Yesterday, it was the morning of January 21st, 2017. I woke wide awake at 8 o’clock in the morning ready for a life-changing event that I had many second thoughts about: The Women’s March on Washington (in MN). It was a misty morning, a bit cold with the rain, and I was unexpectedly not one bit nervous as I drove straight into the mouth of traffic in the heart of Minnesota, the Twin Cities. St. Paul, even though I technically live here and attend college here, is alien territory to me. The cities have always scared me, I grew up in a remote area surrounded by farms and very small neighborhoods, this was all new to me. But when I walked across the bridge to meet St. Paul College, I had a fire in my heart. I marched with pride among 100,000 women in the heart of St. Paul, I marched as a woman for what I believe in, and it felt pretty damn good.
As the march has made progress by covering several headlines and press, I also felt a pull back. I come from a hometown that shares completely different views from my own, who voted differently than I did. I came across a post that was shared by a young man in the Marines, the post stated how the person felt labeled and that all the protesting and hate by liberals was counterproductive to ending the political war that has started since the beginning of the campaign, and it spoke to me. To many, it would sound offensive but I read something else in post, I actually related a bit.
I was there first hand in the wake of the presidential election. As a young woman at an all women’s college, Trump’s election was an outrage. I remember sitting in my dorm, staring at the announcement in disbelief. I, with many others, wondered “how did this happen?”. I thought the choice was easy, that Trump was a racist, sexist, and terrible man but I felt completely shocked. The weeks that followed, many girls were angry and upset. I saw several muslims and LBGTQ communities crying. I was horrorified. Many people turned on each other, creating a divide. It turned into who you voted for was who you talked to, and that horrorified me even more. I was sucked into the madness, feeling as a victim. I was a victim of the election, my candidate lost and I felt like my freedom was gone. But now, after reading the post, I see something different.
The two sides of the political war are both at fault. The people who surrounded me, the outraged liberals and pro-Hillary voters, they grew a hate inside them. Trump may have won by inspiring rage, but he also inspired rage in his opposers as well. I am guilty myself, turning a blind eye to the conservatives and labeling them off as if they were Trump themselves, and I realize now how childish and stupid that sounds. Just because you want to be cautious about immigration doesn’t mean you are racist, and I feel many conservatives were wrongly labeled for reasons alike. Just because you believe you should have the right to bear arms doesn’t mean you’re pro-shootings or that you don’t think security is necessary as well. Just because you voted Trump, that doesn’t make you a racist or terrible person. It doesn’t mean you hate women. Just because I voted Hillary, it doesn’t mean I approved of all her shady decisions and ignorance of her past. I feel like the political war for me, was the false labeling and rage pointed towards the wrong people. I marched mostly because I was upset with the government’s threats of taking away my rights to choose what to do with my own body and taking away grants towards women who have seen violence. I didn't march to tell Trump and his supporters that I am anti-American.
I don’t wish for Trump to crash and burn. I know that he is president, and I may have not voted for him, but others did. I have to be willing to hope that Trump won’t fuck up. I have to have faith in the people I know who voted for him. Some of his supporters are radical bad people, but its the same for Hillary as well. But some is not all. And my assumption of that has lead me to rage and hate, which I believe is completely counterproductive of what this country needs. This is a new president, yes, half the country didn’t vote for him, but how is creating hatred for everyone who did vote for him going to help? This country needs to unite, as one, and cope together. Now this post wasn’t pristine. In one point the conservative made, he said “just because we don’t support gay marriage, you called us homophobic”. Well, why the hell else would you not support gay marriage? Who made you the ultimate decider in who gets to love who, and who gets to marry? No one! Some points must be discussed like that one, but the labeling must stop. I, for one, marched yesterday with thousands of other women because I felt that my rights were being threatened and that is not an insult to the conservatives, it’s a demonstration. I won’t give up my rights, neither will many other americans, and all I have to say is that if we want to end the political war, we must stop fighting and start repairing. What made us give each other labels in the first place? Why are my rights being threatened? We can’t expect to impeach Trump and then have things go back to normal. No, the conservatives will be mad, then another political war. We have to unite as one country and unite as the people of America instead of two sides of the people.
I don’t want a war, I never did. I marched for my rights, I marched for peace. I marched because I’m a woman and I believe this country has a chance as being whole again.
