Women’s March Chicago (WMC) held their third march October 13th, dubbed “March to the Polls 2018.” A break from the national marches, WMC is trying to invigorate Chicago to vote before the November 6th midterm elections.
WMC is an affiliate of March On (which also has a Super PAC– Fight Back PAC).
The march is overwhelmingly anti-Trump. The first national women’s marches took place the day after his inauguration. What fueled the fire behind these protests was not only that Hillary Clinton lost the presidential race, but how she lost it. With a victory in the popular vote but an ultimate loss in the electoral college, Clinton ceded to Donald Trump.
The second annual march one year later (also dubbed “March to the Polls”) had the intention of igniting the voting spirit to take back democratic power in the midterms. The #MeToo movement and #TimesUp campaign only helped unify marchers. In Chicago, the second march was bigger than the first, with roughly 300,000 marchers (check out our previous Her Campus coverage)!
And now with the midterms approaching so quickly, WMC decided to hold one last protest. The timing of the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh aligned perfectly.
All the politics involved in these marches begs the question: is this a women’s march or a liberal women’s march?
Despite this, the march has made strides in intersectionality– being inclusive in matters of not just gender but race and socioeconomic status as well.
I thought the march was a great experience. I loved coming together with thousands of other women, all with the goal to build one another up.
Her Campus LUC was represented at the march! Brooke Craig and Shelby Kluver showed up to march along with myself.
“I knew this march wasn’t going to be as large or as energized as the previous ones in January. But, nothing was ever accomplished by only showing up to the biggest events! With all that had just occurred with the Kavanaugh nomination, I felt raw. I really needed to spend a day, surrounded by the love and support that would help reaffirm, to me, that as lonely and scary as our current political climate can feel, there are people out there who feel the same way. One of the most touching moments of the march, to me, was to talk with several elderly ladies who had been through many, many elections and still hadn’t given up hope that there would one day be light at the end of the tunnel. And despite any pain that people had been feeling, that sense of hope and perseverance was palpable throughout the entire march. After all, love is an awful thing to hate.”
–Shelby Kluver, third-year.
“I found the Women’s March to be both a great time and an eye opening experience. It was fascinating to see the explanation behind everyone’s signs and their reasons for attending. It was super empowering being around so many strong women and supporters, and to be able to feel a sense of unity.”
–Brooke Craig, first-year.