Girls Just Want to Have Fun-Damental Human Rights:
How Will the Women’s March Affect New York City?
The crowds of people grew more immense and compact as we got closer and closer to the stage where passionate people gave hope to millions with their inspirational words. Dedication, devotion, and strong affections emanated from every person there.
The blocked off roads were happily littered with street signs reading empowering words such as “women’s rights are humans rights” and “to all the little girls watching… never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and every opportunity in the world.”
These signs were held up at the Women’s March I attended in Los Angeles on January 21, 2017. As I walked down the streets of Los Angeles about an hour after the marching ceased, the thing that caught my attention more than anything was the array of people I saw. From women carrying babies, to men chanting and lifting signs, to little girls fighting for their future, everyone’s levels of determination and radiating strength absolutely baffled me. Although riots protests and marches have been famously aggressive and full of contentious people, the Women’s March was so peaceful. As we walked through the crowd to hear the speakers better, people would step out of the way to let us through and strike up conversations about how amazing their day was turing out to be. There was such a noticeable sense of strong community between every person there, even though the majority of the marchers were complete strangers to one another. We stood surrounded by hopeful and ecstatic people all watching empowering figures giving speeches on the stage. The speech that stuck with me the most was given by Keegan Key: a well known comedian, writer, and actor. He came on stage and opened by talking about his wife: an insanely intelligent, strong, and empowering woman who is not treated with the respect that she deserves at her work place. She is her husband’s role model and that is what he shared with everyone that day. The speech drove the crowd mad with passion. The cheering started at the very front of the crowd and moved further down the streets until it reached the very end of the vast swarm of people who kept up the woohoo-ing, even though they didn't even know what exactly they were cheering for. The speeches left us speechless, and for the first time since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, I felt more hope for our country to finally give equal rights to everyone. The marches stood for the lack of equal pay for women, the lack of respect, and not only that, but the marches represented women walking for everyone’s basic human rights. The setting sun finally dragged us away from the unforgettable speeches. The marches were full of people representing every single person in the United States who feel like they don’t have a voice.
Millions of people attended the women’s marches across the country, which shows how much people took the issue upon themselves and decided to join the fighters. So many people became fighters for people who felt like they didn’t have a voice after president Donald Trump was elected into office. It was the biggest march in history. Erica Chenoweth, a professor at the University of Denver and an expert on nonviolent protest, said “it’s a really empowering thing to be noticed and to be tallied” (qtd. in Wadell) in order to show the importance of every single person that participated in the marches. After all of the tedious work and tallying, there was an estimated 4.6 million people marching all over the country. Aside from the numbers, the most impressive part of the marches were the reasons behind people’s choice to participate in the march. (Wadell) People attended marches for issues involving themselves and issues involving other people, but every argument revolved around one idea: equality. In an editorial published in The New York Times on the day of the march, “What the Women’s March Stands For,” the core reasons behind the marching are cited: “Affordable birth control. Equal pay for equal work. Full access to healthcare for transgender Americans” (qtd. in “What the Women’s March Stands For”). These goals seemed so achievable just last summer, but have now been blocked by the election of Donald Trump. The marches proved to be more than just another anti-Trump protest. It was a strictly nonsectarian march that took place to raise people’s awareness around immigration rights, women’s rights, voting rights, and a repeal of President Donald Trump. (“What the Women’s March Stands For”)
The march wasn’t just to bring people together to raise their voices against issues of equality; it was to bring all people together to raise awareness for the fact that human rights are not equal today. Both marchers and watchers had great pride and great concerns involving the march. A common concern posed by marchers and and watchers was: Why was there such an obvious lack of diversity throughout the marching crowds? The organizers’ effort to acquire a noticeable array of diversity for the march was not achieved, at least not in Washington. Aside from diversity in the crowd, the biggest concern posed by both marchers and observers surrounded the long term goals of the march and whether or not they were practical. It is always hard to predict when a an attempt at making a change in the world will have any effect. In the case of the women’s march, the fact that it is the largest march in history is impressive enough to leave a legacy, but I, along with many others, wonder over whether or not the march will make a change for the better of the march’s purpose. The effects and possible legacy that will be left behind by the march are still undeterminable.
In the past, protests and riots have generally affected cities in a negative way because of the anger and violence they bring between the rival groups when their ideas are contradicted by one another. The negative effects appear to be long lasting in cities and are usually caused by acts of violence and anger, which are often either ramped up or stopped by efforts to deescalate the dilemmas by police officers. The real contemplation around the effects the women's march may have on cities surround the ideas of whether a peaceful march is better for a city or if it simply has no affect at all. Out of every participant in every women’s march across the country, there was not one single arrest. The marchers formed their own community that luckily lacked any sort of violence or anger towards one another, but does “peaceful” mean more powerful or less powerful in terms of changing a city for the sake of the march’s argument.
