(no subject)
I was at the Women’s March San Francisco last Saturday. I’ve been pondering what to say about the experience.
I went for so many reasons. My initial reason is that I felt the November election like a blow. I don’t feel like relisting all the reasons. See previous posts.
Senator Feinstein wanted anyone from California who marched to send in their reasons in a 2-3 sentence statement for possible reading on the Senate floor.
Here’s what I sent.
I marched for the women so immersed in rape culture that they claimed to be just fine even as they breathed in oppression like summer smog with the forests on fire. I marched for the mocked disabled, for the immigrants who have always made this country great, for my share of benefit from slavery’s burden, and for the very earth I was walking on. I walked because I’ve been quiet and polite, and it is far past time I used my white privilege to speak out.
That first sentence is actually a good turning point. I heard so many women on NPR and in print brush off Trump’s remarks as normal. Just a joke. That they’d be happy to be grabbed. That they don’t “feel” disempowered by his words. His physical looming at the debates. His repeated positioning of a woman’s value as based on her body. On her value in his gaze.
The continuous gaslighting that went on before the election and certainly has framed most Republican responses when talking about the march and women. Men who are only too happy to talk about the “Sanctity of Life”, but by “life” really mean “birth” given they won’t fund/support the health care and programs that actually support life.
Every time I’d hear that I should give Trump a chance, I’d look at that list of his cabinet nominees and think, he’s already acting against what I believe are fundamental American values by picking billionaires, who are actively against the very departments they want to lead. I mean, it starts with a racist chief of staff. A head of energy, who once said it needed to be eliminated. A Climate Change denier in the EPA. Health Department, who arguably has a history of profiting from health companies. Dept of Education who thinks charter schools don’t need to be accountable to the Fed if they get money from my tax dollars. I went to a religious school. I got many benefits from it. They also taught me that evolution was fake, which admittedly I took to mean all information presented to me must be rigorously reviewed until accepted. I don’t think they meant to turn me into progressive Christian, who questioned the literal truth of what I learned in Bible class (it’s why I like metaphors), but not everyone is like me. Want to make America great. They we need science. Where do we get new scientists? School. Unless they immigrate here. Except, they don’t want immigrants either.
Which leads me to the last sentence.
Before the march, there were a lot of facebook posts going around telling people how to be safe in case of arrests, know our rights, etc. What happened was what I suspected was the case. White women have inequities, but we have privilege. While not every white woman has had a positive relationship with police, on the whole white women have a very different relationship with police than people of color. I thought it was likely to go as it did, although I had no idea it would be so vast.
I’m glad. We needed that day.
Because that day was the start of other days.
Every speech at the San Francisco march (where the speakers were entirely women: black, white, asian, hispanic, transgender, dealing with stage 4 cancer, and on) repeated over and over that this was a start. A battery charge to look around and see a sea of the like minded. We are not alone.
Yes, primarily white women who don’t need pundits to tell us that we’re going to need to show up to support not only our own rights being taken away, but to speak out for the more vulnerable members of our society.
There were a lot of signs that - correctly - noted that white women voted for Trump. That was the subject of that first sentence. There’s also the reality that first wave and second wave feminism has not done well with including people of color and other sections of the disadvantaged. Despite the reality that we are the one minority, who are not actually a minority.
The past is prolog. As much as Trump wants to relitigate the legitimacy of his own election, what matters now is how we go forward.
At that rally, we were (in various ways) told that we’re going to be gaslit. Trolled. Mocked. Called snowflakes. While yes, I like the sign, “I am a snowflake and winter is coming,” it belies the central threat that an unstable narcissist with no grasp on facts and his coterie of swamp crocodiles present to women, minorities, the disabled, immigrants, the marginalized, the poor, civil liberties, freedom of religion, a free press, and as always I must end on the planet. Actually, the planet will be fine. The sanctity of life however, that may have some problems if we ignore the reality of climate change. So, yes, also white middle class voters, who are hurting.
Every sign and speech was a rejection of the idea that Trump is normal. That being a sexual predator is okay. That attacking LGBTQIA is okay. That the way to deal with climate change is to block scientists from publishing and sharing information.
It was like no protest I have ever been to. It was like no march. By which I mean I mean a few hundred students or UU or whatever isn’t even remotely like being surrounded by probably 100k people. Reports vary, but I tend to believe 100k given what I know about the size of the space filled and just how packed we were. Knowing that around the globe, the same thing was happening again and again. Knowing that for every one of us there, we each had people who couldn’t be there because of family or life responsibilities.
