Yesterday Derek and I attended the Womens March on Washington with our friends Doug and Clare Barr, who came from St. Helena, CA to stay with us and march.
Our weekend started with a party at Malmaison, a restaurant near our home in Georgetown, that Derek and I had conceptualized originally as a counter-inauguration party for friends. After mentioning it to a friend who runs Civic Nation, the organization formed to continue the agenda of the Obamas post-presidency, he convinced us to make it a fundraiser for United State of Women, a sub-group of CN dedicated to women's issues. We happily turned over planning to them and on Friday night there was an exuberant group of around 300 mostly-Millenials drowning their sorrows in support of women's rights. Derek even met a young professor of politics at Pomona College, his alma mater, who had taken over the job of one of Derek's old professors!
On Saturday morning, we made our way by taxi to Capitol Hill, hoping to connect with a couple of other groups; alas, we only met up with one pair of friends and that was accidentally when I spotted them on the street. We made our way down Independence Ave. towards the stage, and got our first glimpse of how major an event this was going to be when we crowned a hill and saw below us a sea of people converging on the site. Realizing that we were on the wrong side of the stage, we attempted to go around the Nat'l Museum of Native Americans but were soon stopped cold in a giant scrum of people.
The crowd was young and old, scooter-bound, most ethnicities (though African Americans were notably underrepresented I thought); I saw hijab, yarmulkas, and hundreds and hundreds of pussyhats--the unofficial headwear of the event (worn by Derek, Doug, Clare and I with pride--thanks to Clare's knitting skills). The signs were unbelievably clever, though my favorite of the day was, I think, simply: "No, seriously, WTF?" followed closely by "I think we've taken this 'Anyone can become President' thing to far".
The most striking thing about the march was, though, its civility and good energy. People were packed in like sardines in a situation that could have easily gone south if one individual or group got aggressive or panicky, but everyone was visibly intent on making it a good experience for themselves and everyone else. One of my favorite memories was when a young man, who proclaimed he was "Standing Rock" (is that a thing?) was trying to get himself and his group from one spot to the other (a nearly impossible task at some points) by saying "make way for the elder." One woman was NOT having it, and said basically that his group wasn't any different from hers, who was also trying to move through the crowd. After a slightly tense interchange which the young man artfully deflected, he started to announce again, right in front of me (who was also trying to lead my group to a less crowded place) "let the elder through". Whereupon I said "Dude! He's the same age as me!" with a smile. He said timidly, "but he's a tribal elder" but when I gave him the stink eye he broke down laughing and gave me a hug.
My other favorite moment was when a group of Muslim young women were handing out American flag printed scarves that they were using as hijab--I caught the eye of one of them and she tossed me a scarf (and a smile), which I wore over my head for a while (I feel sorry for people who have to wear them--what a pain!).
When we finally broke out of the real crush and headed across the Mall, we were struck by the sheer magnitude of the numbers of people. For those that know the area, Independence was completely full of people; the areas between Independence and the Mall was packed, the Mall itself was filling up, Madison Street was full of people who began "marching" despite the fact that the program wasn't yet over, the steps of the National Museum of Art were completely covered with people, and Constitution Ave. was also full of people who had begun marching. Even Pennsylvania Avenue, not remotely an official part of the march, was full of people. Remember, Independence was the only part of the event that was permitted.
The lack of formal organization of the event was interesting in a couple of ways: the program, which was apparently rich, varied, and star-studded, was impossible for any more than a small percentage of marchers to hear. There were screens on which some people could see who was speaking or singing, but NO sound system that projected further than the direct vicinity. Given that the program was about 4 hours long that was a big problem. Still, no one was whining! Second, there was absolutely NO crowd control, no police to speak of in attendance, no volunteers giving directions or information, no security checkpoints; yet, the crowd was completely calm and peaceful, there was no violence or even tussles--and as a young person with whom we had dinner last night observed, everyone played by the rules that the march website and social media had set up--no umbrellas, only clear backpacks, etc. It was truly astonishing.
Contrast this with the day before, when giant barriers surrounded any building that was vulnerable, the National Guard was out in force within two miles of the Mall and the parade route, and roads were closed. Sadly, some protesters thought it was productive to break windows and set newspaper stands on fire--but fortunately they did not show up to the March. I guess we were too tame for them--but look who's on the front page today!
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