Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A light in the darkness
Participants gather at Lauderdale’s Holiday Park
Vigil highlights victimized women.
Attorney Sara Randel remembers staying up all night on election night, her heart sinking as the presidential election results came in.
But instead of letting those feelings linger, she was driven to act.
“It was devastating for me to just sort of watch the night go down,” said Randel, a Fort Lauderdale resident. “By the morning, as distraught as I was, I was determined to do what I could to stand for the values I believe in.”
Randel went with her boyfriend to Washington, D.C., and walked alongside thousands of people in the Women’s March on Jan. 21.
As a followup act, Randel and dozens of others dressed in red gathered for a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale as part of the U.N.-designated International Women’s Day.
The vigil, organized by the Broward Chapter of Women’s March Florida, is to
honor women and gender non-conforming groups around the world who have been subjected to domestic violence, sexual abuse, workplace violence and harassment, unequal access to education, and verbal harassment and systematical oppression by the White House, national Congressional and Florida state congressional agendas, the group said.
The event coincided with the Day Without a Woman national demonstration. During this one-day strike, some women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red to demonstrate their economic clout Wednesday as part of a multitude of International Women’s Day events held around the globe.
“I am privileged to be able to take a [personal time off ] day — and that’s exactly what I did,” Randel said. “For me, it was an afternoon to be reflective and peaceful and head out here [to the vigil] for this evening.”
The Day Without a Woman protest is the first major action put together by organizers of the vast women’s marches that drew more than 1 million Americans into the streets the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“A day without women is a day without your mothers, your sisters, your best friend. Those are significant roles that not just anybody can fill and those positions matter. We want to make sure that we matter,” said Mica Jordan, one of the leaders of the Broward Chapter of Women’s March Florida.