Otis R. Taylor Jr.:
Women’s March was just the first step in making a lasting difference.
The first step was taken Saturday in opposition of the new president, and it was sure-footed.
An estimated 100,000 people attended the Women’s March in Oakland. The molasses-slow mass stretched for dozens of blocks. Couples held hands and friends locked arms. Women and men wore pink hats, toted poignant homemade signs and sang songs of solidarity. We are family. Indeed it was a family affair as children, unaware of the mess adults have stepped into, played carelessly in the streets.
It was a sight so beautiful that I stood on Broadway for more than an hour awed by the crowd and the festive atmosphere.
With the combined millions who marched in cities across the world, including in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, it’s clear that fear and unflappable hope can be used as crazy glue to get people to stick together.
Now for the other shoe to drop.
Protesting only the president right now is a fool’s errand, because he’s just the latest symptom of what has stricken this country since its birth. Oppression is a disease that courses through America’s nervous system, and skipping brunch for a walking tour of downtown Oakland isn’t going to cure what ails us.
Because what we have is a pre-existing condition. There are Americans who’ve long been mistreated because of
their race, gender and sexual orientation. Sure, the Clown Prince of New York’s words are what grab you, but it’s the actions of fellow Republicans — in his case, their inaction — that normalizes his misogynistic, racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic monologues.
And it’s the actions of those in his administration who will play his cards against humanity under the aegis of making America great again. Folks, make sure you tie your shoes tight, because the road to recovery is four years long, treacherous and dark. And it can’t be ignored that the road is at least 240 years old.
But for one day, streaks of sunlight broke through the darkness. Look at the bright side: Without a clumsy clown tripping over his own words, would there have been a march of unity led by women?
The nastiness of the election was conspicuously absent from the march, as were the agitators who have spoiled past protests in Oakland. There was a rhythmic energy and sound. Some danced, and many more sang. There were no arrests.
If you didn’t know the march’s roots, you might think the participants were there to celebrate something because the mood was joyous. And it was good for business, as lines at downtown restaurants, like at BART stations before the march, were laughably long. Maybe some of the marchers, who usually don’t hang out in Oakland, will return.
From Madison Park, the route curved along Lake Merritt on Lakeside Drive and past the Cathedral of Christ the Light on Harrison Street. After a left onto Grand Avenue, the path turned left onto Broadway for the homestretch. Sometime after the head of the march flowed into Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall, the body split like the letter Y as thousands began cutting left onto Thomas L. Berkley Way from Lakeside Drive.
The tide of people was astonishing and powerful. But if not harnessed, the power will wilt, and the march will be remembered more as a social media post and a website slideshow of cool signs than the start of a united opposition movement. Standing up to oppression isn’t a weekend hobby or a part-time position.
The first step isn’t the hardest. It’s the next steps that will make a real, lasting difference. So what are the next steps? Paying attention to what’s behind the hateful rhetoric and acknowledging that the path against oppression in this country was paved by stepped-over souls.
And continuing to fight like a girl. March on.