Carl Mumpower wrote a letter to the Mountain Xpress about the Women’s March [“Women’s Marches Lack Mature Focus,” Feb. 1]. My first response to Carl’s angry letter was anger. Of course. The ego always speaks first. Dr. King’s words lent me a hand. “An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.”
My activist friend Nancye, who heads a mixed political group that raises money for disadvantaged women, had called in early December to tell me about the pink hats that Carl ridiculed. “Come by and get some yarn,” she said. My Colorado friend Cathy, a paragon of generosity and decency, a lifelong Republican from a Republican family, the mother of two daughters, was so appalled at Trump’s comments about grabbing women that she crocheted 50 hats. Neither Nancye nor Cathy could march. This was a way they could support the protest.
Three friends and I went to [Washington] D.C. together. One of us four wore a pink fleece hat she’d sewn, and she brought another to give away. The other three of us declined to wear a hat. We three weren’t fond of the very word Trump used that inspired the pink hats. Not that we minded anyone else wearing them. We understood and respected the choices of others. The pink hats made a great look to the march. They were fun to see. But I can understand Carl’s negative reaction.
I saw very few of the “profanity-laden” signs that Carl highlighted. The signs were one of the best parts of the day. The vast majority were humorous or meaningful, or both, and to me embodied the human desire to create that goes all the way back. I thought of those out-of-this-world cave paintings when I saw all the signs.
I made a sign and thought about the wording for weeks. “Sisterhood-Brotherhood-Solidarity-Kindness” was the final version, rimmed with “Kindness-Kindness-Kindness…” in a colorful border. It was a small, busy sign, and I was happy with it.
On the crowded Metro ride out of the city after the March, a black man, standing and looking as tired and happy as I felt, carried his large white sign down at his side. In the center of the sign, in neat black block letters, was written, “Power without love is reckless and abusive. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.” Underneath were the initials “MLK.”
“That’s a great sign,” I said.
He smiled. “My son, who is 26, told me how to do it. He’s an artist. He told me, ‘You don’t want it too busy.'” We both laughed. That was one moment out of a day full of wonderful, loving, human moments. Peace be with us all.
— Anne Bevilacqua
Waynesville
57 thoughts on “Letter writer: Women’s March was full of meaning”
The best thing about the Women’s March was its timeliness. Coming as it did on January 21, the march helped bind the nation’s wounds and bring us together after we had all just endured that agonizing, directionless, tortured, divisive, accusation-laden and demoralizing inauguration speech.
What will they do for the next eight years for an encore?
I’ll ask around.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/01/21/whats-next-after-the-womens-march/?utm_term=.2b3532fa0fd0;
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/after-success-of-womens-march-a-question-remains-whats-next.html?_r=0;
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/22/womens-march-movement-able-transform-massive-crowds-into-lasting-legacy-trump/96920040/;
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/us/womens-march-next-steps/.
“I’ll ask around.”
You do that, Mr. Robbins. I’ll be waiting right here in rapt attention, as always.
Or you could read the links. Do I have to explain the bit?
I prefer your cogent distillations. When you can summon them.
The readers may prefer to take their facts straight. Local customers come first at my bar.
8 years!
You’re gonna be lucky if you get 8 months out of that incompetent lint-covered marmalade.
Mr. Peck’s election forecasts are as plausible as anyone’s at this point. But if I were him, I wouldn’t crow until I had consulted with Governor McCrory, Justice Edmunds and House GOP Leader Moffitt.
I’ll crow as I see fit. Now would be a good time.
If your throat gets dry, have a glass of locally controlled water. Works wonders for the disposition.
I understand wanting to change the subject.
Same subject. We were discussing how overconfidence sometimes goes right down the drain.
No. You are talking about me. Good. Keep it up if that’s what you have.
Your comment made a bold prediction, one unsupported by facts. I am looking at the track record of the bold predictor in other circumstances where he did not rely on facts.
How surprising. Your sparkling conversation takes yet another turn. And we are all the richer for having born the burden.
The word you’re looking for is “borne,” not “born,”Mr. Wilde.
My, my. You have been reduced to being the comment board Grammar Police. How sad. Do come again, Mr. Robbins. Always delightful to see of what you are made.
It wasn’t a grammatical error; it was an error in judg(e)ment.
Whatever you say, dear. As long as stay on your favorite subject, Mr. Robbins, it’s alright with us.
(review for punctuation)
Is that the editorial “us,” the royal “us,” or the Gollum “us”?
Oh, please, take your pick, Mr. Robbins. Your expertise is unassailable from what you would have us believe.
(edit for style)
Besides, Mr. Peck, I don’t know why you’re being so defensive. When someone makes a comment containing a political prediction, inquiring minds want to know how accurate his predictions have been in the past. That’s not personal. You know I think well of you and wish you every success in life. But you wouldn’t hire someone to manage complex finances on a national scale if he had caused a string of corporate bankruptcies and had lost almost a billion dollars in one year, would you? You’d be the first to protest that mistake!
