#whyImarch

On Saturday January 21, I will march for women.

I am a white married heterosexual educated woman with a full time job and health insurance who comes from a working class family, and I'm marching because I bear responsibility for protecting our collective rights and looking out for the well-being of my fellow citizens.  Even, believe it or not, for those who disagree with me.

I'm marching to speak up for every woman's right to health care and reproductive support on her own terms, for my friend who without the Affordable Care Act, would have died of ovarian cancer. 

I'm marching because my miscarriages were not a crime. 

I'm marching for my own five year old daughter's ownership of her body, to speak up against the violence women endure every day, which I see embodied as rape culture on our college campuses, and which must end. 

I'm marching in solidarity with my Muslim students, born in the U.S. to American citizen parents, who are afraid to express their deeply misunderstood religion lest they be the victims of violence.

I'm marching for my undocumented students, DREAMers who have gone on to work, to pay taxes, to contribute meaningfully as educators themselves, who have educated and supported people like them but also poor white students who go on to college, because their generosity and compassion isn't bounded by color.

I'm marching because my father was a refugee, and had he waited one more day to leave his country of origin, I would not have been alive, because he was next in line to be killed by a government who didn't like teachers.

I'm marching for my LGBTQ friends who, as loving parents in committed and long-standing relationships, endure the judgment of people who don't know them simply because of the way they love, and fear having their children taken from them.

I'm marching in solidarity with Black and Latinx and Asian and multi-racial women who have to worry every day about being targeted, and their children being targeted, by bullies and the police just because of the color of their skin.

I'm marching because Ana Grace was a beautiful little girl and the goddaughter of a college friend, and she did not deserve to die before her seventh birthday at the hands of a madman with a gun.

I'm marching because our children deserve an earth to live in, woods to go hiking and camping, uncontaminated air to breathe and water to drink.

I'm marching to send a message to the President Elect and to our elected representatives that we are united; they ignore our voices at their peril, and they have a sworn responsibility to work for all of the American people. I am marching because there has never been a more pressing need to demonstrate our unity and solidarity. I am marching because white feminism has lived in its bubble for too long.

None of us know what the future holds, but we know what we want for women, for America, and for humanity. On Saturday January 21, I will march to let the world know in no uncertain terms that I am here, I vote, and I care about women’s rights, and that women's rights are human rights are women's rights. I care about those rights regardless of a woman’s race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, sexual identity, gender expression, economic status, age, appearance, or disability. And I am proud that many men will march with us, because equal rights benefit everyone.

This march is not a march of sore losers. This is not about who happens to be in office. We're not trying to turn back the clock; in fact, if anything, we are looking ahead to determine the course of history. I hope that you will stand with us, to protect the rights and the freedoms that have defined us as a people.

"The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, 'Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as Negroes.' And I said, 'You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.' 

                                               -Martin Luther King, "The Drum Major Instinct"