How did the Women's March change over one year?
Rachel Campos-Duffy went to the 2018 march to find out.
On the heels of nationwide demonstrations to protest against the policies of President Trump, a coalition of liberal activists is headlining a rally in Las Vegas Sunday to kick off a major push to elect Democrats across the country.
Nevada is where a “Power to the Polls” initiative will launch that aims to register 1 million voters and target swing states. According to the Vegas event’s website, it will feature Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards, civil rights activist Rev. William Barber III, ex-Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza.
Many other cities have planned Sunday events, including Miami and Knoxville, Tenn. Demonstrators claim to have maintained the momentum that was sparked one year ago by the election of President Trump after hundreds of thousands turned out in cities across the country.
According to estimates from local officials and organizers, about 200,000 people in New York, 400,000 in Los Angeles and 300,000 in Chicago took to the streets to voice their opposition to the Trump administration’s policies around immigration, equal rights and more.
“During a year when pale, male and stale men sitting in a dark room in Washington have tried to drive a wedge through us through hate and sexism and bigotry, we will march!” said New York City public advocate Letitia James during a warmup rally before the march.
GLOBAL SOLIDARITY MARKS 2018 WOMEN'S MARCH
People participate in the second annual Women's March in Los Angeles on Jan. 20, 2018. (Reuters)
The protests came in the wake of the “Time's Up” and “Me, Too” movements that have put a spotlight on the sexual misconduct and abuse allegations against powerful men in a range of industries.
Guadeloupe Garcia, 17, walked through the streets of Los Angeles holding a sign that read, “I’m Mexican. I’m female. I’m the future,” reports the Los Angeles Daily News.
In Chicago, 80-year-old Sandra Whitmore marched with her four children and told the Chicago Tribune she’s been attending protests since 1968.
Her sign read: “My arms are getting tired from hold’n this sign since the 1960s.”
A demonstrator poses for a photo during the Women's March in Chicago on Jan. 20, 2018. (Reuters)
“I am female. I am Latina. I am queer,” actress Monica Raymund of the TV show “Chicago Fire” told the Windy City crowd, drawing cheers. “I am their worst nightmare. And so are you. And that's OK, we'll be fine.”
ANDREW CUOMO BLASTS TRUMP AT WOMEN'S MARCH BREAKFAST IN NEW YORK
The crowd in New York City stretched for 20 blocks along Central Park West and drew a diverse group of activists, families and students — many of whom were drawn to the march for different reasons.
“We need to be the generation that ends 'Me, Too,'” Erin Long, 20, told Newsday. “It’s time for men to realize that time is up for them to get away with how they treat women. Women also need to start believing that they are equal and that they can do big things.”
People take part in the Women's March in New York City on Jan. 20, 2018. (Reuters)
In New York City, Lea Sherman, who was selling pamphlets on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party, had a different take on voting when asked by Newsday.
“I do not think that Donald Trump is a fascist, a racist, or any kind of epithets that are being thrown at him,” she said. “I think he’s a bourgeois politician that many working people voted for based on hope and change—the same people who voted for Barack Obama elected Donald Trump.”
Although President Trump tweeted Saturday about the “lowest female unemployment in 18 years,” joblessness among women was only 3.7 percent in December according to the Labor Department. A Pew Research poll in May showed only one-third of U.S. women approve of his job performance.
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