This is #6 in my ongoing series*, "Signs of Sisterhood" about the Women's Marches that took place on January 21, 2017, on the heels of President Trump's inauguration. I'm keeping this coverage of this historic event going in order to maintain that huge surge of positive energy from the march during these challenging times.
My guest today is J. Harry Wray, author and Professor Emeritus, DePaul University.
Joan Brunwasser: Welcome to OpEdNews, Harry. You were a professor of political science for many years and have remain engaged and involved. I'd like to discuss a very recent phenomenon: the Women's March on Washington, along with its sister marches across the country and throughout the world. Did you go?
Harry Wray: I had originally planned to go with my wife and family, but it occurred to me that it might be better to work on the satellite march in Chicago. There were solid indications that the DC march was going to be huge. I ended up working on the organizing committee for the Women's 1/21 March on Chicago. It was a great experience.
JB: Tell us more! How did you go about getting on the organizing committee for the Chicago march?
HW: That's a neat story that says a lot about the movement we are suddenly in. There was a story about the DC march in the Trib a couple of weeks after the election. Buried in that story was a sentence about a Chicago march that was also forming, with a person's name. No address or contact information, but she had an unusual name that I was able to track down.
About 100 people showed up at the first meeting. Of these, about 50 were furiously involved. Everyone was new to planning something like this but there was a lot of talent. About five or six women were really the central players, but there were no turf battles and everyone operated on the faith that they would do what they said they were going to do.
JB: That is a great story. Was the group predominantly female? Was your participation an issue in any way?
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