Well, we ARE chatty, aren’t we? How delicious.
(that’s the editorial we)
I’d still like to know what will they do for the next eight years for an encore?
(that’s 2,924 days, adjusted for Leap Year)
Care to begin your incisive circumlocution again? Or choose any topic, as is your wont.
There’s this: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/20/us/not-my-presidents-day-protests/.
And this: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientists-hold-rally-boston-protest-threats-science-45598104.
There’s pictures, too. Let me know when you’re done not reading.
I’m done. Want to try again?
Nope. You say you’re done and I believe you.
I was really hoping you’d treat us to another 2 days of meaningful digression.
Shhh. I’m listening to the First Lady at Trumpstock in Florida.
You mean the First Lady who recoils at the touch of her husband? That First Lady?
But on another subject, he had a yuge turnout! 9000 (mostly) whole people! Incredible! One for the record books.
He had nearly as many people as we had in Pack Square the day after the inauguration. Impressive feat for such a tiny-fisted demagogue.
No fair comparing. The Women’s March had decent speakers.
Amen brother! Don’t you love it when Linda Sarsour (one of the main speakers) talks about how great sharia law is? “I felt this thrill going up my leg”…
“shariah law is reasonable and once u read into the details it makes a lot of sense. People just know the basics”
https://web.archive.org/web/20170122172847/https:/twitter.com/lsarsour/status/116922589967949824
“If you are still paying interest than Sharia Law hasn’t taken over America. #justsaying”
https://web.archive.org/web/20170123195630/https:/twitter.com/lsarsour/status/598326262218813440
I think we can all agree that the Women’s March had better speakers across the country and across the world. But we were talking about the local rally in Pack Square.
Still, if you insist on demonizing people you don’t understand, Mr. Snowflake, here’s some background to help you sleep at night: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/nyregion/linda-sarsour-is-a-brooklyn-homegirl-in-a-hijab.html?_r=0.
Only skimmed the NY Times link but Linda Sarsour instantly reminded me of Rachel Dolezal.
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/06/12/413887930/making-sense-of-rachel-dolezal-the-alleged-white-woman-who-passed-as-black (ahem, how cute of NPR to say “passed as black”. Should be “faked as black” as her own parents widely declared to the media)
My, my….what people will do these days for their 15 minutes!
Do more than skim the article, Real World. It’s important to understand how thoughtful and dedicated women are marginalized by comments like yours.
You seem obsessed by the size of your crowd.
You seem obsessed with Asheville, Tex. But thanks for trying to make it all about me.
Fascinating pivot, Mr. Sure. We always benefit from your input; however stale.
Still trying to think of something to say, Mr. Peck? You can stop thinking now.
Although you provide an excellent model, I’ll decline. You, of course, must do as you wish, Mr. Robbins.
I appreciate you assiduously digging around for a comment of mine to decorate, which is your singular talent. You know I wish you only good health and just luck in these pages.
I’m pleased that you feel your comments have been well treated by me. Drop these pages by any time.
Yes, indeed. You hardly fail in your zeal to find a stray comment of mine, however remote, and leave it unspoiled. I can imagine how time-consuming it must be for you, Mr. Robbins, but I do understand the attraction.
And, seriously, you don’t need to inventory my talents all the time. Nobody cares. What matters is that people understand that even though I may kid from time to time, I don’t think ill of you and I don’t want them to think ill of you, either. It’s time to put divisive rhetoric in the past and march, as it were, toward a brighter future.
“you don’t need to inventory my talents all the time. ”
My dear boy, that inventory has been exhausted. As I highlighted moments ago.
One doesn’t need to dig for your comments, Mr. Peck. As all other readers of local publications must know, they’re ubiquitous as dirt.
I’m happy to make your unflagging searches the more easy. I may put together an index so you won’t, perchance, miss one.
Start with your comments in the Asheville Citizen-Times. I blocked them long ago because I found them belligerent and tacky. (That blocking feature, alas, does not appear to be available at this publication.) Had I known you were counting on my decorative talent, however, I might have persevered in the public interest. Sorry to disappoint.
Well that’s encouraging to read that a Trumpphobe recognizes that his supporters are (mostly) whole, and not deranged nutcases who would do something crazy like walk around in public dressed as vaginas and cats.
Speaking of feline-themed props . . . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trumps-dead-cats_us_583da465e4b04e28cf5b8bb2.
It was an inspirational moment indeed. Glad you could check it out.
Afterwards, they had a lovely luncheon at Mar-a-Lago, where gold-star members and above got to play nuclear-code bingo. The game is really fun, though it gets a little rowdy with all the drinks you have to take.
Great comment on the full meaning of the women’s march. Keep it comin’, Mr. Robbins. You can do it.
Also, while a 5 drink minimum isn’t technically mandatory, you need at least 5 drinks just to quell the self-loathing.
I thought the “inspirational moment” to which you referred was the First Lady’s speech at the Trump rally in Florida for which you previously expressed a teenage groupie’s admiration. If you were inspired by the Women’s March, good for you. There’s hope yet.