Local residents joining Women's March on Washington
Hot Rod Café owner Rod Cornish has organized several bus trips for his customers to Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, but when one of his patrons asked him to do it again on short notice for a more serious purpose, he didn’t balk.
The request to organize a bus for the Women’s March on Washington Jan. 21 reminded the owner of the New London restaurant and sports bar of when he attended the Million Man March in the nation’s capital in 1995. It was a good experience, Cornish said, so he wanted to give others the chance to feel empowered by joining in a group statement about rights they believe are being threatened.
Plus, Cornish wanted to go the Women’s March himself. He’s reserved one of the 54 seats on the bus, which filled up quickly and now has a waiting list.
“I’m a strong believer that women’s rights are human rights,” he said. “I want to make sure that women are treated equally, and just show my support. I’m not going to protest anything.”
The Hot Rod Café bus that will be leaving in the early morning hours on Jan. 21 is one of at least five that will be taking southeastern Connecticut residents to gather near the Capitol on the day after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Other buses are planned to leave from the region for solidarity marches in Boston and New York City the same day, and many other local residents have booked seats on trains, planes, or organized carpools to attend one of the events.
“I don’t think we can be complacent,” said Kate Robins of Stonington, who plans to drive to Washington with friends. “We’ve come too far and fought too hard to let our rights just get washed out. There are a lot of things that really concern me about this election, but the loss of decency and loss of respect for people is what really upsets me.”
For Robins and many others who plan to attend, this will be their first time participating in a national march. Even Heather Whaley of Fairfield, a writer who is serving as spokeswoman for the Connecticut contingent going to the march, said she’s joined other demonstrations but never one on this scale. Statewide, there will be at least 70 buses going to the march from communities throughout Connecticut, including two from New London, two from the Crystal Mall in Waterford and one from Norwich. The purpose, Whaley said, is not to express disappointment about the outcome of the election, but to send a positive message about what should be preserved and treasured.
“This is not about Hillary Clinton,” Whaley said. “This is about protecting rights which were hard won, and are now under threat. The president elect ran a campaign of bigotry and divisiveness, and his administration will be met with the promise that the majority of us will come together to protect those most marginalized.”
Cassady Fendlay, spokeswoman for the national organizers of the march, said the idea of the march sprang up through social media almost overnight after the election and mushroomed into an event with coordinators in all 50 states who are doing fundraising and working to secure transportation and housing for participants. At least 200,000 people of all genders, races, religions and sexual orientations are expected. Logistics of securing permits are well underway, she said. The exact location and rally details are still being worked out, she said, though it will be in the vicinity of the Capitol with speakers and performers to be named in early January. The event is not a protest against Trump, she emphasized.
“It’s to proactively make a statement about our shared humanity and the fundamental rights that come from that,” she said. “It’s being done to tap into the values of Democracy of inclusivity and acceptance and tolerance. These are the things we want to reaffirm.”
The seed that spawned the march, she said, was planted by a grandmother in Hawaii named Teresa Shook on the day after the election, and spread through Facebook.
“She emailed a bunch of her friends and said, ‘We have to do something. Let’s march on Washington,’ and it went viral,” Fendlay said. “It grew organically, very fast. People just really wanted to be part of this.”
Once the grassroots had taken hold, four people with experience organizing events like this came forward to turn the idea into reality. They are Bob Bland, chief executive officer and founder of Manufacture New York; Tamika Mallory, founder of Mallory Consulting and former executive director of the National Action Network; Carmen Perez, executive director of The Gathering for Justice; and Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.
“The organizers who stepped up are really committed to keeping the grassroots spirit of this,” Fendlay said.
That same spontaneous urge to take positive action after the election also prompted Susan Donovan, a nurse from New London, to organize a bus trip herself for the first time.
“A few of my friends wanted to go, and then it became too many people to go by car, so I put out a post on Facebook about getting a bus and I was flooded,” she said. Among the 54 reserved for her bus are several mother-daughter pairs and several men.
“This is not an anti-Trump rally,” she said. “It’s to send a message to the new administration about the rights that they are threatening to take away, like reproductive rights, and the deportation of immigrants and Muslim women afraid to wear what they wear. Many of us just felt like we had to do something to make our voices heard. I have a brown granddaughter who’s been teased, and gay friends and Muslim friends. There are a lot of very afraid people.”
Mary Gorton, a retired state employee from Waterford, has signed up for the bus leaving from Hot Rod Café with her three adult children — a son age 29, and daughters ages 28 and 30. Like Donovan, the harsh rhetoric she heard from the Trump campaign make her want to do something to protect the people close to her she felt were being threatened. Like other participants, she said she never had such a strong reaction — or desire to do something in response — to other winning presidential candidates she opposed.
“We have to push back against the hate and the trampling of rights that’s coming towards us,” she said. “I have a gay daughter, and friends who are immigrants and friends of different races, and we have to watch out for them. There’s such a threat now to our environment and women’s rights and gay rights, it’s very frightening.”
Judi Cox, loan specialist for the New London Office of Development and Planning, said she will be joining the march with her two adult daughters, who are both biracial. She wants to be part of sending a positive message about respecting women, minorities and protecting everyone’s rights.
“I’ve never done anything like this, no,” she said. “But this year the election and (Trump’s) whole campaign was so negative, it just really touched a chord. I have grandchildren who are biracial who are going to be growing up in this country. I don’t want to see us backtracking on human rights.”
Attorney Sarah Gager of New London will be on the bus, too, with her husband, Casey. Like many others, she’s a newbie to national demonstrations.
“I feel like we need to make our voices heard so the president-elect knows we’re a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “This election has opened my eyes. My goal after the election is to not be quiet anymore. This is the first step.”
More information:
Facebook page for Women's March: https://www.facebook.com/events/2169332969958991/
Link to Connecticut buses to march:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DZ2Q_ocsEPDlqZIvR-p86myuru0PYEpyOqXVZ6okrog/htmlview
Solidarity march in Boston: All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in New London will host a bus to the Boston solidary march, leaving at 8 p.m. Jan. 21 from the church, 19 Jay St., and return to the church by 7 p.m. Tickets are $45. Checks should be made out to: "All Souls" with "Boston March" in the memo line. To reserve a seat, send an email to: office@allsouls.net or call: (860) 443-0316. For questions, contact Ron Ward at: ron2get@gmail.com or at: (860) 857-4052.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.