New York City in particular has been affected tremendously because of the violent and contentious protests and riots that have taken place there over the past 200 years. For example, in 1857, The Great New York Police Riot occurred because of a conflict between the New York Municipal Police and the Metropolitan Police. For over 30 minutes, rival forces fought on the steps of City Hall. Because of the fights, 53 men were injured, including one police officer. Tensions between the Municipal and Metropolitan police ran high for following years and strongly affected New York City in a negative way. Even though the women’s march will not have negative effects on New York, some worry that it will not ever result in any change or successfully impeach Donald Trump. It doesn’t have to affect the city as a whole, but as long as people continue to stand up for their equal rights, I believe that changes will be made.
People’s dreams of having equal rights may take time, but now with Donald Trump in office, they seem even more unreachable. His election trampled many hopes, and his misogynist, racist, and xenophobic comments are likely not going to cease. The election was a low for our country, and Trump stands for everything the march was fighting against. The population of the Women’s March trampled the number of people that attended Trump’s inauguration, but he refused to acknowledge the difference in numbers. At a speech the day after his inauguration, Trump claimed, “I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I’m like, wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million and a half people” (qtd. in Lee) out of his own insecurities and fear to admit that only an estimated 300,000-600,000 people attended his inauguration. Although from his vantage point on the stage, the blocks in front of him seemed much more packed than they were, he was still threatened by the number of people who attended the march to impeach his presidency and fight against his uncivil opinions. The peacefulness (and possible worthlessness) of the march brings up many questions: Does the peacefulness mean it will have less of an overall effect on New York City? How would the impact of a peaceful march be different than a violent one? How will the legacy of the march differ from that of the New York City Police riots of 1857? Although these are understandable questions, I believe that the march will have a strong impact on cities such as New York. With persistence, peacefulness, and devotion from those longing for a change in our country, there will be change.
These signs were held up at the Women’s March I attended in Los Angeles on January 21, 2017. As I walked down the streets of Los Angeles about an hour after the marching ceased, the thing that caught my attention more than anything was the array of people I saw. From women carrying babies, to men chanting and lifting signs, to little girls fighting for their future, everyone’s levels of determination and radiating strength absolutely baffled me. Although riots protests and marches have been famously aggressive and full of contentious people, the Women’s March was so peaceful. As we walked through the crowd to hear the speakers better, people would step out of the way to let us through and strike up conversations about how amazing their day was turing out to be. There was such a noticeable sense of strong community between every person there, even though the majority of the marchers were complete strangers to one another. We stood surrounded by hopeful and ecstatic people all watching empowering figures giving speeches on the stage. The speech that stuck with me the most was given by Keegan Key: a well known comedian, writer, and actor. He came on stage and opened by talking about his wife: an insanely intelligent, strong, and empowering woman who is not treated with the respect that she deserves at her work place. She is her husband’s role model and that is what he shared with everyone that day. The speech drove the crowd mad with passion. The cheering started at the very front of the crowd and moved further down the streets until it reached the very end of the vast swarm of people who kept up the woohoo-ing, even though they didn't even know what exactly they were cheering for. The speeches left us speechless, and for the first time since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, I felt more hope for our country to finally give equal rights to everyone. The marches stood for the lack of equal pay for women, the lack of respect, and not only that, but the marches represented women walking for everyone’s basic human rights. The setting sun finally dragged us away from the unforgettable speeches. The marches were full of people representing every single person in the United States who feel like they don’t have a voice.
Millions of people attended the women’s marches across the country, which shows how much people took the issue upon themselves and decided to join the fighters. So many people became fighters for people who felt like they didn’t have a voice after president Donald Trump was elected into office. It was the biggest march in history. Erica Chenoweth, a professor at the University of Denver and an expert on nonviolent protest, said “it’s a really empowering thing to be noticed and to be tallied” (qtd. in Wadell) in order to show the importance of every single person that participated in the marches. After all of the tedious work and tallying, there was an estimated 4.6 million people marching all over the country. Aside from the numbers, the most impressive part of the marches were the reasons behind people’s choice to participate in the march. (Wadell) People attended marches for issues involving themselves and issues involving other people, but every argument revolved around one idea: equality. In an editorial published in The New York Times on the day of the march, “What the Women’s March Stands For,” the core reasons behind the marching are cited: “Affordable birth control. Equal pay for equal work. Full access to healthcare for transgender Americans” (qtd. in “What the Women’s March Stands For”). These goals seemed so achievable just last summer, but have now been blocked by the election of Donald Trump. The marches proved to be more than just another anti-Trump protest. It was a strictly nonsectarian march that took place to raise people’s awareness around immigration rights, women’s rights, voting rights, and a repeal of President Donald Trump. (“What the Women’s March Stands For”)
The march wasn’t just to bring people together to raise their voices against issues of equality; it was to bring all people together to raise awareness for the fact that human rights are not equal today. Both marchers and watchers had great pride and great concerns involving the march. A common concern posed by marchers and and watchers was: Why was there such an obvious lack of diversity throughout the marching crowds? The organizers’ effort to acquire a noticeable array of diversity for the march was not achieved, at least not in Washington. Aside from diversity in the crowd, the biggest concern posed by both marchers and observers surrounded the long term goals of the march and whether or not they were practical. It is always hard to predict when a an attempt at making a change in the world will have any effect. In the case of the women’s march, the fact that it is the largest march in history is impressive enough to leave a legacy, but I, along with many others, wonder over whether or not the march will make a change for the better of the march’s purpose. The effects and possible legacy that will be left behind by the march are still undeterminable.
