Women On the March

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Abby Zimet, staff writer

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Vowing to "stand up and fight back" against the coming horrors, hundreds of thousands of women along with men are gearing up to march on Washington Saturday. Because we have in fact been here before, they will be following in the determined footsteps of a now-largely-forgotten 1913 New York to Washington Woman Suffrage Procession - 234 miles in 17 days - seeking to galvanize the suffrage movement in conjunction with Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. The D.C. marchers will be accompanied in spirit by hundreds of sister marches across the country, along with a wave of Nasty Women and We the People art projects meant to help "resist as much as possible." From one organizer, "We can't just be defeated...We have to be active."

Hoping to spread the word and hope, Women On the March has posted a series of black and white portraits by photographer Clayton Cubitt of key participants, along with stirring Why I March testimonials. Pam Campos, an "Air Force vet & proud daughter of a Honduran immigrant," cites a life "anchored in service and fearlessness. Inequality maims us all, and this march is a show of strengths & our collective leadership." Winnie Wong: "I march because our democracy is a dumpster fire...I march because we fight sexism with solidarity." And from one survivor of a childhood sexual assault, "I’ll link arms and kick up dirt, I’ll yell for all the times I couldn’t, I’ll shout for women who can’t. I march because each step forward floats my body home." See you in D.C.