Southern California demonstrators join peers around the world for Women’s March 2019
Two years after millions of women flooded streets around the world to decry the election of President Donald Trump, a smaller but determined contingency shared messages of empowerment and equality during Women’s March events held Saturday from Santa Ana to London.
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“Our coming together today is a resistance,” actress and activist Laverne Cox told the estimated 200,000-plus demonstrators gathered in downtown Los Angeles.
“We come with demands for justice, for equity. We come today peaceably, but we also come to fight.”
Participants claimed recent victories for their movement, including a record-setting turnout for the 2018 midterm election that helped turn Republic strongholds such as Orange County blue and elect more women than ever to Congress.
“Women across the country are leading the way and they’re taking this country back,” Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D- Torrance told a crowd of more than 300 people gathered at Veterans Park in Redondo Beach.
Those victories coupled with ideal January weather helped give many of Saturday’s marches a celebratory feel.
A troupe of ballet folklorico dancers greeted some 4,000 marchers in downtown Riverside. In Santa Ana, murals depicted societal issues such as motherhood while a chalk wall let demonstrators share their thoughts on the movement. And in Los Angeles, marchers could stop for a bacon-wrapped hotdog as a balloon dubbed “Baby Trump” floated by.
Celebrities including actress Anjelica Huston, singer Lance Bass and “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland were spotted at the L.A. march.
Adding to the lightness of the day were the clever signs marchers carried, with slogans such as “The Fempire Strikes Back,” “We are not ovary-acting” and “Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.”
But the message demonstrators carried was serious, with speakers addressing equal pay for women, workers rights, support for immigrants and the LGBTQ community, equity for indigenous communities and more. They expressed enduring anger over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment in the face of sexual assault allegations. And many called for Trump’s impeachment.
“We touch on so many issues because so many issues affect women,” said Emiliana Guereca, director of Women’s March Los Angeles, which is one of the largest marches in the world. “And I think that’s part of why we’re successful.”
As many as 5 million people are estimated to have participated during the first Women’s March in 2017, the day after Trump was sworn in as president.
Soon thereafter, the #MeToo movement flourished, challenging a culture that allowed sexual violence and gender double standards to endure. The subsequent boost to women as civic leaders is perhaps the most important force in today’s American politics.
Turnout was expected to fall this year after months of controversy stemming from the accusations of antisemitism, homophobia and a general lack of inclusivity that have plagued the Women’s March movement.
Marcher Ali Ozeri, who marched in LA with a sign that read “You’re not listening to Jewish women,” said she thinks the backlash caused many activists to stay home this year.
The internal tensions were most keenly felt in New York. An alternate women’s march organization held a parallel rally a few miles away from the official New York Women’s March event, and activist Laura Loomer disrupted the main protest, calling it “the real Nazi march.”
In East Coast cities, wintery weather and federal politics didn’t help. Organizers of the Washington, D.C. march had to change locations at the last minute since the National Park Service isn’t plowing the National Mall during the partial government shutdown.
Small numbers of counter-protesters appeared at local marches. In Redondo Beach, Arthur Schaper wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat and defended Trump. And in Los Angeles, a women wearing a costume that made it look as though Trump was carrying her on his back held a sign that called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, with the slogan “Kill your inconvenience on your dime — not mine.”
But law enforcement didn’t report any serious issues at Southern California marches. And, despite the smaller crowds, attendees said they’re encouraged by how these marches have sparked ongoing engagement on everything from housing the homeless to supporting the teachers on strike in Los Angeles.
“It sensitized us to the problems at the local level,” said Kim Vander Dussen of Anaheim.
Meanwhile, organizers are already looking to the future.
They hope next year’s marches will swell again, as everyone starts to focus on the coming presidential election.
“We definitely want to remind people it’s not over,” said Nichole Ramirez, who organized the Orange County march that drew an estimated 15,000 people Saturday. “There’s still a march to 2020.”
Reporters Ariella Plachta, Jeong Park, Kat Schuster and Shannon M. Hoffman, along with the Associated Press, contributed to this report.