In the past, protests and riots have generally affected cities in a negative way because of the anger and violence they bring between the rival groups when their ideas are contradicted by one another. The negative effects appear to be long lasting in cities and are usually caused by acts of violence and anger, which are often either ramped up or stopped by efforts to deescalate the dilemmas by police officers. The real contemplation around the effects the women's march may have on cities surround the ideas of whether a peaceful march is better for a city or if it simply has no affect at all. Out of every participant in every women’s march across the country, there was not one single arrest. The marchers formed their own community that luckily lacked any sort of violence or anger towards one another, but does “peaceful” mean more powerful or less powerful in terms of changing a city for the sake of the march’s argument.
New York City in particular has been affected tremendously because of the violent and contentious protests and riots that have taken place there over the past 200 years. For example, in 1857, The Great New York Police Riot occurred because of a conflict between the New York Municipal Police and the Metropolitan Police. For over 30 minutes, rival forces fought on the steps of City Hall. Because of the fights, 53 men were injured, including one police officer. Tensions between the Municipal and Metropolitan police ran high for following years and strongly affected New York City in a negative way. Even though the women’s march will not have negative effects on New York, some worry that it will not ever result in any change or successfully impeach Donald Trump. It doesn’t have to affect the city as a whole, but as long as people continue to stand up for their equal rights, I believe that changes will be made.
People’s dreams of having equal rights may take time, but now with Donald Trump in office, they seem even more unreachable. His election trampled many hopes, and his misogynist, racist, and xenophobic comments are likely not going to cease. The election was a low for our country, and Trump stands for everything the march was fighting against. The population of the Women’s March trampled the number of people that attended Trump’s inauguration, but he refused to acknowledge the difference in numbers. At a speech the day after his inauguration, Trump claimed, “I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I’m like, wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million and a half people” (qtd. in Lee) out of his own insecurities and fear to admit that only an estimated 300,000-600,000 people attended his inauguration. Although from his vantage point on the stage, the blocks in front of him seemed much more packed than they were, he was still threatened by the number of people who attended the march to impeach his presidency and fight against his uncivil opinions. The peacefulness (and possible worthlessness) of the march brings up many questions: Does the peacefulness mean it will have less of an overall effect on New York City? How would the impact of a peaceful march be different than a violent one? How will the legacy of the march differ from that of the New York City Police riots of 1857? Although these are understandable questions, I believe that the march will have a strong impact on cities such as New York. With persistence, peacefulness, and devotion from those longing for a change in our country, there will be change.
Works Cited
Bergengruen, Vera. "Half a Million Marchers Showed up in Washington, so Now What?"
Sacbee. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Board, The Editorial. "What the Women's March Stands For." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 20 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Brooks, David. "After the Women’s March." The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST.
N.p., 24. Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.
Chayes, Matthew. "Crowds Jam Midtown for NYC Women’s March." Newsday.
Newsday, 21 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Desmon-Harris, Jenée. "The Women's March." Vox. Vox, 21 Jan. 2017. Wed. 10 Feb.
2017.
Frostenson, Sarah. "The Women's Marches May Have Been the Largest Demonstration in US
History." Vox. Vox, 22 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Hernandez, Miguel. "The New York City Police Riot of 1857." The New York History
Blog. N.p., 9 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Lee, Timothy B. "Trump Claims 1.5 Million People Came to His Inauguration. Here's
What the Evidence Shows." Vox. Vox, 21 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Waddell, Kaveh. "The Exhausting Work of Tallying America's Largest Protest." The
Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Bergengruen, Vera. "Half a Million Marchers Showed up in Washington, so Now What?"
Sacbee. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Board, The Editorial. "What the Women's March Stands For." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 20 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Brooks, David. "After the Women’s March." The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST.
N.p., 24. Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.
Chayes, Matthew. "Crowds Jam Midtown for NYC Women’s March." Newsday.
Newsday, 21 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Desmon-Harris, Jenée. "The Women's March." Vox. Vox, 21 Jan. 2017. Wed. 10 Feb.
2017.
Frostenson, Sarah. "The Women's Marches May Have Been the Largest Demonstration in US
History." Vox. Vox, 22 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Hernandez, Miguel. "The New York City Police Riot of 1857." The New York History
Blog. N.p., 9 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Lee, Timothy B. "Trump Claims 1.5 Million People Came to His Inauguration. Here's
What the Evidence Shows." Vox. Vox, 21 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Waddell, Kaveh. "The Exhausting Work of Tallying America's Largest Protest." The
Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.