A group of women, and a few men, gather in Town Square to mark the anniversary of the Women’s March in Washington D.C.
LIMA —- A year ago, more than a million people participated in the Women’s March in Washington, D.C.
This area was represented at the event, and several of those participants gathered Saturday in Lima’s Town Square to hold a non-violent rally to reflect on the impact of the Washington march.
“Actually it was a very spontaneous thing. We decided in less than 24 hours to put this together because a number of us went to the Women’s March and realized it was a very significant thing in our lives. We didn’t want the anniversary to go unmarked,” said Wendy Chappell-Dick, a member of Allen & Hardin for Election Action & Democracy (AHEAD).
“The Women’s March has really really specific unity statements and it’s very focused on intersectionality, which is the connection that all of these different issues have with each other, whether it’s racism, sexism [or] homophobia, and the idea is to have a vision for a more just society, a fairer society where women and men and all people are equal,” she said.
Much has happened in the year since the original Women’s March. Allegations of sexual wrongdoing have been leveled against many powerful Hollywood men and even President Donald Trump.
“I wonder how much of that has seeds in the Women’s March last year. How much the Women’s March might have influenced women’s courage to come forward. Personally, I’m not particularly surprised by any of that stuff just because I know it happens in our daily lives, not just in Hollywood,” Chappell-Dick said.
One of those speaking at the Lima rally was 3rd Ward Councilor Carla Thompson, a participant in the Women’s March in Washington a year ago. She says she was inspired by the march to run for political office.
“I’ve always been the activist. I’ve never been a politician, and what I figured out over the last year is that it’s time for the activist to be the politician. It’s time for the social workers, the teachers and the people that give a damn to take those offices because we’ve been just lobbying and hoping that somebody would listen and look at what the hell happened,” Thompson said. “You really can run for something and you can be good at it and you can be yourself and honesty is going to win out over all of this other crap that they’ve got out there. I won by 22 votes. Your vote matters; your voice matters. I had nothing. I had no money. I had no connections. I had a voice and I went out and I used it and I talked to people and that voice got me those votes.”
Reach Sam Shriver at 567-242-0409.
