Across Texas, marchers ‘just can’t be silent anymore’
Houston demonstration draws 20,000, twice what was expected
AUSTIN — Roars from as many as 50,000 marchers echoed for blocks as the crowd swelled beyond the Texas Capitol grounds, spilling into the streets.
They were among the hundreds of thousands of feminist marchers who gathered across the country Saturday hoping their anger, frustrations and hopes are heard by the White House. The idea of a women’s protest in Washington was conceived shortly after President Donald Trump’s election and spread like wildfire, clogging streets and bringing some of the largest crowds in recent memory to cities like Houston, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, and a slew of other major urban centers.
While the march served as a venue to voice disgust over the newly inaugurated Republican, many waved signs aimed at empowering women, reading “The future is female” and chanting, “My body, my choice.” Others carried signs
about LGBT rights, climate change, immigration and love.
“Females are strong as hell,” read a hot pink sign Jon Sabo, 27, waved as he marched among a sea of women and some men who flooded downtown Austin. Caitlan Breen, 28, walking along side, said she marched to stand in solidarity with like-mined people and she’s resolved to speak up.
“If I see something, I need to say something. I can’t just be silent anymore,” she said. ‘No room for hate’
In Houston, more than 20,000 singing, sign-waving protesters packed into Hermann Square in front of City Hall in what one organizer described as “the biggest crowd ever.”
Mayor Sylvester Turner said to the enthusiastic masses, “There is no room for hate in our state.”
Organized at the last minute, the march drew a massive and diverse crowd — even in a city not known for large protest turnout.
Planning started just over a week before the event, and the Facebook event only garnered around 5,000 responses.
“So elected officials take note,” one organizer said. “This is what could happen in 10 days.”
Participants both in Austin and Houston said they were there to hold Trump’s feet to the fire, to protest a president who had admitted to assaulting women and to send the message that “love Trumps hate.”
Suzanne Rosato, 49, said as she marched the streets of Austin that she was heartsick to see Trump sworn into office, and for her 17-year-old daughter to come into a world where an presidential candidate caught bragging about grabbing a woman’s genitals can win the election.
“I don’t think everything’s going to magically change after I march,” said her daughter, Hayden, “but I’m going to keep marching until it does.”
In her famous pink sneakers from her 13-hour filibuster on a controversial abortion bill, former Democratic gubernatorial can- didate Wendy Davis told a crowd outside the pink Capitol dome that women must speak up.
“We’ve all had that moment — whether it was dismissing a sexist comment by a coworker, or keeping our mouth shut when we’ve been objectified, or worse, assaulted,” she said. “But make no mistake about it, when we remain silent, we’ve all participated in our own marginalization.”
As they waited for the march to start in Houston, University of Houston students Angela Palma and Priscilla Garcia, both 21, said they were participating in the protest in honor of their families.
“I think (Trump) just needs to realize that this country is made of immigrants and we’re here because of our parents,” said Palma, whose father emigrated from the Philippines more than 20 years ago. “We’re here to make America great as it is.”
Giovanni Edwards, sporting an Obama basketball jersey with the number 44 on the back, said he was protesting to show support for his girlfriend who was marching in Washington, while Karen Mueller, a 62-year-old from Illinois, stopped by the march while on vacation.
“I can’t believe we still have to protest this crap,” was scrawled on her blackand-white sign. ‘Little but fierce’
Pamela Chung, 35, and Samantha Levanduski, 28, brought along their tiny daughters in strollers.
Chung teared up as she described the impact she wanted the protest to have on her girl, who waved a sign that read “little but fierce.”
“I was raised in a family where you were taught that you can be anything that you want to be, and I want to make sure they see that,” Chung said.
Levanduski drove from Corpus Christi the night before to participate because she felt compelled to be in Houston to protest.
“I want to set the example for my daughter that you can make change happen,” she said.
A few minutes later, chanting marchers shouted, “This is what America looks like,” as they set out from the starting point of Jamail Skate Park.
Protesters toted “Dissent is Patriotic” and “Hear me roar” signs and some sported “Nasty Woman” T-shirts. A small child pushed along in a stroller carried a sign that said, “Mr. Trump, act YOURage, not mine.” ‘Shatter glass ceiling’
As the motley Houston crowd pushed into Hermann Square, organizers bumped loud music to rev up the march. Thousands of people sang along to a booming rendition of Katy Perry’s “Roar,” followed by Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
City Council Member Ellen Cohen urged demonstrators to show up at public meetings to make their voices heard.
“How the hell are we back here again? It’s been 35 years since our mothers were here fighting for Roe v. Wade,” she told the cheering crowd. “We’re here to shatter the glass ceiling so that having a female president is the norm.”
The emotions of Sat- urday’s event felt in stark contrast to the inauguration, some noted.
“Yesterday I was sick to my heart,” state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, told the crowd. “But being here right now, I feel a whole lot better.”
New Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said he “has never seen a crowd in Houston as big as yours.” Organizers later announced a turnout of 22,000, more than double the maximum number police expected.
Phyllis Randolph Frye, an openly transgender judge, stood up and spoke about the controversial so-called bathroom bills in Texas and elsewhere.
“Despite what (Lt. Gov.) Dan Patrick says, transgender people go to the restroom for one reason,” she quipped. A family affair
Among the throngs of demonstrators at the state capital were three generations of women from the same family, who showed up to make their voices heard.
Teresa Bryant, 68, drove from Houston to meet her daughter and granddaughter.
“I’m upset at the current administration’s view on women’s rights,” Bryant said. “I want my granddaughter to understand women have to stand up for our power.”
This was the family’s first time participating in an advocacy march or protest. Bryant’s granddaughter Ruby, 7, held a pink sign that read “Women are strong.”
Ruby said the march meant “that Hillary Clinton should have won.”
Other families marched from the state Capitol.
Donna Enderas, her daughter Shannon Zaninovich and granddaughter Georgia Zaninovich held signs that read, “Awoman’s place is in the resistance.”
“I marched for civil rights and I marched to end the war,” Enderas said. “Now my granddaughter is marching for gay rights and women’s rights.”