~by Denise O’Brien Van
I was a lone Greene County participant, I thought, in the Saturday, Jan. 21, Women’s March in Des Moines. The local women I invited to walk with me had commitments, so I soloed, rather bravely, I thought.
Now I know, thanks to Facebook, that several Greene County women were there. The throng was so large that I never ran into them, or any of my other Iowa friends.
We Greene Countians were among 26,000 Iowans who gathered for a variety of reasons.
A few days before the march, I ran into several prominent Greene County supporters of our new president, and one asked what I would be protesting at the march.
“I’m not protesting,” I told him. “I’m marching for civility.”
And that is exactly what I encountered at the march: Civility. Calm. Charity. Hope. Patience. Rock ’n’ Roll. And, of course, thank goodness, hilarity and sarcasm. Some of those placards were priceless.
“Love Trumps Hate.”
“This grandmother won’t put up with this s…t.”
“Keep your tiny hands off my rights.”
And, of course, there were the slightly naughty tattoos (“Don’t tread on me” with a snaky female reproductive system graphic) and the thousands of pink pussy hats, many knitted by Iowa grandmothers in the crowd.
To me, that’s the real story of this march (that we now know encircled the world). It’s not the crowds in large American cities. It’s that 26,000 Iowans gathered at the Iowa Capitol building in Des Moines.
Not that there were 250,000 in Chicago, where my eldest daughter joined the throng. Or a half-million in Washington, D.C., or a hundred thousand in London. Those record numbers are impressive, but what electrifies me is that thousands and thousands of Iowans—from babes in arms to grandfathers in wheelchairs—gathered at the Statehouse in this little state of Iowa to register their dissatisfaction with crass and un-American behavior.
Iowa organizers hoped for 10,000. We, the women of Iowa and our families, surprised and delighted them by more than doubling that figure.
On that rather balmy Saturday, there were speeches and chants and rock and roll music. Difficult to hear the orations, exhilarating to join the chants—“Women united will never be divided!”—fun to bop to rock music as we patiently waited to merge into the march around the Capitol building.
For me, the promenade (and that’s what it was…there was no militancy) from the west side of the Capitol around to the east side and then west along Grand Avenue was the event’s best part. Obeying traffic lights, the throng waited at East 12th Street, and then crowded the sidewalks on the north and south sides of Grand Avenue. As we walked along, enjoying each other’s company—the camaraderie of strangers united in a common cause—we garnered support from others who couldn’t attend. Drivers on that major thoroughfare honked their horns and waved and cheered, and we responded merrily, smiling and waving back.
That was the where I saw the event’s law enforcement presence: A lone Iowa State Highway Patrol car parked on the north side of the Capitol building.
I had taken my time getting to the event on Saturday morning. Exiting Interstate 235 at about 11 am, I joined a traffic jam, and finally found a parking spot west of the Des Moines River on W. Locust St, about a half mile west of the Capitol building. A young woman was parking her car at the same time, and we walked across the river bridge together and spent the rest of the day together.
Attending by myself turned out to be a boon. I spent that day with my new friend, a Millennial, a native Iowan, a college grad, a giving girl who works in a Des Moines homeless shelter. She joined the chants, so I did, too. She followed me as I shouldered my way through the crowds. She’s the future of this nation. I’ve lived a long life of desire for peace and justice. We entwined past and present as we walked.
I hadn’t joined a march since 1968, when I linked with many others in Des Moines to mourn Dr. Martin Luther King. Almost 50 years later, I again joined thousands of Iowans to support that great American leader’s ideals of equality, respect, nonviolence and peace.
