Marching together sends a message. But to continue a movement, Women’s March encourages women to knock on doors, talk to friends and volunteer, according to Sarah Pearson, co-chair of Women’s March Wisconsin.
“It’s not just getting Donald Trump getting out of the White House—it’s making sure we are aware of what’s happening in our own city and we’re taking action to fix some of the problems,” says Pearson.
The Women’s March 2020 was organized in Milwaukee to accompany the march in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Jan. 18. Speakers touched on the recent removal of 200,000 voters from the rolls, racial and sexual orientation discrimination and other Milwaukee issues to people gathered in the South Division High School auditorium.
“The biggest thing for me was that a lot of people are so blind to what is actually going on, and that’s why you attend events like this, to actually get an understanding about what people are going through, even if you aren’t going through it. It’s good to know what’s going on and how to proceed with action,” says attendee Dane Lamont.
Completely led by women, the Women’s March is a volunteer organization first created to get Trump out of office. At the 2020 event, the organization encouraged everyone who attended to get involved in workshops that focused on spreading the word. Speakers also inspired Marquette University students to start conversations beyond the march, including Frannie Lambie.
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“I think, personally, that talking to my family because I have so many younger cousins—especially ones who are now coming up on voting age and cousins and family members who are older than me that don’t really pay attention to politics—I think sitting down and having a conversation, even if you identify with the Republican party or the Democratic party, there’s got to be a middle ground to solve some of these really big issues,” says Lambie.
While the event took place at the South Division High School, when asked to raise hands if you were from the South Side of Milwaukee, only a few hands raised. Emma Mass thought this was an important issue to address, after attending the Women’s March for the first time. “Getting the South Side involved in all of these issues is a large issue. I mean, we were in the South Side and there are only a few hands in the audience, so that was really interesting to see,” says Mass.
Marquette student Amy Baudhuin attended, wanting to represent women of color. “For me, basically, I just want to stand up for women’s rights. It’s something that we are all mutually passionate about, so just to represent ourselves—and especially as a woman of color—I want to be here to represent my ethnicity,” says Baudhuin.