Pennsylvania was well represented at the Women’s March on Washington Saturday. March organizers say about 15,000 marchers were expected to come from the Keystone state.
Five sold-out buses, with 56 seats each, start boarding in State College shortly before 4:00am on a dark, foggy morning. They pull out of the parking lot of the Benner Pike Wal Mart around 4:15am.
The marchers are inspired by a host of different issues.
“I’m marching because the Trump administration and the Republicans have – their policies are going to be detrimental to women, to all people really,” says Donna Marcotte of Huntingdon County. She worries most about access to health care.
“I’m concerned that they’re going to overturn the Affordable Care Act, privatize social security, get rid of Medicare, Medicaid. So I have a lot of concerns.”
Savita Iyer is also standing in line. She was born in India, raised in Europe, and lives in State College.
“I’m here because I just want to have my voice heard on the issues that are important to me,” she says, “And walk in solidarity with people who had felt excluded for many years: women of color, the LGBT community, trans people – people who had felt included for a long time under President Obama, and now are fearful for once again being excluded. So I’m here in support for all these people.”
Iyer touches on a common theme among the marchers.They speak of many different issues. But virtually all of them say they’re here to stand up for someone else’s rights. Matt McAllister of State College is among them.
“I just think it’s important to support the rights of women,” McAllister says. “And I just feel like the new administration is – has been hostile to the rights of women, and it’s important to send a message that we’re going to be keeping watch over that administration.”
A few seats behind McAllister, Young Emily Whitney is on the bus sitting next to her mother, Ann Whitney.
“I am here today, because I am here to fight for women’s rights,” she says, with a poise beyond her years. A piece of artwork Emily brought suggests she and her mother are marching in solidarity with each other.
“We made a sign,” Emily tells me. “And it says “mother and daughter, stronger together.”
“We care about people having equal opportunity,” says Emily’s mother, Anne Whitney. “That the great diversity we have in America be respected, be embraced and capitalized upon rather than marginalized and suppressed.”
As we disembark in Washington, the Pennsylvania bus passengers mill around in the parking lot of RFK stadium. Wendy Hanna Rose, a developmental biologist at Penn State, says she’ll stand up for science.
“You know, I’ve got a sign here that says ‘science is not a liberal conspiracy’,” Rose says. “I’m a scientist, and I hate to see this administration taking positions that are not consistent with science and the facts. “
At the rally on the Mall, there is chanting, cheering, singing and drumming. The chants focus on different issues: “Say it loud, say it clear, Immigrants are welcome here;” “Black lives matter;” and many more. Hundreds of thousands of people pack together, pressing against each other. Most can’t hear the rally speakers at all, since the stage is near one end of the mall and is not well-amplified. But they chat with their neighbors, chant and sing, in good spirits. The songs include “God Bless America,” the national anthem, and “We shall overcome.”
As the rally concludes, the main march route is already packed solid with protestors. So police allow marchers to walk on several alternate streets, where cheering and chanting continues. The bleachers are still up on either side of some streets from the Inauguration parade. They are filled with pink-hatted protestors, cheering for their fellow marchers.
Even afterward, on the metro train back to RFK stadium, the woman announcing the stops says over the intercom “Who rules the world?” The packed train, in unison, shouts, “GIRLS!”
As they return to the buses, the Pennsylvania contingent is uniformly gushing about the day.
“I thought it was amazing,” says Kay Shamalla, of State College. We were just wowed by the amount of people that were there. There was just such a great feeling.” Shamalla says she was impressed by all the clever homemade signs and the sea of pink knit hats with little cat ears on them. She says someone at the march, who had knitted a bunch of the hats just gave her one.
“There were several people who just said ‘Do you want a hat? Do you want a hat?’ And we’re like, ‘Sure, we want a hat!’ To plop your little hat on and walk along -- you know, it was just really a nice feeling and such a generous gesture on the part of people who had to make these things!”
“The energy in the crowd was great, the people were wonderful,” says Drew Von Tish of Boalsburg. “We met people from all over the U.S. We talked about what we believe in. We marched for the right reasons. And hopefully we got our message across. It was a great day.”
Jennifer Lowenstein of State College said she was amazed. “I never expected such a huge turnout,” she said. “I never expected such a diverse turnout.
Lowenstein spoke of the many handmade signs carried by the marchers.
“I think the signs said everything: every issue from the NRA, to immigration, to global warming, women’s rights – men who support women’s rights, which was really a very positive thing for me. And all of that together really gave me some hope, cause I’ve been feeling pretty hopeless since Donald Trump got elected. But being here today really made me feel that there are possibilities: that things could get better”
Lowenstein and others on the buses hope their many steps at the Women’s March will become a first step toward making things better.
