Recalling the first anniversary of the Women’s March
I had a feeling that January 21, 2017 was just the beginning of a revolution. On the rainy evening of January 20, 2017, I boarded a Megabus to Washington D.C. with my mom, my sister, and my aunt. With the inauguration of the President, I was filled with so many emotions: anger, resentment, but also a fire to fight. I did not know what to expect as we walked to the Metro station on Saturday morning.
As we approached the station, the crowds already started building. We stopped at the pre-protest gathering to meet up with my aunt’s friends. At this gathering, a woman was knitting pussy hats at an astounding speed. She saw my sister and I admiring her work so she let us pick a hat out of her bag of at least 20 knit pussy hats. Rather than the well-known pink hat, I opted for a purple one. I remember the sense of empowerment I felt the second I put on that hat. I was ready to be a part of something bigger than anything I ever imagined.
Wearing the hat gave me confidence as I started to gain a political voice. We arrived at the starting point and I could feel the passionate spirit in the crowds. I had been a part of a couple protests, but this was truly spectacular. The amount of men, women, children, trans women, trans men, grandparents, mothers, fathers, babies and much more was staggering. There were so many people that the main route of the march could not contain this population of people.
Although I cannot travel to D.C. this year, I look forward to marching in Philadelphia. I am ready to don the pussy hat once again. Even though some people are trying to phase out the pussy hat as indicator of the movement, I think the accessory is such a strong symbol. Its play on words is so powerful. It references the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording wherein President Trump is heard discussing kissing women and saying, “Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Amid this time of the Time’s Up campaign and #MeToo, we need symbols like the pussy hat to say enough is enough. Some people believe that the pink pussy hat excludes transgender women and gender nonbinary people who may not have typically female genitalia and does not represent women of color because of the hats’ pink color. Like the pussy hats, the Women’s March just started last year. Anything new goes through growing pains.
The creators of the movement and the pussy hats are taking the criticism and striving for inclusivity. Jayna Zweiman, one of the creators of the Pussyhat Project, responded to the criticism saying, “Our intent was and always will be to support all women. We hear some of you saying that this symbol has made some women feel excluded. We hear you. We see you.”
The hat is more than a representation of the female anatomy and the color pink. It will spark conversation that has the potential to lead to change. It is a symbol of our power to change the world, to fight for immigrants, to fight for racial justice, to fight for the LGBTQ community, to fight for healthcare for all, to fight for women’s rights, to fight for a better United States of America. Now more than ever, we cannot be divided. We need to unite. We need to bring power to the polls. No matter how you identify, hat or not, we must march on.
