'We Need To Come Together With One Unified Voice': Photos From 2019 Women's March Events In NYC

For some who attended the Women’s Unity Rally in Manhattan’s Foley Square Saturday, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's speech was the highlight. "Justice is not a concept we read about in a book," she said. "Justice is about the water we drink. Justice is about the air we breathe."

But for Victoria Jones, 22, the most moving part of the rally was when the organizers invited a woman up to speak in Spanish about her job as a dishwasher. Listening to her, Jones said, she was reminded of how her grandmother worked low-wage jobs to support her family.

“I’m half Spanish and black as well,” said Jones, 22, who had never been to a Women’s March event before. “Bringing up someone who doesn’t speak English and bringing a translator is very liberating because usually they’re not heard.”

The Women’s Unity Rally was one of two new events that took place on the anniversary of the Women’s March this year, providing an alternative to the traditional procession of pink pussy hats through Manhattan. Rumblings about divisions within the movement, intertwined with accusations of anti-semitism, dogged organizers leading up to the day of action. But many who came out to the events that were added to the roster this year said it was their strong message of inclusivity that attracted them.

Speakers at the rally, which was organized by the New York Immigration Coalition and a group called Women’s March NYC, emphasized that women of color, low-income workers, immigrants and LGBTQ people should be at the forefront of the women’s movement. Agunda Okeyo, director of Women’s March NYC, also talked about plans to unite the labor unions, nonprofits serving different ethnic communities, and other groups endorsing the rally behind a forthcoming policy platform for New York, to be called the Women’s State of the State.

“Women’s March NYC is becoming the fulcrum of a broad coalition of groups with an interest not just in one day of a spectacle but to move beyond the march to political action,” Okeyo said.

In the afternoon, the first Non-March for Disabled Women, which was organized by Rise and Resist and supported by Women’s March NYC, drew disability rights’ activists to Grand Central Terminal, where they chanted slogans simultaneously targeting Trump and the MTA, like, “Access for all! Don’t build a wall!” and “Elevators, not walls!”

It was the first time Ennis Bashe, a 24-year-old who has trouble walking due to a genetic disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, could attend a Women’s March event.

“Marches are something I’ve never been able to do,” said Bashe, a graduate student in social work. “It’s really hard with a cane. People will kick you, step on you, bump into you. Any activist movement that bases itself on inclusion and intersectionality needs to include disability.”

Whether at the rallies or the main march, demonstrators held signs connecting gender equality to a wide range of issues, from police brutality to universal health care. As in years’ past, activists with diverse priorities were united by a hearty disdain for the president.

Women who showed up to the various actions Saturday generally said they were aware of the accusations of anti-semitism that have been lobbed at organizers of the original Women’s March on Washington, D.C. (which are linked, in part, to their qualified support for controversial black activist Louis Farrakhan), and the rift that has formed between the organizers of the different events in New York.

The march in New York has been organized by a group called the Women’s March Alliance, since 2017. The WMA’s founder Katherine Siemionko specifically said earlier this month, “We are a local grassroots team of volunteers hosting this event for the third year in a row, and we do not have nor have we ever had an association with Women’s March, Inc. or its founders.”

“It’s a shame that we liberals spend so much time fighting with each other that we wind up dividing ourselves,” said Leigh Ridpath, a preschool art teacher who came down from Westchester to attend the main march with her friends Saturday. “We are helping the Republicans win by being divisive and nitpicking over little things. We need to come together with one unified voice and fight against the tyrant who is currently occupying the White House.”

Some Jewish organizations and individuals specifically showed up to the Foley Square event, which did not seek to distance itself from the organizers of the original Washington, D.C., march following the controversy the way the competing Women’s March on NYC did.

“I believe that our feminist movement should be led by women of color, by queer and trans folks of color,” said Maya Edery, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. “We should always be following the leadership of those most impacted by oppression and this rally really uplifts the leadership of women of color, which is why I chose to be here.”

The controversy did bubble over into the day’s activities, with one woman—reportedly conservative activist Laura Loomer—interrupting Okeyo’s speech to shout, “The Women’s March does not represent Jewish people!”

“What we’re not going to do today is be negative,” Okeyo responded. “Today is all about positivity.”