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notes from the Boston march
Jan. 21st, 2017 06:27 pmI did in fact carry a "promote the general Welfare" sign. Didn't hold it up that much, mostly just had it around my neck, but it felt good to be standing up for what I stand for, so, hey.
I have never seen anything like that crowd. I marched against the Iraq war back in 200-whatever and that had a bunch of people, but I don't remember it being like this - every platform at every subway stop packed with people with hats and signs, people pouring down the street from Charles to the Common and when I got a sight of the crowd *in* the Common it took my breath away. And all the news helicopters circling overhead. I never made it far enough in to hear the speeches, although I caught a few words here and there, and then there was a long period when we were all wondering when the march was going to start moving, and people were sort of pushing through in various directions but it didn't seem like there was anywhere really to *go*, until finally the whole bulk of the crowd started moving.
Relatedly, I really mis-estimated how this event was going to consist of "standing around in the cold" vs "standing very close to a great many other people, sometimes in enclosed spaces". I was dressed for, like, standing around on the playground for school pickup, and was swimming in sweat. Could have used two fewer layers.
Kids with signs! Elderly people with signs! Couples of girl-appearing people holding hands! Interracial family with pro-immigration signs! Pride flags up on the balconies! Nuns! Signs about climate change and trans rights and love and black lives matter and lots of anti-Trump signs. I did not take pictures and I have a terrible memory but it seemed heartening to see white people with anti-white-supremacy signs and men-appearing people with "her body her choice" signs and, I don't know, I am not in the part of the intersection that gets marginalized but I feel like solidarity was pretty successfully solided today. Someone in the crowd near me had a bullhorn and got a group of us singing "If I Had A Hammer" and "This Land Is My Land" and "Down By The Riverside" while we were waiting, and then later as we marched by the Arlington Street Church (UU) was playing "We Shall Overcome" on the bells, and there was a guy nearby accompanying parts of it on the trumpet, and that was when I teared up, "We Shall Overcome" on the fucking churchbells.
I don't know how the pro-Trump people are feeling today. Maybe they feel smug and satisfied that so many people oppose them but they still have power over them. I hope some of them have a little sneaking suspicion of doubt that they may have wandered onto the wrong side of things somewhere.
Special shoutout to my ankle brace; at one point I stumbled on the edge of a sewer grating and felt it catch my foot, which I don't normally notice, but this time I did. Would have been a very different march for me without it, and probably for whoever near me who got involved in the "we have a marcher on the ground" situation. So yay for, like, all the invisible things that made today possible, from the MBTA's open gates, to the parents like Josh who took the kids for the day, everyone who organized all those buses I saw parked. Pretty cool thing.
I have never seen anything like that crowd. I marched against the Iraq war back in 200-whatever and that had a bunch of people, but I don't remember it being like this - every platform at every subway stop packed with people with hats and signs, people pouring down the street from Charles to the Common and when I got a sight of the crowd *in* the Common it took my breath away. And all the news helicopters circling overhead. I never made it far enough in to hear the speeches, although I caught a few words here and there, and then there was a long period when we were all wondering when the march was going to start moving, and people were sort of pushing through in various directions but it didn't seem like there was anywhere really to *go*, until finally the whole bulk of the crowd started moving.
Relatedly, I really mis-estimated how this event was going to consist of "standing around in the cold" vs "standing very close to a great many other people, sometimes in enclosed spaces". I was dressed for, like, standing around on the playground for school pickup, and was swimming in sweat. Could have used two fewer layers.
Kids with signs! Elderly people with signs! Couples of girl-appearing people holding hands! Interracial family with pro-immigration signs! Pride flags up on the balconies! Nuns! Signs about climate change and trans rights and love and black lives matter and lots of anti-Trump signs. I did not take pictures and I have a terrible memory but it seemed heartening to see white people with anti-white-supremacy signs and men-appearing people with "her body her choice" signs and, I don't know, I am not in the part of the intersection that gets marginalized but I feel like solidarity was pretty successfully solided today. Someone in the crowd near me had a bullhorn and got a group of us singing "If I Had A Hammer" and "This Land Is My Land" and "Down By The Riverside" while we were waiting, and then later as we marched by the Arlington Street Church (UU) was playing "We Shall Overcome" on the bells, and there was a guy nearby accompanying parts of it on the trumpet, and that was when I teared up, "We Shall Overcome" on the fucking churchbells.
I don't know how the pro-Trump people are feeling today. Maybe they feel smug and satisfied that so many people oppose them but they still have power over them. I hope some of them have a little sneaking suspicion of doubt that they may have wandered onto the wrong side of things somewhere.
Special shoutout to my ankle brace; at one point I stumbled on the edge of a sewer grating and felt it catch my foot, which I don't normally notice, but this time I did. Would have been a very different march for me without it, and probably for whoever near me who got involved in the "we have a marcher on the ground" situation. So yay for, like, all the invisible things that made today possible, from the MBTA's open gates, to the parents like Josh who took the kids for the day, everyone who organized all those buses I saw parked. Pretty cool thing.
