All over the country women and allies of all walks of life came out to voice their outrage over President Donald Trump at women's marches that swept the states.
And of course, all of these national protests occurred during an avoidable federal government shutdown.
While marches were underway in major cities like Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and New York, actors like Viola Davis delivered searing speeches in LA and activists like Tamika Mallory, who is a co-founder of the Women's March movement, made their way to Atlanta to push the movement forward to its logical next step: voting and creating future candidates.
This year, the #PowertoThePolls rally was the exclamation point to the success of last year. Since then, women all over the country have seen people who look like them take office.
"I was watching the news and have been keeping up with [Trump's] slander," rallygoer Danielle Miller told Blavity. "And I feel that there are many issues that must be addressed and there is [always] power in numbers."
For Nandi Bumbury, getting involved politically was very important. She was unable to attend the first women's march that drew an estimated 60,000 plus people to downtown Atlanta to protest Trump's presidency and the policies to come. However, this year was different. She had to be among the people.
"Just everything that has happened over the last year with Charlottesville, trans rights and a number of things the president has said, I just wanted to figure out how to get involved," she said. "I just wanted to let my voice be heard, to meet some people and to ask questions in terms of what I can do locally."
Bumbury brought along a two-sided poster that did not hold back. One side puts some pressure on white women who may not be as committed to the cause as women of color. The other was a Lil Jon quote to show that this generation of activists is not messing around.
This wasn't the only challenge to white women posed at Saturday's rally. Women's March Co-Chair Tamika Mallory took the stage as one of a few speakers. She gave the most important speech of the day — demanding that rallygoers make it a priority to vote and run for political office. Mallory also emphasized the need to watch out for one another because racism, police brutality and injustice won't go away if those with privilege and power remain silent.
According to her, it was never the goal of the co-chairs — Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and herself — to own the movement. The others have put in the work she said, and now the work falls on the women and men in the crowd.
To hammer home this point, Mallory revealed that she has a connection to Atlanta. Her 18-year-old son attends Morehouse College. She wants the state to move forward politically so that her son can live freely without persecution.
Take a look at some of the other protest posters from black women at Saturday's Women's Marches:
Mallory and the other co-chairs will be in Las Vegas Sunday continuing the good fight.
So are we. ✊???? #WomensMarchDC pic.twitter.com/2kY6C8odyN— Blavity (@Blavity) January 20, 2018
The future is female. #WomensMarchLA2018 pic.twitter.com/b3InvISK3i— Blavity (@Blavity) January 20, 2018
