Yoselin Person
Feature Assignment Editor
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington D.C. this past weekend for the Women’s March. It was considered to be a counter inauguration after President Donald J. Trump took office. A few Bonaventure faculty members and students attended the gathering in Washington and went through an empowering experience.
Dr. Stephanie Vogel, a psychology professor, was moved and encouraged in attending the Women’s March in Washington D.C.
“It was inspiring and energizing,” said Vogel. “To see all of those people take the time to meet in one place for basically one purpose – assert our rights and our desire to have a more tolerant and inclusive country.”
With the number of people attending the march, Vogel felt having so many people there made her feel united.
“It felt to me like we were all on the same mission,” said Vogel. “We’re united in fighting oppression and bigotry.”
Hilda Myer-Post, an assistant director for HEOP, agreed the march had everyone affiliated from different backgrounds and different principals to fight for.
“The idea of being in the Women’s March was to have people united,” said Myer-Post. “…There were so many different things people were fighting for, like women’s rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, rights for people of color, people with disabilities and immigrants.”
The enormous amount of people who attended the Women’s March brought a great empowerment.
“They were anticipating over 200,000 people, but there were over 500,000 that showed up,” said Myer-Post. “The sheer amount of people that attended was incredibly empowering.”
The march had people from different backgrounds protesting against different issues brought a unity that had people feel they weren’t alone, said Myer-Post.
Along with the march being empowering, the march also had a message behind it.
“…We need to pull together and work together to make change happen,” said Dr. Vogel. “America is filled with amazing people…the march renewed our hope and our faith in our fellow men and women.”
People who attended the march not only in Washington, D.C., but who joined all over the world is the beginning of a movement and not the end of the movement.
“It wasn’t just one event that was great, then it was over,” said Myer-Post. “It’s the beginning of a movement, and we have to keep going. There is a lot more that we can still be doing.”
Even though the Women’s March consisted of fighting for different rights, the main principal of the march was ending violence.
“The first principal of the women’s march is ending violence period,” said Myer-Post. “I do not believe in violent protest; I believe in peaceful protest.”
Overall, the Women’s March in Washington D.C., and other parts of the world brought hundreds and thousands of people to come together and be united as one.
“There was something so powerful about being there,” said Myer-Post. “It was beautiful and powerful.”
personyr16@bonaventure.edu