It rained. Poured. Our many colorful umbrellas came out and they were so interlocked they formed a sort of drippy ceiling. Not really keeping out the rain, but like standing under a tree kept us all from getting completely soaked. When a hip hop artist came forward, our umbrellas bobbed and danced. When a speaker, led us in question and response, we roared our damp responses. Which is why my voice is still a bit hoarse.
Unlike those Trump supporters who wore red hats made in China, hatted marchers made their own damned hats. Thus all the craft stores running out of pink yarn. The sheer variety of signs and concepts. Like our umbrellas, even the things we printed had variety.
And yes, the event was an acknowledgement that we’re, by which I mean I, are going to need to show up in a way I haven’t before. Which I’ll admit I’m still trying to figure out what that means. But the call to action I felt after the election hasn’t faded. If anything it’s increased with every action that Trump takes.
Which it’s own danger, because as everyone at the march said, the problems that have been highlighted by the Trump election are not new. He didn’t create them. He and others like him are merely highlighting what was always there. Sharpening the danger until it feels like there is no choice to act.
With so many directions to go, it will be difficult to keep from running in all directions.
On that day, Joan Baez played us out of the plaza, some people so far back they couldn’t even hear what was happening on the stage. We somewhat dangerously scrambled across the wet concrete. Trying not stab each other with our umbrellas when we had to climb down cement drops.
I put away my umbrella and raised my sign. As per what I’ve done for years at Comiccon, I had made our signs like Roman blinds out of fabric with iron-ons. We raised them on fishing poles. The rain fell on me and I grew more and more soaked. Sturdy in my hiking boots. Calling back to the people behind us as we came to a particularly deep puddle or pothole.
Chants would flow down the march as we walked down Market St. “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Trump has got to go.” “We need a leader, not a pervy tweeter.” “My body, my choice. Her body, her choice.” I can’t actually even remember all of them. They are marked on my vocal chords.
As I’ve watched the responses to the march over the week, I think we badly needed the march as a strong show of force as an opening salvo. The sheer diversity of positions showing support for other marches. Other organizations. Movements.
And by the way I’m listing things in the order of local SF Bay Area planned marches I know about. I’m not going to be able to go to all of them either.
Black Lives Matter (Oakland 1/28)
This one I know about through SURJ.
I didn’t feel like the Women’s march was really about creating new movements, but about saying, “We’re worried about all the things,” adding fuel to existing movements that have always needed help and could certainly use this new infusion of energy. Here I’ll mention, I did hear of some after the event examples of white marchers not being aware of their own privilege. This needs must lead into some uncomfortable conversations. People don’t like discomfort. We’ll see how that plays out. But as I said, Trump raises the tension on the other side so high, silence becomes unacceptable.
Planned Parenthood (2/11)
Pro-Birth (I won’t call them pro-Life until they support health care for all) advocates are planning Defund Planned Parenthood marches. There are Support Planned Parenthood marches being planned for the same day. For several years, PP was the only way I received any healthcare. Like ACA, I sometimes feel like PP’s problem is people don’t realize just how much value PP provides.
A scientist’s march (still in the works, but the rogue twitter accounts are mind boggling as a social phenomenon)
“Both climate activists and scientists said they were bolstered by the Women's Marches, which drew millions of women and men around the world, from Washington down to Antarctica.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/d-c-march-science-most-191954246.html
Climate change is very real and very dangerous and alternative facts won’t keep
Tax Day March (or the weekend around Tax Day)
Yes, I very much care about Trump’s taxes. Who does he owe money to? Does he have foreign investors? If yes, how much? Does he even pay federal taxes? Does he give to charity and if so which ones? Based on the Washington Post’s excellent investigative journalism, we know that contributors who donated to Trump’s charity received “benefits” from Trump’s properties. I want forensic accountants pouring through those tax returns. Which he’ll never do because he isn’t under a legal obligation to do so, but I need him to know, that yes, I do care and yes I did vote.
Actually, too many marches. I’ve been calling my Congress Critters every morning. I’m thinking of expanding weekly postcards to bolster the few Republican Senators, who at least seem to have a conscience. Then acknowledge that there are four years of this and pacing is necessary.
https://medium.com/the-coffeelicious/how-to-stayoutraged-without-losing-your-mind-fc0c41aa68f3
So, tonight/tomorrow/weekend, I hope to work on the on-line version of my New Zealand photo album. So, that my next post is about a lovely country on the other side of the world. Although, yes, the comments for some pictures will probably talk about Climate Change.
