Residents Join in Boston Women’s March

By Beth Treffeisen

Michelle Howell from Beacon Hill waves an American flag that reads ‘Don’t Tread on Me.’

Marchers bearing pink hats, colorful signs, and t-shirts stating ‘Nasty Women’ packed the Boston Common this past Saturday in a peaceful protest against the recent election of President Donals J. Trump.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in solidarity to fight for values of human dignity, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.

“Today, we were so proud to stand in solidarity with 175,000 people in Boston,” the Boston event organizers said in a statement. “United by more than 600 sister marches happening throughout the world, we sent a clear message to elected leaders that we are a country that stands for equality, dignity and justice. We thank the City of Boston, all public safety officials, and our thousands of marchers for a peaceful, positive event.”

Core values and missions that protesters came out to bring light to included human rights, religious freedom, racial justice, reproductive rights, economic justice, and climate change.

Following the speakers and performances, a jam-packed march took rally members close to an hour and half to exit the Boston Common, the marchers then proceeded on a one-mile route to Commonwealth Avenue, turned on Clarendon Street and then looped back to the Boston Common.

“We are going to stand up. We are going to fight!” said Mayor Martin Walsh at the rally. “We are going to take this fight from the Boston Common to the Mall in Washington to let the President know that he is supposed to represent all of us. He doesn’t have to make America great again. America is great; America is the greatest country in the world.”

According to the event organizers, there where zero police incidents, eight times the normal MBTA Saturday ridership and 86 registered buses.

Around the state demonstrations were also held in Falmouth, Greenfield, Nantucket, Provincetown, Northampton, and Pittsfield.

“We are here today because of the power of women,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “The power of women to come up with good ideas like this rally, the power of women to organize like this rally, and the power of women to make sure as our country enters a new political era that the voices of the people will be heard.”

Among the sea of protesters was a revolutionary group sporting a sign that said ‘Remember the Ladies’ by Abigail Adams. The fife group that usually performs around Boston, came in with a special message of ‘Freedom is for Everyone.’

Ben Ruesch, the spokesperson of the group, said they are supporting “the mothers of liberty and their married men.”

Another group of friends who traveled in from Quincy, Salem, and West Brooke, Connecticut could not believe that they were here again to march for their rights. One woman, Diane, said, “We’re here to march for our daughters and our granddaughters.”

The women of Boston and the greater Massachusetts area also joined together to march for their rights.

“We are always the other when it comes to our status,” said Bree Herne, who is on the board of the North American Indian Center of Boston. “We are under represented in legal legislation…we believe it was time to come out and be represented.

Herne said that about 50,000 Native Americans live in Boston and in the past they have worked toward removing Columbus Day as a holiday.

Mona A. Brooks, who traveled in from Peterborough, New Hampshire, said she believes this is just the beginning. “This is just going to keep going and going. This is just the start.”

Brooks believes that this will spark more people to continue to protest for their rights and help other groups they support as this moves forward.

“There are more of us than there are of them. Today is about unity, it is about solidarity and it is bringing the fight this day and everyday forward for what we believe in,” said Attorney General Maura Healey.

She continued, “We’re going to stand up to bullies, we are going to protect the vulnerable and we are going to make our case day after day for shared values.”

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