El Paso: Women's March

Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

Windy, wet, shivery - not a day I wanted to pile on the layers and trudge downtown for the Women's March. But I did it anyway.

Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

I did it anyway because it was important to my self-respect that I be able to look back and know that I took actions that publicly affirmed my belief in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution - that all of us, not just some of us, have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That we have fundamental rights of self-determination.

Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

I liked where the march began; I liked where it wound through, and where it ended.

Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

It began at the Armijo Branch Library in Segundo Barrio and worked its way through that historic neighborhood - where so many El Pasoans or their parents or grandparents first settled in the United States - the "other Ellis Island." The march ended at San Jacinto Plaza downtown.

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Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

When I see quotes, such as above, from Malala, it is a call to action for me because if a 16 year-old girl could speak out for girls' and womens' rights in Pakistan, what am I ready to do?

Goddamn, it was cold, though.

Women's March, El Paso, Texas. January 2017.

To get an idea of how many women, girls, men, and boys participated in the march, the video below shows it getting underway from Armijo:




A slide show of the march below:

And a little Mexican pop to march by in this video:

It felt good.

It felt very, very good.