Women's March 2020, San Jose, CA: Dump Trump

About 8000 of us gathered today (Saturday, January 18, 2020) in San Jose, California - 75% women and 25% men from what I could gather - at the Arena Green in downtown San Jose, California, to participate in Women’s March 2020. Similar marches - estimated at 180 - are taking place in small and big cities throughout America today. The march has three objectives: Dump Trump in the November 3^rd presidential election, empower women and enshrine their rights in laws and in practice, and save Planet Earth from the catastrophic effects of Climate Change.

I listened to Karrington Kenney, the 16-year-old junior and VP of the Black Student Union at Milpitas High School. “Make sure to vote in December,” said the poised and persuasive speaker. Under Trump, we are witnessing unabashed racism. We must do our part in defeating the haters and the White Supremacists. Kenney was instrumental in outing a history teacher in her school who wore blackface last year at Halloween. Although the teacher apologized, Karrington reminded us to be vigilant and proactive in calling out racism wherever and whenever we see it. She quoted the names of the African-American women who, as NASA engineers and mathematicians, made incalculable contributions to America’s space program. That they did it in Jim Crow South made their contributions that much more remarkable.

Karrington Kenney, Milpitas High School Student, Addressing
Women's March in San Jose, January 18, 2020.

Sabrina, a third-generation Jewish American, was holding up signs with her teenage daughter that read, “You Can’t Complain If You Don’t Vote!” Her grandmother was born in Stockton, CA. When she was 3, she was sent to Germany to be looked after by relatives. Then the Nazis took over. Her grandmother and family narrowly escaped being Holocaust victims: A church “certified” that they were Catholics. When Sabrina’s mother was 3 years old, her grandmother migrated to the U.S. with her daughter for good in 1948. “And so here I am,” said Sabrina. “I want everyone to understand how lucky we are that we can assemble like this and vote. And unless we vote, we deserve our leaders. That’s how we got Trump. So make sure you vote on 3^rd November!”

Sabrina tells San Jose Women's March participants that
unless they vote, they have no right to complain.

Can we restore the rule of law, decency, justice and democracy in the United States, come November 2020? Only if we do our part and vote our conscience. Words are meaningless unless backed by action. "Vote blue no matter who," read an impassioned poster. Evidence of Women Power was everywhere. The nation is counting on America's women to rise and lead the nation to justice, decency and rule of law by decisively defeating Trump.

Here are some more photographs to give you an idea of the energy, passion and activism that are beginning to animate Americans in this critical election year.