Thousands turned out for the second year of the Cincinnati Women’s March
Newswire photo by Hannah Paige Michels | The second-ever Cincinnati Women’s March took place on Saturday and began at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The march’s theme, “Hear Our Vote,” was chosen as a way to focus on voter registration and taking issues to the ballot box. The march also featured anti-Trump themes.
Marchers crowded the streets of Cincinnati this weekend for the city’s second Women’s March on the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Last year, the march started at Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine as a sister event to the Women’s March on Washington. On Saturday, the Cincinnati Women’s March started at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center downtown.
The march did echo anti-Trump ideas, with signs highlighting some of the president’s most infamous rhetoric, such as “Our Rights Are Not Up For Grabs” and “F**k You! @RealDonaldTrump.” But the march was also filled with declarations of feminism, equality and LGBTQ+ rights with signs like “Empowered Women Empower Women” and “We Are All Equal.”
While thousands turned out for the march, Black Lives Matter Cincinnati (BLMC) did not participate because of the march’s theme of “Hear Our Vote.” United We Stand Cincinnati, an activist organization, chose the phrase to focus on voter registration and taking issues to the ballot box. On its website, BLMC explained how the “Hear Our Vote” slogan went against the organization’s principles and was “a poorly veiled campaign to elect more Democrats.” BLMC does not believe that deep changes can truly happen through voting and advocated for the theme of “Hear Our Voice” instead.
“I personally attended the march in protest of the sex slave trade that is still very apparent in our world,” first-year Marta Berglund said.
Xavier had a presence at the march as well. Dr. Dennis Long, associate dean of the College of Professional Sciences, said he saw professors, students and alumni marching on Saturday. Long attended the march himself because he wanted to help shed a light on women’s issues.
“I think we’re living in a very unjust time,” Long said, “and so, specifically, I wanted to go ahead and advance the cause for women and also to try to go ahead and create justice in many different ways.”
Long said the Women’s March is “absolutely” in line with Xavier’s Jesuit values.
“I think that our mission is to go ahead and confront injustice and try to promote things for other people, and this is a very, very worthy cause,” Long said. “A reason that many of us are at Xavier is because we want to support values around fairness, justice, liberties and opportunities for people.”
Berglund echoed Long’s opinion that the march fits with Xavier’s Jesuit values.
“I think (the Women’s March) falls in line with the values at Xavier because the Catholic identity of Xavier places a large focus on noticing and helping the marginalized,” Berglund said.
By: Hannah Paige Michels ~Campus News Editor~
