Saturday, January 26, 2019

Women's March 2019

The annual, nationwide Women's March, organized two years ago to protest the blatant and vicious misogyny of the Trump administration and its Republican enablers, assembled last Saturday in Civic Center.

There were not as many attendees as two years ago, but it was still a good crowd of about 20 to 50 thousand people.

The huge police presence that eventually led the protest march down Market Street was bizarre. It didn't make anyone feel particularly safer as they rode cars and motorcycles and walked through neighborhoods where they are usually invisible.

Their presence was ameliorated by the wonderful group next to the Main Library on Grove singing an ancient protest song.

It was heartening to see the number of young women involved, including the marcher above whose sign has so many layers of irony to it I stopped counting.

The march started 40 minutes late, either because the organizers were determined that everyone had to listen to every speech in Civic Center or the police had their own schedule. This made for a carless, pedestrian Market Street and it was heavenly, with four glamour girls posing with signage that was defiantly obscene. Kneeling on the left, the sign reads: PUBLIC CERVIX ANNOUNCEMENT: FUCK YOU.

The pride of place opening contingent were Indigenous Women with a huge, color coordinated group.

When the Covington Catholic High School boys went viral insulting an old Native American at the Lincoln Memorial later the same week, it was fun to fantasize what these women would have done with those boys.

Speaking of Catholic anti-abortion fascists, they are being bused from all over the West into San Francisco's Civic Center later today, the 26th, for their own version of the Women's March from Civic Center to the Embarcadero. Click here for a link to the schedule if you'd like to go and educate some young people who are being dragged into this city adventure by their parents and church leaders. Don't know about you, but I find it impossible to look at Catholic clergy anymore without thinking, "So are they a pedophile or not, boys or girls, or adult men or women?" (The latter, by the way, is not a problem, except for those living the lie.)

The kids were the joyful best...

...because fundamentally this was a march about their future.

7 comments:

janinsanfran said...

Links to pics seem broken. Hope this resolves, since I was stuck in frozen Vermont and missed this. Would like to see.

No, I am not going to check out the angry Catholics. I've seen that sad spectacle before.

Civic Center said...

Dear Jan: Thanks so much for the heads-up. Went back and relinked them all this morning, which I hope worked. Welcome back to California warmth. And please, dear readers, whenever you see something wrong (typo, unlinked photos, etc.), please get in touch or leave a comment. I can use all the help I can get.

Nancy Ewart said...

I wondered what was going on today - traffic on Market St was at a standstill and there was a back up of cars on the tiny alley where I live.Your reporting on the Women's March was stellar - the news paper didn't do as well.

Rachel said...

Great post, Michael. Love the little kid at the end.
Reminds us what we're fighting for, ultimately!

Civic Center said...

Dear Nancy: They came marching down McAllister Street from St. Mary's Cathedral on the hill on Saturday with their preprinted "DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD" signs and I unfortunately lost it, screaming "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY NEIGHBORHOOD!" And yes, nobody knew about the stupid march, so stalled traffic South of Market was horrendous as Rachel can attest since we walked through it on our way to the Mission that afternoon.

Rachel said...

Yep, traffic was indeed awful that afternoon!
At least the company was stellar.

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