“So are all these people Trump supporters, or protestors?”
My instinct was to yell “protestors!” but as I looked blearily around my 6am bus to D.C last Friday I realized I didn’t know either. (Also it was 5:45am – I was fading in and out of sleep). Four hours later we arrived in D.C at Union Station. As I walked through the station the tension was palpable. I wasn’t wearing anything that marked my political affiliation. I could feel people eyeing me suspiciously trying to guess whose side I was on. Leaving the station I walked past people screaming insults/labels at each other, “Racist!”, “He’s your President now!”, Deplorable Baby!”, “Fuck you!”.
A few hours later I walked into a protest where a trash can was burning in the street. I didn’t feel threatened by the fire. What I did find disturbing was the sense that the crowd, which included swarms of photographers and reporters, was waiting/rooting for a violent outburst to occur. As I walked around the shut down city I kept thinking of the Margaret Atwood quote that my friend chose to use for her March poster, “War is what happens when language fails.”
A few blocks away people were selling Trump paraphernalia out of shopping carts. A man asked a woman selling “Make America Great Again” flags if they were flammable. She replied, “I don’t know. Give me $20 and you can find out.”
Saturday’s March had a completely different energy than Friday. Honestly, I can’t say anything more eloquently about the day that hasn’t already been said. I teared up immediately when I climbed out of my friend’s Dad’s car (7 in a sedan-totally normal, right?) and saw the streets flooded with women, signs in hands, hats on heads, eagerly heading to march.
I am a wedding photographer, not a photojournalist. This is clearly not a post about a wedding, but as calls for artists to use/share their work with the world go out, I wanted to share a glimpse into what I saw last weekend.
(I am also so grateful/thankful for the women I marched with last week —Maddie Wise, Morgan Green, Depauli Gupta, Amelia Golden, and Natalie Be’er. Thank you!!!)
Also….some helpful websites to get through the days ahead….
Women’s March on Washington, The 65, 5 Calls …. and for kicks this is an instagram account that always makes me laugh.
