Sat 1/21 @ 10AM-1PM
It’s on!
Those of you who feel left behind because everyone you know is going to Washington D.C. for the Women’s March on Sat 1/21 and you just can’t get away, take heart. The original list of planned “sister” marches in cities around the country (and even some other countries) didn’t include Cleveland.
But two Case Western Reserve graduate students — Claudia Pasma and Laura Seagraves — picked up the ball at the last minute and ran with it. They’ve got the permits, they’ve got the march route, they’ve got the Facebook page and it’s looking like they’ll have the numbers.
Marchers will meet at Public Square at 10am and begin a march at 11 that will take them up Ontario to Lakeside, past City Hall and back to Public Square.
“We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families — recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country,” they say.
“The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized and threatened many of us — women, immigrants of all statuses, those with diverse religious faiths particularly Muslim, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native and Indigenous people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished and survivors of sexual assault,” they continue. “We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear. In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore.”
Anyone who supports human rights, especially women’s rights, is welcome. Bring signs — but keep them clean because the event welcomes children. On Thu 1/12 Zygote Press held a sign-making party for both the D.C. and Cleveland marches (see our photostream here); the organizers held another on Tue 1/17 at the Coffee House at University Circle. Messages included “I Stand With Women,” “Hear Her,” “Grab Her by the Cle” and “Nasty Woman.”
Cleveland, OH 44114
One Response to “Cleveland ‘Sister March’ to D.C. Women’s March to Take Place Downtown”
JOSEPH BIALEK
I’m not sure what caught my attention the most; the incredibly large turnout or those
adorable Pink Pussyhats. To say the event was awe inspiring is clearly an understatement.
I too have been “shell shocked” by the results of the 2016 Presidential Election but also
re-awakened to the fact of what this recent inauguration truly represents. It didn’t seem
possible that this day would arrive in the United States during my lifetime but it has. The
conditions created by the powers that be resulted in the election of someone born into
wealth spending their whole life pursuing the enhancement of that personal wealth all for
the sake of feeding one of the most selfish egos to every walk the planet. And the worst
part of it? The degradation of all women regardless of their background. How nauseating
indeed.
But from this onslaught there is at last a flicker of hope soon to be turned into a smoldering
fire that will burn away the hatred exhibited and serve to restore the balance so often
sought but rarely achieved in this country. Yes the time is now for the women of the
United States {you heard it here first} to form the “Suffragette Party” in response to the
extremism that has been thrown their way and begin the process of running candidates
at all levels of government not as the “Tea Party” did with it’s right-wing agenda {that
eventually fizzled} but rather a course that only women know how to plot and execute.
Let the mantra of “I am woman hear me roar” fill the hearts and minds of these new
found political warriors so that our country can finally be lead by that part of our species
with the true gentle and loving spirit.