St. John's students participate in Women's March
January 18, the Women’s March Network hosted their 4th annual march in DC for women, feminists, femmes and allies to show their collective power and join together to make a statement about attacks on their bodies, rights, immigrant communities and the planet.
The Women’s March website explained that the “three years of marching, training, organizing, and building power” has all been in preparation of this very march. They aimed to stand united in face of all the challenges they are facing. The march addressed women’s roles while focusing on these three issues and gave feminist leaders from all across the country an opportunity to speak up in the nation’s capital, in anticipation of the next election. This year the demonstration in Washington did not gather the immense crowd it has in the past, but sister marches were still held in Los Angeles, Chicago, Brussels, and about 200 other cities.
The march began at Freedom Plaza and went on along Pennsylvania Ave, 15th street, Constitution Ave, 17th street and H street before returning to Freedom Plaza, despite the freezing weather and rain. Women from all around the DMV and even farther came together to protest and represent their communities. Despite the drop in attendance rates, SJC students were still well represented. Students found empowerment and hope in this demonstration. Lila McKenney ’21 has attended the march for the last four years. She took the time to explain the significance of this march: “It is important for me to exercise my free speech rights in our democracy. The 2020 election is a crucial time for us to start speaking up and fight back against hate and discrimination … It impacts my opinions and lifestyle by reinforcing my beliefs and becoming more outspoken about them,” McKenney said.
Other students who attended the march, such as Megan Draley ’22, held similar views about the importance of addressing all these critical issues, and how much she enjoys seeing her community get together as one. Georgia Beebe ’21 reiterated this and said, “It was really cool to be around other people in the same mindset and to see a bunch of women come together”.
More information about this influential demonstration can be found on the following links:
