I understand you’re disillusioned. That you voted first for a candidate who didn’t win their party’s primary, and then for one who didn’t win the presidency. That you are discouraged and frustrated. I understand that Trump won the Electoral College back in November and that you think we cannot change the results of this election.
You’re right: we cannot and will not un-elect him. He is our President for the next four years.
But you’re wrong: we can change the results of this election. We can influence how the next four years play out and the effects they have on our country.
via Vogue Australia
Last weekend, more than 3.3 million Americans attended women’s marches in more than 500 cities across the country. They carried signs, brought their kids and dogs, took selfies with each other, and walked miles to stand up for what they believed in. People flooded the streets in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, to name just a few; marches and protests took place in Europe, Scandinavia, the Carribean, Antarctica, Australia, Africa, and even a small town on Whidbey Island, where I’m from. Taylor Swift tweeted about it. Dozens of celebrities and political figures attended.
The Women’s March in Seattle was on Saturday, January 21st. That night, you asked me if I’d gone.
“No,” I said. “I wish, but I had a mandatory school event.”
“It’s a good cause, but it’s not going to accomplish anything,” you said. “There’s not really an end goal here.”
I understand where you’re coming from. I do. “What’s the point?” is a broad and multifaceted question. There’s not an easy or simple answer. The end goal isn’t impeachment or passage of a specific law or the appointment of a certain official. The end goal is more complicated than that because America, its citizens, and its current national climate are more complicated than that.
Maybe the goal is to speak up against injustice. To stay wary. To refuse to silently condone what you may find unacceptable. Some of the people marching may not have voted, they may have been passive in November or simply not concerned about Trump’s chances of winning. But faced with the reality of this administration and what it stands for, they’re not passive anymore. Maybe the goal is keeping the rights we already have – trying to make sure we don’t lose some in the coming months or years. Maybe the end goal is Trump not getting re-elected or higher voter turnout in 2020. Maybe the end goal is providing a peaceful, powerful voice to those who have been demeaned, devalued, and degraded by months of campaign rhetoric. (For those interested in more personal stories, scroll through the #WhyIMarch tag on Instagram and Twitter.)
But the most important goal is unification. We’re stronger together than we are apart and despite a very divisive past year, showing solidarity for important issues will be crucial moving forward. Despite many different reasons or motivations for participating in the marches, ignorance and apathy are two huge threats to democracy and participating takes a stand against them. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Don’t be silent.
via CNN
You told me, “this will peter out in like a week.”
It could. It’s easy – maybe even tempting – to believe that. But we owe it to ourselves, to our friends, to our fellow Americans, and to our country to protect and defend one another’s rights and dignity and to keep doing it. To acknowledge and address climate change. To speak out against racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, religious intolerance, misogyny, and anti-Semitism. To support freedom of the press and independent journalism, resisting “alternative facts.”
Whoever any of you voted for, I hope you believe the women’s marches aren’t pointless. Women’s rights are human rights, whether you are Democrat, Republican, Independent; black or white; disillusioned or up in arms. We must stick to our values even when it is inconvenient. Even when we are tired, sad, and not very hopeful. Even when your friends or people you love tell you it’s not worth it.
Stick to your values then. Please stick to your values especially then. Fight like a girl. Then keep fighting.