‘HER VOICE IS IMPORTANT’
Women march to oppose Barrett nom, promote turnout of anti-Trump vote
Hundreds of New York women marched in protest against the White House for a second time this year, rousted into action Saturday by President Trump’s choice of a conservative candidate to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The first anti-Trump event this past January was followed nine months later by outrage over Trump’s nomination of conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court seat vacated by the famously liberal Ginsburg’s death. The Manhattan marchers, like many around the country, were particularly concerned about the possibly of a new, heavily conservative court overturning Roe v. Wade.
One protester raised a sign with the outline of a coat hanger and the blunt message, “Never Go Back.” Other marchers dressed in red robes and white hats, like characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as they headed downtown en masse.
Sharon Hodson, 53, traveled into the city from Merrick. L.I., with her 16-year-old daughter Lily to join the protesters who gathered at Washington Square Park. The teenager held a sign reading “Resist Like It’s 1776.”
“Her voice is important,” explained Sharon Hodson. “I want to teach her her that. What she has to say matters— even under this administration, which would love to silence her. She still has rights and I want her to know that.”
The protesters wore face coverings for the mid-pandemic protest and waved signs extolling Ginsburg and denouncing Trump. “Grab him by the ballot,” read one pink sign with an image of four raised fists — all with nail polish.
“No country for old men,” declared another of the many signs.
Cynthia Altmann, 47, offered two reasons for traveling down from the Bronx: First, the proud mom’s daughter, Ymoni Shavuo,
was one of the organizers. And second?
“Because I’m a woman,” she said. “It’s as simple as that. The fight we’re fighting today, we’ve been fighting for 50 years.”
Mary Bacon, an actress from the Upper West Side, wore her hoodie from the first Women’s March nearly four years ago in Washington.
“I knew this wasn’t going to be as big, but I said, ‘If I can go, I’m going to go,’” said Bacon. “Just to see all the different people from all ages, races, backgrounds here. That’s what I needed to see. You’re going to be a part of something bigger than you.”
Lily Hodson said she refused to stand by silently about issues that will impact her for decades going forward.
“It’s for LGBTQ people, Native American people — anybody who has some sort of discrepancy with how the system is,” she said. “They’re basically told ’Don’t go there. You can solve it quietly’ ... You’re not supposed to make a lot of noise about it.”
Marches were also held in Washington and hundreds of satellite sites across the nation. The typically massive marches, launched after Trump’s 2017 inauguration, saw the ranks limited this time by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The first Women’s March in 2017 was historic,” said Rachel Carmona, executive director of Women’s March, at the Washington rally. “Now four years later ... with 17 days to go [until the Nov. 3 election], we’re going to finish what we started.”
Organizers also plan to send 5 million text messages over the weekend in an effort to get out the anti-Trump vote.