On Monday evening, I went to the Table Talk where we discussed the our views on the Women’s March. Since I am from DC, I was able to attend the Women’s March on Washington before I came back to Cornell, and it is an experience I will never forget. Everyone came to the March for a slightly different reason – some for immigrant rights, some opposed to Trump’s views on environmental protection, some for women’s rights, some for LGBTQ rights, the list goes on. However, people marched together, raised their posters up together, and chanted together, recognizing the intersectionality of the causes they were fighting for. Protestors ranged from toddlers to grandparents and it was incredible to see hundreds of thousands of people fighting back against the hateful language and threats that Trump used throughout the campaign to insult so many groups of people.

We had an interesting discussion about how people who voted for Trump were at the March. On one hand, what right do these people have to be at a protest against Trump’s hateful rhetoric and plans for his presidency, when they are part of the reason he is in power and able to follow through with these plans? How can you vote for someone if you are against what they stand for?  Were these people uninformed when they cast their ballots and have since reconsidered their position? And if so, how can you not take your vote seriously? Or did they vote for Trump and never expect he would win? It is hard to understand why these people voted the way they did and decided to march; however, doesn’t everyone have a right to march for something they believe in, no matter how they cast their ballot? These are tough questions to answer, and I go back and forth about how I feel. I hope to hear your thoughts!