The Women's March takes place this weekend, Jan. 20-21. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Sallie Reissman, an assistant vice president and dean at Wilmington University, remembers attending the Women's March on Washington last year with her two daughters, more than 2,000 Delawareans and a 25-foot-long banner with a timely message:
"We rise by lifting others."
The blustery weather made the sign unwieldy, so a dozen strangers carried it forward. And Reissman thought, "We are going to work together on this one."
It's been one year since that historic march drew a half-million people (eclipsing inauguration crowds the day before) and spawned roughly 600 sister marches across the globe.
One year after the most divisive presidential election in recent memory.
One year after fiery rhetoric became policy.
The local activist remains resolute: "We're in it for the long haul."
So Reissman and more than 50 other First State women and men boarded a bus Saturday morning in north Wilmington headed to the cradle of liberty, Philadelphia, to ensure that a movement doesn't evaporate in a moment of nonviolent solidarity.
It was a day after President Donald Trump pledged to defend "the right to life" in a speech at the White House Rose Garden that was broadcast to thousands of anti-abortion activists rallying on the National Mall.
Philadelphia march organizers expect as many as 80,000 people — 30,000 more than last year — to crowd the Benjamin Franklin Parkway before the march begins at 11 a.m. Participants will walk from Logan Square to Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum downtown, where more than 20 speakers and performers are scheduled to embody the theme, "We Resist. We Persist. We Rise."
In Newark, activists, nonprofit leaders, spiritual directors and Delaware lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long and Equality Delaware President Lisa Goodman, will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Willa Road, the site of last year's march. The free ticketed event was close to being sold out late Friday.
An outdoor rally at the same location begins at 11 a.m. and is open to everyone. More than 1,000 people attended the Newark event last year, and organizers are expecting on par-to-slightly-lower participation.
On Sunday, a march in Lewes will begin at 1 p.m. at the Lewes Public Library, where Blunt Rochester is scheduled to speak again.
"This simple message has inspired millions to engage in our political process and advocate for our values," the Delaware Democrat, who marched last year, said in a statement.
The Lewes speakers' panel is sold out inside the library, so attendees are encouraged to livestream the program on YouTube by searching for "womensmarchsussex."
STORY: More than 2,000 Delawareans march on Washington
STORY: Trump pushes Congress to restrict abortions as he addresses 'March for Life' event
Delaware's rallies are among dozens hosted by cities across the country this weekend. The largest are expected in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.
In Las Vegas, Women's March Inc., the organizers of last year's national march, will hold a "Power to the Polls" rally Sunday, targeting swing states ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. With a large immigrant population, Nevada supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and is poised to be a battleground state next year.
Last year's March on Washington was billed as the largest organized protest to protect basic human rights they believe are imperiled by the Trump administration. Participants endorsed a multi-pronged platform of racial justice, reproductive freedom, environmental protection, pay equity and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
And they pledged to catalyze change at the local level long after they retired their "pussy hats."
This year's hats are blue, not pink, to symbolize progressive ideals and so as not to marginalize women of color and transgender women. The cat ears have been swapped for a woven wave, representing a hoped-for sea change in deep-red states and beyond.
Feminism was 2017's word of year, according to Merriam-Webster.
Last month, Alabama's black women headed to the polls in unprecedented numbers to elect Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate.
A wider social reckoning is afoot as hundreds of thousands of women have shared their stories of victimization from sexual misconduct and abuse as part of the #MeToo movement.
Today, men represent more than 75 percent of state legislatures and Congress, but this year's congressional races are expected to attract a record number of female candidates.
Emilie Bakey, a disabled mother of two in Elsmere, is heartened by the political and civic engagement and community-building of the sprawling movement. Suffering from breathing problems, she's unable to march this year but knitted a half dozen hats from royal to robin's egg blue to keep those carrying the torch warm. Each hat took her more than seven hours to finish.
"I feel like everything we were expressing that we were concerned about has come to pass," explains Bakey. Her adult daughter with special needs relies on Medicaid and Social Security benefits, both of which could be next on the chopping block.
Reissman acknowledges the challenge of maintaining an air of exuberance when marginalized communities are suffering. Clinton won just 54 percent of women against Trump; she fared even worse among white women
Yet Reissman's Newark Indivisible group, one of about 15 grassroots activist organizations to which she belongs, helped elect Democrat Stephanie Hanson last year in the special election for the 10th District Senate seat. When Reissman advertised that a Delaware bus was traveling to Philadelphia for the march, seats sold out in two days.
"All the women coming out — they have the ability to change this," she insisted. "And, heck yeah, we're going to make a difference in this world."
This is a developing story. Check back on delawareonline.com for updates.
Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com. Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856 or jhpeterson@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jopeterson93.