By Grace George ’17

The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, millions of men, women and children around the world, myself included, gathered in protests both for women’s rights and against the new president. With President Trump’s conservative views regarding abortion and his documented harsh language referring to women, the state of women’s rights during his term has brought about high concern, to say the least.

Being one of these women protesting in D.C., I found the Women’s March on Washington to be enlightening and a sign of hope in a time of trepidation following this past election cycle. Being surrounded by so many like minded people reminded me why I was there in the first place. Even though the protest appeared angry on the surface, the actual atmosphere in D.C. was light and happy, excited to be a part of of something so vast and important.

Many, however, saw the marches as a waste of time.

The idea that marches and protests are useless is a common feeling that has been around forever. People said it decades ago when protests spread across the nation for the Vietnam war and they will continue to refute the purpose of political demonstration for years to come. Those who fail to see the impact that marches and protests have do not recognize why America is such a great country in the first place. The freedom to express your anger or dissatisfaction with the government is a key aspect to why America is self-titled “the land of the free” with pride.

This march, however, was vital for the nation’s current state and larger than itself; it may have been a call to action for unhappy citizens to rise up and use their voice to oppose the new president.
Only a week into his presidency, President Trump signed a controversial executive order banning people from specific Middle Eastern countries from coming into the United States.

This executive order initially included green card holders and Muslims who were already naturalized citizens. In reaction, thousands of people gathered at international airports around the country, vying for the release of refugees that had endured an entire vetting process before coming over, naturalized Muslim citizens and Muslim green card holders held in confinement for hours.

These protests went on throughout the day and night, and the people refused to let down until the Muslims kept in confinement were released and allowed to go about their lives. As a result of the public outrage and individual state blocks of the travel ban, the states of Washington and Minnesota brought the executive order to the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the trial “State of Washington & State of Minnesota vs. Trump.” On Feb. 10, the Ninth Circuit judges unanimously ruled against President Trump, rejecting the government’s emergency request to instate the ban despite legal challenges.

The fact that two large scale protests mounted only a week and a half into President Trump’s first term is a sign that we are currently living in the new era of political demonstration.

If the millions of people who participated in the march and the packed airports in over 30 cities mean anything, it is that a large portion of the United States population is unhappy with Trump already and the new president is in for a bumpy ride.

In a nation whose government is currently controlled by one party but is as polarized as the United States is now, protests and marches are more important than ever before. Those discontented with the outcome of the election must accept that Donald Trump is president, but not without letting their voices be heard.