Women march for equality
Organizers emphasize voter registration ahead of midterms
More than 1,500 women — and men and children — gathered on the Milwaukee County Courthouse square Saturday for the second annual Women’s March, joining others across the country to protest the policies of President Donald Trump and urge voters to take control of Congress from Republicans in 2018.
“We are here to harness the voices of a diverse group of women to create transformative change,” Milwaukee march organizer Sarah Pearson told the crowd gathered for the rally, many of whom, men and women alike, wore pink knitted pussy hats.
“Get ready in 2018 to take it back,” she shouted, to applause and chants of “Take it back! Take it back!”
“Hello, my sisters!” state Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) shouted, leading the crowd in a short refrain of Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
“If they tear us down, we rise up,” she told them. “Milwaukee, we need your voice. But we need to go to Kenosha … to Racine … to Wausau and all over this state and nation to make sure women rise up.”
Marchers gathered in cities large and small, in Wisconsin, across the country and the world, many in the U.S. putting an emphasis on voting rights and voter registration. Events were planned in Green Bay and Eau Claire, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Nairobi, Rome and elsewhere under the banner #WeekendofWomen on social media. And more are planned for Sunday.
In Milwaukee, demonstrators began assembling shortly before 9 a.m., their signs highlighting a broad range of issues, from sexism and racism to voter and reproductive rights, immigration reform and climate change.
“This isn’t just about women. This is everyone’s rights,” said Kate Morand of Madison who came with a group from Milwaukee and Waukesha County.
Many came with, and for, their daughters and mothers.
“I’m mostly here for her,” said Alexa Law of Milwaukee, nodding toward her 19-year-old daughter, Arianna Boatner, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
“I want her to understand that she has a voice, that she has strength and that she is supported.”
Many of the demonstrators were veterans of last year’s marches in Madison or Washington, D.C., who said they were empowered by the experience and wanted to keep the momentum going. Several remarked on how much the national climate has deteriorated over the last year, with near-daily accounts of sexual abuse and harassment of women, the rise of white supremacist ideology and a president who disparages the homelands of non-white immigrants as “shithole” countries.
“We are better than him. We are better than what he is espousing,” said Gisela Terner of Fox Point, a former teacher, whose sign gave Trump F’s in every grade.
“I’m here because it’s not over,” said Bob Ullman of Sussex, who was sporting his pink pussy hat and Tshirt from last year’s march in Washington, D.C.
“I knew it wouldn’t be over, but I couldn’t have imagined how much worse it has gotten.”
The Milwaukee event, which also included an emphasis on voting rights and registration efforts, focused
on raising the voices of women of color.
The Rev. Alice Belcher, president and CEO of Christian Woman Perspective Industries, spoke to the invisibility of black women, and inequality in the workplace. DACA recipient Mayra Jimenez emphasized the need for immigration reform. Others spoke to often-forgotten concerns of American Indian women and the need for mentors.
The chants and speeches sounded much like those of the Civil Rights era, with several speakers emphasizing the need for youthful energy.
“Back in the civil rights days, young people were an intricate part of the movement,” said Sharlen Moore, co-founder and director of Urban Underground, a Milwaukee group focused on social issues. “We cannot continue to do this work without showing young people that they have a voice, that they have leadership ability,” she said.
Zion Rogers, an eighth-grader at Milwaukee College Prep, echoed her sentiment.
“We respectfully insist that our voices matter and will be heard,” said Rogers. “We are the now.”
While there were black and brown faces in the crowd, it was overwhelmingly white. Women of color said they welcomed the focus and the support of white women and men as allies. But at least one voiced concern about the large numbers of women who voted for politicians like Trump and Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican who lost a U.S. Senate seat to Democrat Doug Jones in November.
“White women need to talk to other white women,” said Norma Balentine of Milwaukee, an AfricanAmerican voting rights advocate who decided to march specifically because of the emphasis on voter registration. “They need to talk to them about why they vote against their own interests, why they vote for people like Trump and Moore. It’s disturbing.”
Several white women said they want to be stronger allies who will lift the voices and experiences of women of color. Molly Grupe of Monona and Sarah Bayrd of Minneapolis were two of them.
The sisters stood, arms around each other, surveying the sea of pink and posters below.
“It’s all women or no women,” said Bayrd.
“A lot of women felt left out by the women’s march last year,” said Grupe, a Monona city council candidate, who wants to see that change. “We don’t thrive without women of color.”