I went for so many reasons. My initial reason is that I felt the November election like a blow. I don’t feel like relisting all the reasons. See previous posts.
Senator Feinstein wanted anyone from California who marched to send in their reasons in a 2-3 sentence statement for possible reading on the Senate floor.
Here’s what I sent.
I marched for the women so immersed in rape culture that they claimed to be just fine even as they breathed in oppression like summer smog with the forests on fire. I marched for the mocked disabled, for the immigrants who have always made this country great, for my share of benefit from slavery’s burden, and for the very earth I was walking on. I walked because I’ve been quiet and polite, and it is far past time I used my white privilege to speak out.
That first sentence is actually a good turning point. I heard so many women on NPR and in print brush off Trump’s remarks as normal. Just a joke. That they’d be happy to be grabbed. That they don’t “feel” disempowered by his words. His physical looming at the debates. His repeated positioning of a woman’s value as based on her body. On her value in his gaze.
The continuous gaslighting that went on before the election and certainly has framed most Republican responses when talking about the march and women. Men who are only too happy to talk about the “Sanctity of Life”, but by “life” really mean “birth” given they won’t fund/support the health care and programs that actually support life.
Every time I’d hear that I should give Trump a chance, I’d look at that list of his cabinet nominees and think, he’s already acting against what I believe are fundamental American values by picking billionaires, who are actively against the very departments they want to lead. I mean, it starts with a racist chief of staff. A head of energy, who once said it needed to be eliminated. A Climate Change denier in the EPA. Health Department, who arguably has a history of profiting from health companies. Dept of Education who thinks charter schools don’t need to be accountable to the Fed if they get money from my tax dollars. I went to a religious school. I got many benefits from it. They also taught me that evolution was fake, which admittedly I took to mean all information presented to me must be rigorously reviewed until accepted. I don’t think they meant to turn me into progressive Christian, who questioned the literal truth of what I learned in Bible class (it’s why I like metaphors), but not everyone is like me. Want to make America great. They we need science. Where do we get new scientists? School. Unless they immigrate here. Except, they don’t want immigrants either.
Which leads me to the last sentence.
Before the march, there were a lot of facebook posts going around telling people how to be safe in case of arrests, know our rights, etc. What happened was what I suspected was the case. White women have inequities, but we have privilege. While not every white woman has had a positive relationship with police, on the whole white women have a very different relationship with police than people of color. I thought it was likely to go as it did, although I had no idea it would be so vast.
I’m glad. We needed that day.
Because that day was the start of other days.
Every speech at the San Francisco march (where the speakers were entirely women: black, white, asian, hispanic, transgender, dealing with stage 4 cancer, and on) repeated over and over that this was a start. A battery charge to look around and see a sea of the like minded. We are not alone.
Yes, primarily white women who don’t need pundits to tell us that we’re going to need to show up to support not only our own rights being taken away, but to speak out for the more vulnerable members of our society.
There were a lot of signs that - correctly - noted that white women voted for Trump. That was the subject of that first sentence. There’s also the reality that first wave and second wave feminism has not done well with including people of color and other sections of the disadvantaged. Despite the reality that we are the one minority, who are not actually a minority.
The past is prolog. As much as Trump wants to relitigate the legitimacy of his own election, what matters now is how we go forward.
At that rally, we were (in various ways) told that we’re going to be gaslit. Trolled. Mocked. Called snowflakes. While yes, I like the sign, “I am a snowflake and winter is coming,” it belies the central threat that an unstable narcissist with no grasp on facts and his coterie of swamp crocodiles present to women, minorities, the disabled, immigrants, the marginalized, the poor, civil liberties, freedom of religion, a free press, and as always I must end on the planet. Actually, the planet will be fine. The sanctity of life however, that may have some problems if we ignore the reality of climate change. So, yes, also white middle class voters, who are hurting.
Every sign and speech was a rejection of the idea that Trump is normal. That being a sexual predator is okay. That attacking LGBTQIA is okay. That the way to deal with climate change is to block scientists from publishing and sharing information.
It was like no protest I have ever been to. It was like no march. By which I mean I mean a few hundred students or UU or whatever isn’t even remotely like being surrounded by probably 100k people. Reports vary, but I tend to believe 100k given what I know about the size of the space filled and just how packed we were. Knowing that around the globe, the same thing was happening again and again. Knowing that for every one of us there, we each had people who couldn’t be there because of family or life responsibilities.
