The March on Washington, formerly the Million Women March, was announced on social media the morning after the election. Almost instantly it became viral and people were wondering how they could contribute, share, and invite their friends and family.
Fontaine Pearson, the temporary National Head of the March on Washington, which is rallying thousands of women all over the country to march in Washington DC on January 21, shared the story of Maui Cooper Slim, a grandmother of two 8-year olds, who initiated the idea of this march.
It all began when Slim woke up and realized Donald Trump would be the next president. She was so upset that this is the world that they would live in and that anyone could’ve voted for Trump, given the misogyny and xenophobia and the racism, that she decided to do something about it, explained Pearson, who also had similar reasons for joining forces on organizing this movement.
Pearson shared that when she took her 17 year old to school the day following the election, “it was like walking in to a funeral.”
“I have never experienced that with any other election with our country- and I am 54,” she told DIVERGE.
“It’s not a protest against Donald Trump, it’s standing up as women for ourselves, our country and our children, against everything Donald Trump has come to stand for,” Pearson added.
The movement, which is organic and began ground up, is currently working to form structure and get plans in to place. As of Monday, the event page had over 66,000 people that stated they would attend the march and 155,000 that were interested, according to their Facebook page.
Pearson also said there has also been international interest in women attending the march. Tamara Rosenberg reached out to Pearson from France about 300 women that have been following the march and are meeting soon to decide if they can attend the march or host one in France on the same day.
Bob Bland, a fashion designer and founder of Nasty Woman, reached out to Pearson to help with the movement.
Bland, a New York based fashion designer launched Nasty Woman on October 19, which sells “Nasty Women” and “Bad Hombre” clothing.
The sales of the clothing donates a part of the sales to Planned Parenthood and shows Hillary Clinton solidarity, according to its Facebook Page.
“It made no sense why, even with that unfair standards, Clinton wouldn’t have been that clear choice, just for the safety and general stability,” explained Bland, who decided to collaborate with allies who wanted to identify as nasty women and have a coalition that could host a march on inauguration weekend.
Shortly after, she heard about the March on Washington, they joined forces to host the event together. Bland and Pearson are working around the clock to get everything in to place. They have worked with others to set up individual state leaders and pages, and are asking anyone that is interested in sponsoring, volunteering, or contributing to contact their state.
Jenny O’Halan Wolfe, a teacher and a mother of two little girls also plans to attend the march.
“I plan on marching not because I think it will suddenly allow Hillary to become president or because the electoral college will suddenly change their mind but because I want to say to the marginalized people of this nation that I have their back. That I am NOT okay with racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia,” she explained.
“I want to set an example for my daughters to also stand up for injustice. I simply cannot stand by while my friends, neighbors, and coworkers are targets of hateful rhetoric. And maybe just a little…I get satisfaction when Trump gets on Twitter and whines about protests being “unfair”. You’re goddamn right this is unfair!”
