This Saturday, January 21st, 2.9 million people flooded the streets of Washington, D.C. for the Women's March on Washington. If you couldn't be there- if you were there, and you were so lost in the hectic euphoric hype of revolution to see the speakers- here are the highlights of what you missed as history was made last weekend.
1. This little girl telling kids it's gonna be okay.
"Hi everybody.
My name is Sophie Cruz.
We are here together, making a chain of love to protect our families
Let us fight with love, faith, and courage so that our families will not be destroyed
I also want to tell the children not to be afraid.
Because we are not alone.
There are still many people that have their hearts filled with love and tenderness to snuggle in this path of life.
Let's keep together, and fight for the rights!
God is with us! "
[Repeat in Spanish]
2. Aja Monet's devastatingly powerful: "My Mother Was A Freedom Fighter."
"My name is Aja Monet, and I'm a poet, and I'm honored to be here.
When people say language has no power, let us not forget that it was language, it was words, that got Trump into office. This poem I'm about to read is for the daughters of a new day.
Be not discouraged. Be not dismayed. Be defiant, always.
This poem is called, 'My mother was a freedom fighter.'
It was a woman.
It was a black woman,
dark as night,
dark as love.
It was a woman, who nannied neglect and marooned parishes,
hooting and hollering she midwifed revolutions in Amazons, rainforests, cities, sediments of her sorrow beseeching
because of the eye of the storm within her, they called her magic
merely more
she was, a freedom fighter
and she taught all of us how to fight.
Love y'all. Keep fighting."
3. "You will not discriminate against our women. You will not take freedom of choice from our women."
"As men,
we must protect our women.
We cannot allow cowards to disrespect our women.
We must uplift our women and stand with our women.
You will not discriminate against our women.
Today, you will hear the voice of our women.
You will not take away freedom of choice from our women.
Every day, you should be trying to repay our women.
Because it's because of our women, that I, am a man."
4. Ashley Judd: "I am a Nasty Woman. Not as nasty as a man whose words are a death-trap to America."
"Slavery has been reinterpreted as the prison system in front of people who see melanin as animal skin.
I am not as nasty
as a swastika painted on a pride flag.
And I did not know devils could be resurrected, but I feel Hitler in these streets,
a mustache traded for a toupee,
Nazis renamed the cabinet,
electroconversion therapy the new gas chamber,
shaming the gay out of America,
turning rainbows into suicide notes,
I am not as nasty as racism
fraud
conflict of interest
homophobia
sexual assault
transphobia
white supremacy
misogyny
ignorance
white privilege."
5. Janelle Monae's 'Freedom Over Fear': "I see what is going on. Know I am upset about it, and it does not go unnoticed."
Including a live performance piece featuring Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, and other "Mothers of the Movement."
"Hello, future. I am so proud to stand here as a woman- an African-American woman. My grandmother was a sharecropper. She picked cotton in Aberdeen, Mississippi. My mother was a janitor. I am here in their honor to help us move forward and 'fem the future.'
I just want to say- I want to remind you.
That it was woman who gave you Martin Luther King, Jr.
It was woman who gave you Malcolm X.
And according to the Bible, it was woman who gave you Jesus.
And don't you ever forget it.
And we must remind them- those who are abusing their power- that is what I am here today to march against- the abuse of power.
I want to say to the LGBTQ community, my fellow brothers and sisters-
to immigrants, my fellow brothers and sisters-
to women-
continue to embrace you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable.
You are enough.
And whenever you feel in doubt,
whenever you want to give up,
you must always remember
to choose freedom over fear."
Watch the full live stream of the Women's March here.
