Marches in San Diego, across nation ask women to vote for change

Thousands of people wearing face masks marched Saturday through the nation’s capital and in cities across the nation — including San Diego — urging voters to cast their ballots against President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates to protect women’s rights.

Nearly four years after an election that galvanized millions of protesters to march in cities nationwide — many of them for the first time — Women’s March leaders hope to bring a final show of force before Nov. 3. Organizers say more than 116,000 people have pledged to march or participate in other actions Saturday.

“Everything we’ve been doing has been leading up to this,” said Caitlin Breedlove, deputy executive director of organizational advancement for the Women’s March. “We’re not only in resistance. We’re actually fighting for what we need to build.”

The march is taking place days before the Senate holds its first vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal leader and feminist icon. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on the nomination of Barrett, who would cement the conservative advantage on the court.

In San Diego, more than 300 women, men and children marched through Balboa Park chanting “Women’s rights are human rights” and “Our bodies, our choice.”

Some women donned knitted, pink kitten hats that trended in women’s marches following Trump’s 2016 election, or red robes and white bonnets inspired by Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Others held rainbow flags supporting the LGBTQ+ community or carried signs honoring Ginsburg, with messages like “We are Ruth-less, so we must be ruthless” and “We dissent.”

“We are here in the spirit of RBG — let’s lead by her example,” Mountain View resident Athena Bazalaki said to the crowd through a megaphone. “This is for everybody, it’s about equality. We are all fighting for each other, we are a community, we need to treat each other as such and keep on fighting.”

Athena Bazalaki leads a chant during the Women’s March Saturday in Balboa Park.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Bazalaki, who attended the event with her two sons and boyfriend, helped to lead chants throughout the march. She said her passion for women’s rights, especially Black women’s rights, was largely inspired by Ginsburg’s career.

“Here we were trying to bring awareness and amplify the fact that they’re trying to fill her seat before President Trump is voted out,” Bazalaki said. “We want them to leave that seat be and let the next president make that decision.”

Escondido resident Maya Goodblanket — who is Cheyenne and Arapaho — said in her opinion, electing a new president is vital for addressing the needs of Indigenous people, such as stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline and stopping the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

“Gathering today like this creates unity, it creates a sense of purpose for a lot of people, and it gives us all hope,” Goodblanket said. “Indigenous people have always been put to the backburner, our voices are never heard, and that has definitely been apparent in this administration, as well.”

Attendees represented the gamut of racial and gender demographics, and spanned every generation.

A young girl carries in her purse a doll resembling Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Women’s March in Balboa Park on Saturday.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

One woman, 68-year-old Deborah Smith of Lakeside, said she first got involved with activism more than 50 years ago, fighting for civil rights, specifically those affecting women and LGBTQ+ people. Back then, she had friends who resorted to coat hanger abortions in back alleys of Mexico to stop unwanted pregnancies. The same key issues inspired her to join Saturday’s march.

“I did this before, way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, never thinking I’d have to do it again,” Smith said. “Times are really urgent right now, and we need to be out on the streets because this fascist regime in Washington, D.C., is destroying our country, so we have to stop them ... It’s just history repeating itself.”

Teenager Kyarah Smith, who is 14 and not related to Deborah, attended the march with her mother and 17-year-old cousin.

“I’m here because I’m part of the Black youth in San Diego and I believe that my voice matters, especially because I’m going to be a part of the future,” she said.

Demonstrators were asked to wear face coverings and practice social distancing to adhere to coronavirus safety efforts.

One man working at a construction site on Sixth Avenue yelled for the passing marchers to “Go home,” though most observers stood on the sidewalks cheering, clapping and following along to the chants, and some even followed in line with the march.

The march was organized by Meetup users who were not affiliated with the official Women’s March San Diego group.

Members of that group, concerned about the continued spread of the coronavirus, instead joined up with chapters across the country in a text banking campaign Saturday, said Women’s March San Diego board member Poppy Fitch. She said there were three sessions held Saturday, with about 5,000 volunteers across the nation sending texts during the first one. Their goal was to reach more than 5 million eligible voters throughout the day.

Protestors rally during the Women’s March at Freedom Plaza, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Washington, D.C.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

“We want to continue to honor the public health guidance that really should be informing everything that we do,” Fitch said. “Also, we were concerned about the proximity of this date to the upcoming election and really wanting to focus our energy and effort around direct action that could result in increasing voter turnout.”

Throughout the past week, volunteers wrote nearly 4,000 postcards to Republican senators urging them to reconsider confirming Barrett.

Tensions over the nomination came to a head outside the Supreme Court on Saturday afternoon, as marchers confronted several dozen counterprotesters who were chanting Barrett’s “ACB” and holding antiabortion posters. They were quickly drowned out by the several thousand Women’s March attendees, who countered by yelling, “RBG” and “My body, my choice.”

“We have the votes!” Students for Life protesters chanted, holding up signs with pictures of fetuses with messages such as “She could be Audrey,” “She could be Oprah” and “She could be Alexandria.” A Women’s March volunteer stood between the two groups, keeping them separated, but many young women held heated one-on-one debates, sparring about abortion, birth control and health care.

A woman spray-painted two of the antiabortion protesters’ signs, while others nearby got into a shouting match.

“Pro-life is pro woman! Abortion betrays women” some yelled into others’ faces, and “You’re a traitor!” “My body, my choice” the marchers responded angrily.

Katelyn Fitzgerald, 20, was among the line of young people wearing blue shirts from Students For Life. “I wanted to show that I can be pro-woman and pro-life,” said Fitzgerald, who is a student at Liberty University. “It’s not an oxymoron.”

The march comes amid an economic recession that has fallen especially hard on women of color and mothers, a Supreme Court nomination that many fear threatens the reproductive rights of women, and a presidential election that could be decided in large part by women. Former vice president Joe Biden holds a 23 percentage point advantage over Trump among female likely voters (59 percent to 36 percent), according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Meanwhile, Trump and Biden split men, with 48 percent each.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.