The 2017 Women’s March were a series of political rallies fighting for political rights for women – aiming at such issues as immigration reform, health care reform, LGBTQ rights, rights of Muslims, income inequality and racial justice. The march was formed to aim at the newly elected President Trump who strongly showed opposition to all of those issues mentioned above during his campaign. The organizers of the event wanted to send a bold message to Trump a day after his inauguration and say that “women’s rights are human rights.”
The march was originally planned just in Washington D.C, however as the day of the event got closer, the passion for the women’s march grew. Marches occurred worldwide with a total of 673 marches. In Texas, there were marches in major cities such as Houston, Austin and Dallas. Marches even occurred in much smaller cities including Amarillo. However, there were two even closer to home. In Downtown Fort Worth and Denton, women and men marched side by side down the streets carrying signs such as “Nasty Woman” and “Women Are The Wall.”
Women of all ages attended the march – from ages as old as 60 to as young as three years old. Some passionate Timber Creek students were able to attend the march in Downtown Fort Worth and Denton. Skylar Martinez, junior, marched for women’s equality on Jan. 21 in Denton.
“My mom had read about it on Facebook and wanted us [my family] to go. Everyone there was so passionate about the cause – you could just really see it in their faces how much the march meant to them. It really didn’t feel like a ‘women’s march’ though it was more of a march for overall equality. There were husbands and sons there. People were marching for Black Lives Matter and immigrant lives. It really was just a diverse group of people coming together and fighting for the same causes – it was a good experience.” commented Martinez.
Lilli Bennett, a junior, was able to witness the march when walking in Downtown Fort Worth.
“I had no idea [the march] was going on. When we got downtown we saw a bunch of people in the streets. That’s when my brother realized that it was the women’s march,” said Bennett.
Although Bennett only witnessed the march for a few minutes, she still was able to feel the passion from the crowd.
“I saw probably a couple hundred outside of the courthouse, but there was even more strictly walking. I saw passionate people considering they all sat on the steps to prove their point. Everyone was really positive, talking to each other and smiling,” commented Bennett when she described the march.