Skip to main content

Why I Marched

Saturday, January 21, 2017 I believe will be written about for years to come. Whether it be in op-ed pieces or academic research, the Women's March on Washington and its subsequent global movement was too vast to ignore. Looking at all of the posts on social media and several news articles, I can't help but be moved by the incredible outcome, and support for the cause.

I have gone through several different versions of this post, but none quite capture everything that is in my head. I've come to accept that no matter how I write this, I won't be able to perfectly represent all my thoughts, feelings, and opinions on this movement - please, bear with me as I try to do my best.

 --------------------
Why I Marched

I marched, not because I was against our current president, the man, but because I am against the divisive rhetoric of his campaign.

build bridges, not walls

I marched, because decisions about my body should not be made by people who do not know me or my situation.
my body, my choice

I marched, because I refuse to live in a world where consent is not required, and the concept not respected.

yes means yes, and no means no

I marched, because diversity should be embraced and not used as a marker of oppression.

black lives matter

I marched, because who a person loves, how they dress, or what name they call themselves shouldn't matter.

trans rights are human rights

I marched, because the world needs more compassion and understanding.

love trumps hate
--------------------
I know the march meant different things to different people - be it more, or less, or completely different than what is above. But what I think is so fantastic about what the Women's March became is that it ignited a fire in millions of people across the world. People from all walks of life banded together to show their support for equality and justice. I hope that the flame stays lit within most, if not all, of my fellow feminists.

As an expat, the globalization of this march allowed me to participate in American politics from thousands of miles away. It has also provided me with a ray of hope to share with anyone who I may meet that is wary or befuddled by the current state of our political system. 

The fight is far from over, both in the US and globally. While the symptoms vary from place to place, inequality is ubiquitous, and needs to be fought on every front. The issues cannot be addressed all at once, but need to be tackled one-by-one. This is only the beginning of this movement.

Like so many others, the Women's March was my first step down the path of activism, and I cannot wait to see where the feminist road will lead me.

La imagen puede contener: 9 personas, multitud y exterior
Women's March in Barcelona, Spain. Sign translation: Respect my existence or expect resistance
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So I Actually Made a Decision for Once

If you know me even a little bit, you probably know how terrible I am at making decisions. Honestly, I'm truly terrible at it, so you can imagine how difficult it's been for me to work through a decision that's going to (minimally) impact the next 3-4 years of my life: where to go to grad school. Now, part of the decision was made for me by admissions committees that decided to pass on my applications. A bit disappointing, of course, but at least this eliminated the choice of where I'd want to live. At the end of the entire process, I was left with offers from 2 universities, both in Montreal, Canada. Both schools have pro's and con's (and yes, I made a list), but in the end I had to listen to: what people said about the importance of the relationship with my future supervisor,  some incredibly quotable advice happiness and life,  and ultimately my gut. All that being said, I'm happy to share that come September, I will be attending Concordi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Croatia - A Month Later...

Moving back to the US has had its ups and downs, but if anything is certain when I'm back home is that I will be busy. Between unpacking, purging my room, family events, and preparing for the new job, I've been so preoccupied that I kept putting off this recap of my trip to Croatia. So on this rainy day, I'm just going to relive the 5 days of sunshine if you don't mind. As with any good trip, the story really starts with the trek to the airport. This time around it was at 4:45 in the morning. Luckily, the only thing that wasn't ideal was the timing, but at least Laura (this trip's travel buddy) was able to convince her dad to drive us to the airport before the sun was even up. We tried to catch up on our sleep on the plane, but there's only so much you can do when you're squeezed in like sardines. But the early flight meant we landed with nearly a full day ahead of us. After finding our AirBnB and a scarfing down a very Dutch lunch of cheese sandwich...
1 comment
Read more

Crash Course in Linguistics

Innocent, well-meaning, new acquaintance: So what do you study? Me: Linguistics Them: Oh! How many languages do you speak? Me: *mentally picturing lasers darting out of my eyes* This conversation is well-known to virtually everyone who has ever studied the misunderstood topic of linguistics. To be fair, it's not a very popular one, so I don't expect people to know all of its intricacies. But I'd prefer it if people asked questions about it instead of assuming. To put it another way: asking a linguist how many languages they speak is like asking someone majoring in journalism which newspaper they study, or asking a doctor how many diseases they have. A bit odd, no? My goal is to make the conversation at the beginning of this post just as odd.  So - what is linguistics??? In the shortest definition, linguistics is the study of language. Note how that's singular. Linguists can  study a particular language or group of languages, but more often than not, ...
Post a Comment
Read more