*Image by Studio 15’s Jia Wertz *
From Bernie Sanders to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, many politicians participated in the Women’s March on Washington. Several also chose to address the crowd to rally them in a united cause: having more women, especially diverse women, running for office so women can have the majority voice when it comes to issues that affect them.
The first politician to address the crowd was the nation’s capital mayor, Murier Bowser. She welcomed the crowd to the “best city in the world” and the “soon to be the 51st state,” Washington DC.
“I wanted to be here to let you know that Washington DC has a chick mayor and I am here to speak for all the women elected officials,” she started. “The women will tell you that we are more harshly criticized, we are more frequently criticized and we are more wrongly criticized at every single level, be it the school board, or the State House or a candidacy for the President of the United States.”
She explained that women are often criticized when they speak up for issues such for standing up for women’s rights, neighborhoods, families, and public education. She also addressed the issue of fighting for the people of Washington DC, who are 680,000 people strong but don’t have representation.
“Already, an emboldened congress continues to threaten the rights of women,” Murier said. “Year to year, they tell us that we can’t use our own money to support low-income women and their healthcare and now they want to make it permanent. You tell them to leave us alone.”
“The best state federal government can do for us is leave us alone,” she emphasized.
Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List, committed to elect pro-choice democratic women in this country, introduced senators and congress members, “the brave women who fight for us every day in Washington DC. “
They [Donald Trump and cabinet members] are going to tear apart our rights and our opportunities but here is the thing, you should be the one writing the laws, you should be one writing the policies and at Emily’s list, we will stand with you,” Schriock stated. “We have got two choices, my friends, we either run for office or we support a sister who is running for office. That’s what we are going to do and together, we are going to win.”
Here is what these members on Capitol Hill wanted the March on Washington to know:
Senator Kamala D. Harris addressed the crowd: “So here’s the deal. I believe we are at an inflection point in the history of our country. I believe this is a moment in time that is a pivotal moment in the history of our country,” she started.
She related the moment to when her parents met when they were active in the civil rights movement as students at the University of California Berkley in the 1960s or the moment
“You know when that circumstance or situation required us to look in a mirror and with furrowed brow, we asked the question, who are we,” Harris explained.
The answer to the question is a good one, according to Harris.
“Imperfect though we may be, I believe we are a great country and part of what makes us great is we are a nation that was founded on certain ideals,” she explained, discussing the ideals spoken in 1776.
Values included freedom to worship freely without intrusion and immigrant communities representing the heart and soul of what it means to be an American.
“And there is nothing more powerful than a group of determined sisters marching alongside with their partners and their determined sons and brothers and fathers, standing up for what we know is right,” she explained. “And here’s the thing; we know that it is right for this nation to prioritize women’s issues.”
Harris went on to define what women’s issues meant. She shared experiences in the offices she held, where others asked her to talk about women’s issues and were surprised when she brought up issues such as the economy, healthcare, national security, and more.
Her response? Everything is a woman’s issue:
If you are a woman, trying to raise a family, you know that a good paying job is a woman’s issue.
If you are a woman who is an immigrant who does not want her family torn apart, you know that immigration reform is a women’s issue.
If you are a woman working off student loans, you know the crushing burden of student’s debt is a woman’s issue.
If you are a black mother trying to raise a black son, you know black lives is a women’s issue
and if you are a woman period, you know that we deserve equal pay and access to healthcare including a safe and legal abortion, protected as a fundamental and constitutional right.
“So all of this is to say, my sisters and my brothers, we are tired as women of being relegated to simply being thought of as a particular constituency or demographic,” she added. “We together are powerful and we are a force that cannot be dismissed or written off onto the sidelines. But I have got to tell you, what we know is this; we have got our work cut out for us and it’s going to get harder before it gets easier.”
Harris promised the crowd that she would continue to fight.
From the Black Congress of America, Maxine Waters, U.S. Representative for California’s 43rd congressional district, had a different message for the crowd and for the new president.
“Your words, your actions have shown us that you don’t respect us,” she began. “That both, you, and all of your nominees for the cabinet posts are dangerous for us and all of our families.”
She went on to explain why:
Jeff Sessions: “Sessions has a history of racism, he voted against the women against violence act, he threatened civil rights workers who were just trying to register people to vote.”
Betsy DeVos: “A billionaire who he is picking to head education and she has never seen the inside of a classroom. She has no experience; she has no background, that’s dangerous for our children.”
Ex-CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson: “Oh, he’s a big friend of Putin and we know that he hid the reports on climate change so that we would not know what Exxon was doing to us and our families.”
Steven Mnuchin: “Then there is Steven Mnuchin, the foreclosure king. The predatory lender. He foreclosed on over 36,000 families and he put them out on the street.”
Her message for Trump continued: “ Well, Donald, we are here to tell you that we want you and Bannon to step sending those dog whistles to white supremacists.”
She concluded her speech by telling everyone that we need to continue to fight for equal rights and justice.
She also introduced the Black women of Congress, “who belong to the black caucus, who are struggling every day along with our sisters in the congress for justice and equality.” She recognized Yvette Clarke. Barbara Lee, Gwen Marr, Kamalah Harris, Lisa Blunt, Rochester, Sheila Jackson Lee, Terri Sewell, Val Demings, and Brenda Lawrence.
Kirsten Gillibrand, a United States Senator from New York, also joined the stage.
“More than a 100 years ago, women and men, but mostly women of courage just like you marched on Washington to tell the then president before his inauguration that they demanded the right to vote. Now today, those women, they were tripped, insulted, hospitalized but they knew that fight for the vote was important for them, their families, and their country,” she began.
“Today, after Hillary Clinton put 65 million cracks in the hardest and highest glass ceiling, we are marching on Washington for similar reasons. We want to be counted, we want to be heard, and we are going to fight for what we believe in just as the women stared down their own future of the impossible, we are not turning back.”
Her list of issues included equal pay for equal work, national paid leave plan, fighting for what we believe in, and more.
“We know that not until every woman and girl in this country has the chance to reach their God-given potential, that America will not reach hers,” she proclaimed.
She added that if Congress had 51 percent of women instead of the 20 percent, these issues would not be up for debate.
Tammi Duckworth, the junior United States Senator for Illinois also had a moving message.
“This is about our country. I didn’t shed blood to defend this nation. I didn’t give up literally parts of my body to have the Constitution trampled on,” Duckworth stated. “I did not serve along with the men and women in our Armed Forces, we did not serve to protect the constitution to have them roll back our rights. This is what it’s about.”
She urged the crowd to go hope and fight in their communities. She also encouraged everyone to run for office to be the “change you want to see in the world. “
Duckworth is the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand.
So Duckworth also made it a point to cover the American Disabilities Act.
They are not going to roll back the Americans With Disabilities Act because, without the ADA, I would not be here today,” she stated. “All my folks, in the disability community, they are not going to pollute our air and our water.”
She also addressed the confirmation hearings of the cabinet members. “You know I just sat through two weeks of confirmation hearings for what looks like a swamp cabinet of cabinet secretaries. People who forget they have millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands, people with ethical problems, people who don’t know whether or not there is a safe amount of lead that can be in your drinking supply. This is what we have to fight for.”
She concluded with a sign she saw at the march. The sign said “women are the wall and Trump will pay.”
“That is absolutely right. We are the wall, you are not rolling back our rights. Not as long as we are here, not as long as we are breathing,” she concluded.
