For Women – The Women’s March Oakland

mbfitzmahan. 2017 Oakland, CA. The Women’s March.

Over 100,000 people came out to march.  Women, girls, men, boys.  Black, White, Asian, Latina, Native American, Irish, Russian.

This was a protest march for women.  About issues that concern women.  Women’s health, babies’ rights, children’s education, African American rights, Latinos rights, immigrant issues, voters’ rights, the environment, men’s rights, LGBTQ rights.  Prisons, police abuse, rape.  “So many issues, so little sign,” was my favorite sign of the March.

mbfitzmahan. 2016.

100,000 came out to march.

For women –  who have been marginalized for as long as we can remember.  For women –  who thought we had fought the fought, and thought we had won.  For women – who are our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our friends, our lovers.

mbfitzmahan. 2016

For women – who love their sons and their partners.  For women – who sit with us when we are sick, who take us to school and to soccer practice, who cook for us our favorite macaroni and cheese.  For women – who gave birth to us all.

mbfitzmahan. 2016

For women – who found dark matter in the universe, who wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  who discovered radioactivity, who refused to sit at the back of the bus.   For women – who fight for justice, for prison reform, for children.  For women – who thought we might have a woman President who cared about us.

mbfitzmahan. 2016

For women

who wrote, “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” (1)

who wrote, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”(2)

mbfitzmahan. 2016.

For women

who wrote, “Why do you grieve so uselessly? Every uncertainty is the result of a certainty. There is nothing in this world really to be lamented.” (3)

who wrote, ‘Joe. Just call me Joe.’ As if you were one of those stupid 22-year-old girls with no last name. ‘Hi, I’m Kimberley.’ ‘Hi, I’m Janice.’ Don’t they know you’re supposed to have a last name? It’s like they’re an entire generation of cocktail waitresses.” (4)

(1) J.K. Rowling  – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; (2) Rachel Carson – Silent Spring; (3) Murasaki Shikibu – The Tale of Genji; (4) Nora Ephron – “You’ve Got Mail.”