Women’s March Takes DC By Storm

By: Robbie Cruz

On Saturday, January 19th groups of Catholic University students marched in Washington last week calling for the support of women’s rights. The march started outside of Freedom Plaza and ended near the White House.

The Women’s March has a long history, as the first one took place March 3rd, 1913 after Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated. However, the recent marches began once President Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2017. The marches were started because of remarks that Trump said in the past about women. The march started at approximately 10 a.m., and ended at 5:00 p.m. Many of the participants brought signs and wore pink hats that became a trademark of the event during last year’s march.  Some of the featured signs read, “equALLity,” “I’m a girl, what’s your superpower?,” and “We won’t go back.”

There were thousands of signs at the protest; some drew a reaction with the anti-protesters. Anti-protesters were gated off and protected by security guards. About 15 anti-protesters were blocked off, and they all had bullhorns and shouted at the women. Anti-protesters called the women names and brought up the fact that what they were marching for was un-Christian like. Many women were offended by what was written on the signs, and the things an anti-protester shouted out through the bullhorn. Marchers gathered and yelled ‘shame’ at the anti-protesters, and they booed the men. However, there were people who supported the anti-protesters.

The march led to arguments between pro-Donald Trump and non-Donald Trump supporters, with the debate moving from women’s rights to Trump’s proposal to build the wall along the Mexican border. “90% of all heroin comes all heroin comes across the border, illegals have cost American taxpayers $135 billion a year, thousands of kids are sex trafficked a year” was written on the anti-protester’s sign.

Many of the protesters said they were not only marching due to inequality between genders, but they were protesting President Trump. Other signs said things such as, “Build a wall around Trump”, “Dump Trump”, “ F*** Trump.” The protesters were protesting Donald Trump because they were unhappy with the way he has performed since becoming president.

An anonymous CUA student visited the march and said that she was protesting Trump because “Donald Trump is the main reason the government is shut down. He has not been very accepting of immigrants ever since he became president. That is not what America is about.”

Some of the protesters also wrote signs that talked about abortion. Many of the marchers held signs saying, “Abortion is a civil right, My body my choice, I don’t regret my abortion.” This protest was set on Saturday because it was the day after the march for life. A march that had an estimated 650,000 people.  Many CUA students attended the march, and they made a point by attending.