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Marching forward

Central Iowa women demonstrate in D.C., Des Moines

Ashley Hala was one central Iowa woman to attend the Women’s March in Des Moines on Saturday after President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday. She said she was “humbled” and that it was an “amazing feeling” to participate.

It’s been an eventful past couple of days with the inauguration of President Donald Trump on Friday and subsequent protests as well as the Women’s March demonstrations across the United States and the world over the weekend.

“It was an awesome, energetic feeling to be there,” said central Iowan Lynne Guldager. The long-time resident of Marshalltown flew to Philadelphia with her daughter to meet her sister, Gloria Guldager. From there, the sisters rode a bus organized by a local Unitarian Fellowship to the starting point of the demonstration attended by roughly half a million people.

The Guldager sisters said it was an exhilarating feeling to be part of such a large group of people, and described feeling like “sardines,” packed together in the crowd on the streets of Washington, D.C.

Along with the primary march in the nation’s capital, several other cities across the country saw women, men and families of all backgrounds, ethnicities, identities and ages march en masse. One of those cities was Des Moines.

“I’m incredibly humbled and grateful to have been able to attend the Women’s March,” said Ashley Hala of Marshalltown, who participated in the march in the state’s capital. “It was such an amazing feeling to be surrounded by so many like-minded men, women and children.”

Becky Kinnamon of State Center also went to the Des Moines rally. She said she knew there was going to be a large crowd before she made it to the State Capitol Building.

“I knew it was going to be bigger than expected when traffic slowed on Interstate (Highway) 235 before the Guthrie Ave. exit,” she said. “By the (U.S. Highway) 163 exit, traffic had stopped.”

She described the scene at the beginning of the rally as “packed,” and said it remained that way at least until mid-afternoon when she had to leave.

“People were smiling and happy,” she said, adding they gave directions to participants and many people thanked the state troopers that watched over the rally.

Kinnamon said she was “demoralized” after Trump won the election in November, and felt she needed to do something rather than “sit in a funk.” She said she opposes many of both Trump’s views and Vice President Mike Pence’s views.

“I just couldn’t believe people were that disenfranchised that they would vote for someone like him,” she said, referring to Trump. “I was like ‘I have to do something.'”

Kinnamon said that, as far as she could tell, most of the organizers and participants in the rally did not believe the protest would change the outcome of the election, but rather that it would be a good way to show their disagreement with the newly-elected leaders, including U.S. legislators. She said the Trump campaign was full of vitriol, and described many of the actions taken and things said by the president as “Orwellian.”

Also marching in the streets of Washington, D.C. Saturday was Marshalltown resident Sara Canadé and her family, who came together from Illinois, Tennessee, Iowa and California.

“We got together in the streets of DC with people from all over the world to show solidarity that counters the anti-immigrant, anti-woman, ableist rhetoric by Trump in his campaign,” Canadé said. “It felt important, and I had the opportunity… we are making history.”

She called the atmosphere “celebratory” and “elating,” with people filling every possible space on the street. Like Guldager, and like Kinnamon and Hala in Des Moines, Canadé said the demonstrations passed peacefully.

“It was invigorating to know how many people are ready to defend against privatizing schools, defunding Planned Parenthood and constricting women’s healthcare, cancelling Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), and generally leaving people out,” she said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Hala and Kinnamon were two of an estimated 26,000 people in attendance in downtown Des Moines Saturday for the march.

“I first saw the [march] in D.C. on Twitter, so I looked to see if there were any protests close to me and I found the one in Des Moines,” Hala said. Kinnamon also said she found out about the idea of the Women’s March on social media, and specifically on Facebook.

Guldager said she first learned of the march thanks to a post on Facebook on the night of the Nov. 8 general election. She said she was motivated to join due to her disgust with Trump’s rhetoric.

“For me, it was his treatment of women,” she said of the newly-inaugurated president, adding she was disturbed by many things he said and did on the campaign trail and by how his ex-wives said he treated them. “I went through my own things in a past marriage.”

Guldager also took issue with an incident where Trump appeared to mock a disabled reporter. She and Gloria said they disliked many of the other positions he has taken.

Although she didn’t go to the march, Guldager’s daughter, Randall Crane, did offer needed support on the journey.

“Had she not come with me, I wouldn’t be here,” Guldager said of her daughter.

The sisters said they were happy to see such diversity of age, ethnicity and identity at the march.

Hala said it was good to see a large crowd in Des Moines, but added she wished some of the symbols that were used had been more inclusive of women who don’t conform to traditional gender identities or roles.

Hala said she had no other issues with the march, adding her “faith in the movement” was restored at the demonstration Saturday.

Guldager said she hopes demonstrations like the Women’s March help spur voters in the 2018 midterm election in which 33 U.S. Senate seats and all 435 U.S. Congress seats will be on ballots across the nation. She added she hopes the current Republican government trifecta will be at least partially dissolved in the voting booths.

Kinnamon said the idea of the demonstrations, in her opinion, was to change how certain behaviors are seen in society.

“The idea is to change what is normal,” she said. “It’s become normal to be hateful… that’s not what this country is, that is not ‘OK.'”

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com

Ashley Hala was one central Iowa woman to attend the Women’s March in Des Moines on Saturday after President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday. She said she was “humbled” and that it was an “amazing feeling” to participate.

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