year to protest Trump be inspired to march again?
“We’re under siege,” said Cain, a mental health therapist. “We need to rise and come together and resist. We just simply must.”
McDonald said the Santa Fe event will echo the national Women’s March organization’s “Power to the Polls” theme for 2018.
The national group is starting a voter registration tour as a way to “create transformative social and political change,” its website says. Santa Fe’s march on Sunday will participate in that effort, with registration booths on the Plaza.
“(It’s about) trying to channel
that energy and get some concrete wins in 2018,” McDonald said.
The #MeToo movement — spurred by the widespread outrage about sexual harassment and assault, and the related “Times Up” organization intended to provide legal support for victims — also will likely be a focus for marchers, said Romero. She’s secretary for the Democratic Party of Santa Fe County and vice president of the Santa Fe County Federation of Democratic Women, an event sponsor.
“(It’s) all the issues women are dealing with now,” she said.
Last year’s event began near the Bataan Building, included a march around the Plaza and ended with a rally at the state Capitol. This year, participants will meet at the Roundhouse, march along Old Santa Fe Trail and convene at the Plaza with speakers and music.
Speakers are expected to include Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver; U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján; Mayor Javier Gonzales; former CIA agent and Santa Fe resident Valerie Plame; and a DACA beneficiary. Other planned speakers will be representatives from Planned Parenthood, National Organization for Women, Tewa Women United and environmental group Wild Earth Guardians.
Romero started a GoFundMe page to pay for permits, event insurance, barricades, police presence and other expenses totaling about $15,000. As of Wednesday afternoon, the group had raised about $5,300. Money is also coming from sales of Women’s March T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats from Roadrunner Screenprinters on Siler Road.
Lindsay Conover, the 2017 march organizer, chose not to organize a march this year because of a new job and her decision to become more active in local politics, which she said is as a key factor in effecting long-term change. She isn’t sure if this year’s march will have as large a turnout.
Conover attributed last year’s big turnout to the initial shock of the election and the uncertainty it caused. However, she noted women’s rights issues are now coming to the “collective consciousness” with the public discussion of sexual assault and harassment, and that could help motivate more marchers.
Cain and McDonald decided only about a month ago to put this year’s march together. But they remain positive about the turnout.
“We have the experience of what’s gone on and what’s been occurring from the inauguration to now,” she said. “We must be out in full force.”