#equalitymarch

Rosa Loves… The First Amendment, Our Civil Liberties and The Resistance. 

After the shock and sadness of Election Day 2016, I didn’t know, and to be honest, I didn’t want to think about how to move forward. Some days, I would let my anxiety take over. Some days, I would choose to ignore the chaos that was upon us and pretend it wasn’t happening. Even though I have friends and family who shared similar views to mine, I felt alone and powerless. However, I realized that I could not go on like that for too long. I was afraid and worried about the future of our country, but I knew that I had to find a way to fight back.

I was never one to attend rallies or join a march. Then the Women’s March happened. I made way too many excuses why I shouldn’t go. In a spur of the moment decision the morning of the march, I got on Metro and joined a group of lovely out-of-town women. I will admit it, I dislike crowds very much. However, I just felt like I had to be there. I cried on the way to the march; I kept telling myself it was a bad idea and that I should go back home. I remember thinking at some point that others could march for me, thousands of people were already there, so why even bother? I had the choice to let others defend our rights or I could do it myself. So I chose to join the 470,000+ people who attended that day and I will never regret it.

As you can see from the photos above, I’ve been quite busy in the last few months. I believe it is important to exercise my First Amendment right and to express my disagreement with policies that threaten our civil liberties. Hillary Clinton spoke about fear on her Wellesley College commencement address: “Fear is always with us, but we just don’t have time for it. Not now.” I agree with her. We don’t have time to be afraid, especially right now, there’s too much at stake. I will continue to march and protest. I will fight back and challenge the current administration. I will not become complacent. I will resist. 

I understand if you don’t agree with me. I am not trying to alienate anyone by writing this post; on the contrary, I will respect your opinion and political views as I hope you do with mine. I think that an open dialog is needed more than ever. My wish is for a unified America. 

We are all immigrants

We are all women

We are all minorities

We are all black

We are all LGBTQ

We are all Muslim

We are all Americans. 

Photos by RosaLovesDC: 1-Tax March; 2-March for Truth; 3 and 4-People’s Climate March; 5-Equality March; 6-March for Science; 7 and 8-No Muslim Ban Protest; 9 and 10-Women’s March.

Useful Links:

The Resistance Calendar: Information on upcoming marches, rallies and other events around the country.

500 Women Scientists: If you wish to connect with women of STEM and science supporters across the world, this is for you!

Indivisible Guide: Calling your representatives and senators works. This is a wonderful guide for local activism created by two former congressional staffers.