With parkas on and dogs in tow, participants in the Nome Women’s March on Saturday, January 21st, endured the -17 temperature to make a showing of solidarity for equal rights.
The march was a sister event with the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. That rally, held the same day at the nation’s capital — and timed to immediately follow the inauguration of President Donald Trump the day beforehand — amassed an estimated half a million people in attendance. While many are calling participants in the global movement protestors or demonstrators, some participants in Nome gave themselves a different title, emphasizing a focus on positive change. One Nome resident Janet Balice said, “I’m here today as a force for positive things.”
Nome marcher Sue Steinacher echoed similar sentiments. “I think that I’m here trying to raise positive feelings for positive change. So I’m not protesting against something, I’m demonstrating in favor of diversity and unity.”
Steinacher got fired up about the event the night before. “The more I understood what it really was all about, the more I felt I really needed to be out there and a part of it.”
The Women’s March on Washington’s mission statement says, “[we] will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights.”
Marchers nationwide also brought focus to discussions about the interconnected nature of social categories, such as gender and race.
“All of those fit under the same umbrella,” said Balice. “[under] equality for all, love and caring for each other!”
An estimated 75 to 100 Nome residents were in attendance at the march. The route began at the Nome Post Office on Front Street and ended in Anvil City Square. Led by a police escort, the crowd took up the street with signage displaying a wide array of messages: slogans about women’s empowerment alongside some anti-Trump sentiment. Many wore pink and other homemade items as a display of female empowerment. Instead of a poster, Sue Steinacher’s dog Zelda was dressed up in a special pink backpack.
“Well, I first heard that people were wearing pink hats with ears, and I didn’t really quite get it at first. And then I understood, it was a reference to a comment that the president was reported saying when he was in the running process. And I wanted to know if I could bring my dog, and I said, ‘she’s got a pink backpack,’ so I put her pink backpack on and put the logo of the march on one side.”
The Nome Women’s March was one of 673 sister rallies around the world, with estimates of more than 4.8 million marching on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
All photos: Tyler Stup, KNOM.
