Women's March Brings Thousands Together Across the U.S. and Beyond

UCTP Representative Chali'naru Dones (at center) opens the 4th Annual Pioneer Valley Women's March on Saturday, January 18, 2020, with a spiritual invocation. 
Photo: Kevin Gutting 

Springfield, Massachusetts (UCTP Taíno News) – From coast to coast, thousands of women and their allies took to the streets across the U.S. on Saturday, January 18, 2020 to raise the visibility of a variety of issues such as climate change, immigration, reproductive rights, pay equity, gun safety, and voting. 

Marches took place in Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  New London, Connecticut, Dayton, Ohio, and Springfield, Massachusetts, among many others. The march in Washington D.C. was expected to be the largest, with a permit filed for 10,000 people. Colorful and passionate messages of resistance, empowerment, and solidarity were consistent across events.
In Springfield, Massachusetts, several hundred demonstrators made their way down Main Street to City Hall holding signs and chanting at the fourth annual Pioneer Valley Women’s March. The Springfield mobilization was opened with a spiritual invocation by Chali’naru Dones, a representative of the United Confederation of Taíno People and a member of the Guainía Taíno Tribe. 

Before beginning her invocation, Dones called on those gathered to acknowledge local Indigenous Peoples and to keep the “women and all the people of Borikén (Puerto Rico) in [their] hearts” as they were still suffering from the effects of recent earthquakes. She also called for more attention on the issue of “missing and murdered Indigenous Women from throughout the hemisphere.” 

Also at the Springfield rally, Rhonda Anderson, a member of Inupiaq Athabaskan Tribes of Alaska called on the crowd to “Resist racism, resist marginalization, resist colonization, resist harmful legislation that seeks to turn back the clock against women, against minorities and against our Mother Earth.

The over 200 Women’s Marches that took place on Saturday were not limited to the U.S. as others took place in Paris, Berlin, London, Prague, Sydney and beyond. 

UCTPTN 01/19/2020