Today We March. Tomorrow We Fight.

By Fay Bcharah

On Jan. 21, I participated in the largest protest in American history. It was the most powerful, emotional, and influential event I have ever experienced. It seems like many others would agree.

Approximately 2.9 million people participated in the Women’s March across the country, anywhere from Los Angeles to Illinois.

An estimated 135,000 to 150,000 people marched in the Boston Common on the corner of Beacon and Charles St. Many speakers, such as Mariama White-Hammond, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, and Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke before the march began.

The mission of the march was to advocate for communities that have been oppressed, such as women, immigrants, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA, and those who are disabled. People in the march supported religious freedom, human rights, climate, racial, and economic justice.

Mariama White-Hammond, associate minister of Boston’s Bethel AME church, began the rally with a welcome speech.

Elizabeth Warren, senior United States Senator of Massachusetts, said, “We can whimper, we can whine, or we can fight back. Me? I’m here to fight back.”

She continued to discuss the importance of being active in the fight for human rights.

“We come here to stand shoulder to shoulder to make clear: We are here, we will not be silent, we will not play dead, we will fight for what we believe in.”

Martin J. Walsh, the mayor of Boston, spoke very passionately about the new cabinet of the United States.

“We’re gonna stand up, we will fight, we will take this fight from the Boston Common, to the mall in Washington to let the president know he’s supposed to represent all of us,” Walsh said.

Worcester State student Grace Cook, an Early Childhood and Visual and Performing Arts and Education major, attended the march.

She said, “It was amazing to see all of these people, male female and anything else, together to work for our rights as women, trans folk, queer folk, allies and all. We were there to spread love and knowledge and defend ourselves from the bullies that have come to rule this country.”