Why We March

An estimated 15,000 marched through downtown Santa Ana in last Saturday’s Women’s March. Why? Quite simply, because we can and must. Speaking out is a right shared by all Americans, not a life threatening act of defiance, as it is in too many places around the world. Marching for a cause is the very embodiment of a true and strong democracy. America’s history repeatedly demonstrates that the power exercised by We the Power invariably precedes significant social changes.

In the early 20th century, Suffragettes took to the streets fighting for a woman’s right to vote. Many of them were brutally beaten and jailed. But they persevered and eventually, their collective voices grew too loud to ignore. “The right of citizens...to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of sex” was finally ratified as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, 41 years after it was first drafted.

In 1969, more than 500,000 people marched on Washington DC, raising their voices against the Vietnam war. Anti-war demonstrations continued until 6 years later, the war ended, but not before taking 50,000 American lives. That same year, a police raid on Stonewall Inn and violence against gays sparked the national gay rights movement. Neighborhood protests eventually escalated into an international movement, ultimately culminating in same sex marriage and general acceptance.

Labor movements fought for the 8 hour day as far back as the 1860s when workers spent 10 to 16 hours a day working. After nearly a century of hard fought struggles, Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1940 and reduced the federal workweek to 40 hours we still have today.

And of course, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, granting legal equality to all, regardless of race, is the quintessential act of national protest and social disobedience of our time. Life long activist Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and ignited the civil rights movement in 1955 when she bravely refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. After decades of unthinkable brutality, hundreds of thousands of people of all races came together in the march on Washington, in peaceful but powerful opposition to the unconstitutional discrimination being inflicted on Americans because their ancestors were African, not European. Martin Luther King Jr’s stirring “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered August 28, 1963 will forever live as a turning point in our history.

We marched on January 19th because there is still work to be done. Women face a substantial gender gap, nationally earning just 80.5 cents for every dollar a man earns. 29 states have higher gender gaps and Louisiana women face a 30% pay gap. Women’s median annual earning are $10,086 less than men’s according to the Census Bureau. Women are the still victims of all too often unpunished domestic violence and sexual harassment. It is the nascent #Me Too movement that has brought these crimes to the forefront. Affordable child care, paid family leave for both parents and a healthy environment must be the norm.

“Justice is about making sure that being polite is not the same thing as being quiet.” Alexandria Casio Cortez, Women's March, NYC 2019.