Less than one week before the official inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20, American civil right activists had vowed to defend hard-fought gains in voting rights and criminal justice under the new administration.
The protesters were obviously reacting to several pronouncements made by Republican legislators claiming that they will dismantle or turn back the midnight policies adopted during the final days of the administration of erstwhile US President Barack Obama, including his signature Obamacare healthcare law.
Rev. Al Sharpton, the organizer of the protest rallies and a veteran civil rights leader, said that the Democrats in Congress needed to be sent a simple message. They want them to get some backbone, alluding that they should do everything in their powers to stop whatever plans the Republicans will have in dismantling positive laws adopted during the term of Obama.
Sharpton said in an interview that they marched in the driving rain because they want the nation to understand that what has been fought for and gained need more than just one election to turn it around, reports Reuters.
The rally drew fewer people than organizers had initially expected, but Sharpton said afterward he was satisfied with the turnout, given the rain and temperatures hovering just above freezing.
A populist platform
Donald Trump, a New York real estate developer, won with a populist platform that included promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, restrict immigration from Muslim countries, and dismantle Obamacare.
His choice of Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, to become attorney general has raised concern among many on the left that Trump could weaken voting rights for minorities and roll back criminal justice reforms.
William Brooks, president and chief executive of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that they will march until hell freezes over and when it does, they will continue to march on ice
It is an indication of the level of determination that they have in order to defend the rights gains under the Obama presidency.
The protest rally also included the Hispanic group La Raza, politicians, relatives of African-Americans slain by police, the National Urban League, Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights.
It actually came hours after Trump blasted US Representative John Lewis after the Georgia Democrat and civil rights campaigner said Russia’s alleged hacking aimed at helping Trump put his legitimacy into question. Trump replied on Twitter that Lewis should focus instead on his Atlanta district.
The women’s march
It has been said that the biggest event was the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration, which organizers say could draw 200,000 people. But based on the turnout, it was actually more than double.
On January 21, a constellation of woman-centered, anti-Trump protest lit up not just the US but across all seven continents.
A group on an expedition ship in Antarctica adopted the unofficial slogan “Penguins for Peace.” At the center of the action was the Women’s March on Washington, which drew an estimated half a million participants.
There were men and women of all origins and orientations, a teeming parade of pink hats and protest signs that brightened against a pale silver fog blanketing the sky.
Before Saturday, there had been some fuss about the conceptual nature of a women’s march. Inside the movement, some women worried that other women would be given unfair priority. Outside of it, some men sulked, apparently desiring to be addressed directly at all times.