It rained. Poured. Our many colorful umbrellas came out and they were so interlocked they formed a sort of drippy ceiling. Not really keeping out the rain, but like standing under a tree kept us all from getting completely soaked. When a hip hop artist came forward, our umbrellas bobbed and danced. When a speaker, led us in question and response, we roared our damp responses. Which is why my voice is still a bit hoarse.
Unlike those Trump supporters who wore red hats made in China, hatted marchers made their own damned hats. Thus all the craft stores running out of pink yarn. The sheer variety of signs and concepts. Like our umbrellas, even the things we printed had variety.
And yes, the event was an acknowledgement that we’re, by which I mean I, are going to need to show up in a way I haven’t before. Which I’ll admit I’m still trying to figure out what that means. But the call to action I felt after the election hasn’t faded. If anything it’s increased with every action that Trump takes.
Which it’s own danger, because as everyone at the march said, the problems that have been highlighted by the Trump election are not new. He didn’t create them. He and others like him are merely highlighting what was always there. Sharpening the danger until it feels like there is no choice to act.
With so many directions to go, it will be difficult to keep from running in all directions.
On that day, Joan Baez played us out of the plaza, some people so far back they couldn’t even hear what was happening on the stage. We somewhat dangerously scrambled across the wet concrete. Trying not stab each other with our umbrellas when we had to climb down cement drops.
I put away my umbrella and raised my sign. As per what I’ve done for years at Comiccon, I had made our signs like Roman blinds out of fabric with iron-ons. We raised them on fishing poles. The rain fell on me and I grew more and more soaked. Sturdy in my hiking boots. Calling back to the people behind us as we came to a particularly deep puddle or pothole.
Chants would flow down the march as we walked down Market St. “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Trump has got to go.” “We need a leader, not a pervy tweeter.” “My body, my choice. Her body, her choice.” I can’t actually even remember all of them. They are marked on my vocal chords.
As I’ve watched the responses to the march over the week, I think we badly needed the march as a strong show of force as an opening salvo. The sheer diversity of positions showing support for other marches. Other organizations. Movements.
And by the way I’m listing things in the order of local SF Bay Area planned marches I know about. I’m not going to be able to go to all of them either.
Black Lives Matter (Oakland 1/28)
This one I know about through SURJ.
I didn’t feel like the Women’s march was really about creating new movements, but about saying, “We’re worried about all the things,” adding fuel to existing movements that have always needed help and could certainly use this new infusion of energy. Here I’ll mention, I did hear of some after the event examples of white marchers not being aware of their own privilege. This needs must lead into some uncomfortable conversations. People don’t like discomfort. We’ll see how that plays out. But as I said, Trump raises the tension on the other side so high, silence becomes unacceptable.
Planned Parenthood (2/11)
Pro-Birth (I won’t call them pro-Life until they support health care for all) advocates are planning Defund Planned Parenthood marches. There are Support Planned Parenthood marches being planned for the same day. For several years, PP was the only way I received any healthcare. Like ACA, I sometimes feel like PP’s problem is people don’t realize just how much value PP provides.
A scientist’s march (still in the works, but the rogue twitter accounts are mind boggling as a social phenomenon)
“Both climate activists and scientists said they were bolstered by the Women's Marches, which drew millions of women and men around the world, from Washington down to Antarctica.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/d-c-march-science-most-191954246.html
Climate change is very real and very dangerous and alternative facts won’t keep
Tax Day March (or the weekend around Tax Day)
Yes, I very much care about Trump’s taxes. Who does he owe money to? Does he have foreign investors? If yes, how much? Does he even pay federal taxes? Does he give to charity and if so which ones? Based on the Washington Post’s excellent investigative journalism, we know that contributors who donated to Trump’s charity received “benefits” from Trump’s properties. I want forensic accountants pouring through those tax returns. Which he’ll never do because he isn’t under a legal obligation to do so, but I need him to know, that yes, I do care and yes I did vote.
Actually, too many marches. I’ve been calling my Congress Critters every morning. I’m thinking of expanding weekly postcards to bolster the few Republican Senators, who at least seem to have a conscience. Then acknowledge that there are four years of this and pacing is necessary.
https://medium.com/the-coffeelicious/how-to-stayoutraged-without-losing-your-mind-fc0c41aa68f3
So, tonight/tomorrow/weekend, I hope to work on the on-line version of my New Zealand photo album. So, that my next post is about a lovely country on the other side of the world. Although, yes, the comments for some pictures will probably talk about Climate Change.