Locals Join World-Wide Protest
January 30, 2017
A number of Campolindo students and staff attended the various Women’s Marches that took place around the Bay Area on January 21. Inspired by the Women’s March on Washington, over 670 sister marches were held in various cities worldwide as an opportunity to peacefully “stand up for human rights, civil liberties, and justice for all,” according to the march’s website. The main Bay Area marches took place in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. A smaller march in Walnut Creek was attended by several Campolindo students and staff members.
An estimated 3.2 million people participated in the marches worldwide, with about 60,000 marching in Oakland alone. The flood of Lamorinda citizens looking to participate resulted in 20-minute BART delays all afternoon on January 21.
“The march, to me, is an event in history that shows the power of a group, and the power of activism itself, for feminism, and the things that people believe in,” said sophomore attendee Mia Asuncion, social media chair of Campolindo’s WAC (Women’s Awareness on Campus) club which meets every other Wednesday at lunch in room E9.
“There was a point to get across, but I think that the most important part was being able to say what you needed to say in terms of what you felt for the election, the defunding of Planned Parenthood, how you felt for just the oppression of women in general, and the things that we lose as females,” said Asuncion.
“Sometimes, making change can seem hard and/or vague, but this seemed like something easy, tangible, and enjoyable that I could actually do and benefit from,” said teacher Lindsay Webb-Peploe, who participated in the Oakland march.
“It was really encouraging. For me personally, it was really neat to see all of my friends internationally and nationally participating in marches all over. And also for me to be able to march with Ms. Kerr, her daughter, my sister, my niece, and then my students, and to feel like there was some inter-generational movement to say, ‘These are the causes we care about,'” explained Webb-Peploe.
The marches were not exclusive to women; thousands of men attended as well, adding further diversity to a crowd of all ages, ethnicities, and genders.
“I thought it was really special to see a lot of different people who came out and supported the cause, and I thought it was really cool that it happened in our own community,” said freshman Nina Naffziger, who attended the Walnut Creek march.
“I think that by the end of the day, everybody from Oakland all the way to Paris, they did such a good job at showing what they really believe in,” added Asuncion.
