Monthly Archives: January 2017

VIVA LA VULVA!: WOMEN’S MARCH FOR JUSTICE: LOS ANGELES, CA

POWER TO THE PUSSY!  We saw many of the pink pussy-eared hats that became popular in response to Trump’s continual woman bashing during the Presidential Campaign. My favorite protest signs were, “U.S. OUT OF MY UTERUS!” and “WOULD YOU STILL WANT TO REGULATE MY UTERUS IF IT WAS A CORPORATION?”

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The March on Washington to protest Trump’s inauguration is the largest political gathering in the U.S. with over a million participants. 600 marches occurred simultaneously all over the world. Los Angeles was the second largest with over 100,000 participants.

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Just getting there meant lots of time chatting with strangers as the trains to Downtown L.A. were packed. It took us two hours to get to the March which we could have driven in twenty minutes….but we would have missed the outstanding camaraderie of the protesters.The protesters were in good humor, call and response chanting, “What do we want?…Trains!”   “When do we want them?…Now!”

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Although racism, bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, and misogyny were all decried, the dominant sentiment is best expressed by this Angela Davis quote:

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Clearly we all need to come together as a country, even behind a president with a 35% approval rating and one who was not elected by popular vote. But like Obama said multiple times in his final remarks as POTUS, we are strong together and will continue to move our country in the right direction with our will, which has not been diminished. We stood today among Americans of all races and creeds, men and women, old and young, to work toward Justice, no matter who is at the helm or the number of Congressional seats.  Extraordinary times call for extraordinary effort. We felt hopeful and proud to be Americans today standing with so many Americans who made the effort to be heard, in peaceful protest. Below you see police officers protecting protesters blocking a street by the Federal Building by creating a line of cars and officers to block traffic. Power to the people!

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I have always respected and revered Hillary Clinton; her loss was devastating to me. We are so proud of President Obama and all he accomplished as our leader, especially the Affordable Care Act. We have felt so angry and depressed as Congress has already begun to dismantle the ACA with18 million Americans on the verge of losing their health care. Instead of this pain diminishing with time, it has increased as we learned that our democratic process was undermined by a foreign power that manipulated our election process, at the invitation of our new POTUS. It was a wonderful and moving day, that reminded us that we still have the ability to influence our legislators on both sides of the aisle, as we continue to work for Justice. Don’t let the bad guys get you down, their in the minority, after all!  Power to the people!

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