The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, millions across the globe marched in the streets to advocate for women’s rights and civil rights. Though demonstrations brought out hundreds of thousands more than originally anticipated, the real advocacy work is just beginning, activists said.
“I really believe that the revolution will be televised, Snapchatted, Facebook-lived, it’s going to be blogged out,” said Symone Sanders, CNN political correspondent and former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders. “The revolution is here.”
Sanders was speaking at a Youth and College division of the NAACP rally in the nation’s capital on the morning of the Women’s March on Washington. While hundreds of thousands were making their way to the National Mall for the March, NAACP members met in the historic Metropolitan AME Church from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to strategize and plan to fight on behalf of civil rights that some believe are threatened by the incoming administration.
In addition to Sanders, speakers included Cornell Brooks, NAACP president; Stephen Green, national director of the Youth and College Division of the NAACP; Jidenna, recording artist and activist; and Jamal H. Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Prayers and music from the Howard University gospel choir, who sang songs such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” interspersed the proceedings.
“It is evident that our nation is divided,” said Jacari Harris, president of the executive branch of the Student Government Association at Bethune Cookman University (BCU).
Harris flew up to D.C. with a group of BCU students. “I am here to experience the inauguration and be an advocate for all students,” he told Diverse.
Speakers said that mobilizing for protests and marches is critical, but sustained activism will be necessary for effecting actual change.
