Thousands of women and men gathered for the Women’s March at the Cambridge Common in support of women’s rights Saturday afternoon. The march was a reiteration of the Women’s March held on Boston Common last year, which was a part of a nationwide mobilization reaction to President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The goal of this year’s march was to invigorate more people into resisting and getting involved in activism and elections, said Zayda Ortiz, the master of ceremonies at the march and representative of the January Coalition, a newly formed alliance of social activist groups created to organize this year’s Women’s March.
“What we were hoping to do … is to have localized sister marches where people are working within their community and within wherever they live to try and activate their neighbors from the towns around them to work towards a goal of either working on a campaign or becoming more active and civically engaged in their own communities,” Ortiz said in an interview before the rally.
Ortiz also said the organizers tried to improve on the critique from last year that there weren’t many diverse voices being represented. She said that ultimately, listening to different perspectives will allow for progress.
“If we can have and listen to our sisters who aren’t usually the first to speak, if we listen to their stories and bring power to what they’re speaking and listen to what they’re saying, if we lift everyone up together, we can move forward and really make a change in 2018,” Ortiz said.
Several elected officials and community members spoke at the march, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
At the march, Healey said she has countered the actions of Trump through the courts several times since the Women’s March in 2017 to demonstrate the power of popular resistance, pointing out how the country is not about the president, but about its people.
“Now is the time to remember the resistance is in our DNA,” Healy said. “We came to raise our voices. We came in solidarity and yes, we came with a message for Donald Trump. That message is I told Donald Trump, ‘We’ll see you in court,’ and when I said that — people, I had no idea it would be so often.”
In light of the #MeToo movement, Healey said she feels empowered, because now is a time in the United States where women are speaking up about being mistreated.
“Women across this country in every city and every industry put this world on their toes,” Healey said. “We have power, we have a voice and we’re going to use it. And those of you who can’t get on board, who were never on board, you better believe it — your time is up.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren could not attend the march, as she was in Washington, D.C. due to the current government shutdown, but a message from Warren was read. She wrote that continued protest is vital to moving forward as women.
“The world changed the day that Donald Trump was sworn in as president, but the world changed again the day after, the day women in Massachusetts and all across the country became an army,” Warren wrote.
Rep. Mike Connolly reflected on the issues faced during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. During his speech, he said the power of the people is what has pushed back against some of the president’s actions.
“He tried to ban the Muslim community, but we didn’t allow it, did we? He tried to equivocate on white supremacy, but we showed up on Boston Common and we shut that down,” Connolly said to the crowd. “He tried to ban birth control coverage but here in the Massachusetts state legislature, we protected birth control, didn’t we? So, we proved that we’re effective. And now in 2018 we’re going to move forward.”
Several attendees of the march spoke about why they chose to come and their opinions on the success of the march.
Aliaa El-Hadidy, 28, of Sharon, said her experience as a daughter of immigrants and as a minority motivated her to attend the Women’s March.
“I was born and raised here, but my parents migrated here for a better life for me,” El-Hadidy said. “As a woman, as a minority, I think that it was just very important for me to show that I disagree with everything that is happening in the government and not just in the U.S. but in the world with equality for women and minorities.”
Sasha Affleck, 46, of Quincy, said attending last year’s march in Washington, D.C. compelled her to go to the march in Cambridge.
“[The D.C. march] was phenomenal and there was an energy surging through the crowd I don’t feel exactly today, but it’s just a different time and a different place,” Affleck said. “I’m very happy that everyone came out and is standing together.”
Susan Rose, 62, of Cambridge, said she saved up her energy over the week to attend the march despite her recent cancer diagnosis.
“I’m newly diagnosed with stage four cancer and I don’t have a lot of energy, but I just wanted to be able to come,” Rose said. “It’s horrifying, it’s sickening what’s happening in this country, and that includes how women are being treated.”
Rose said she was disappointed that many issues she protested about in her youth are still being dealt with today.
“I went to women’s rights marches, anti-war marches, and so many of those issues got at least markedly improved,” Rose said. “None of those [issues] got to a state which was perfect.”
