Today, January 21st, 2017, marks the first day of Donald Trump's presidency. However, it also now marks the International Women's March of 2017. For those of you who don't have clue what that is, let me enlighten you. What started out as an open event created on Facebook, inviting thousands of women to come to Wahington D.C. to march for women's rights, became something even more than the event creators had anticipated. Originally only 27,000 people had confirmed that they would be going to the event, while 77,000 said they were interested. On the day of the march, they have calculated that around 500,000 women, so half a million women, actually showed up at D.C. to protest. The show out was so large compared to what they had expected that police officials had to remap and reorganize the route originally planned for the march. Not only that, but there were so many people gathered in the streets of D.C. for the march, it was said that people were literally standing shoulder to shoulder with each other and there was no space for people to move around in.

Not only that, but famous icons such as America Ferrera, Scarlett Johanson, Ashley Judd, Kristin Stewert, Cher, and many others showed out to put their will to the cause. Ferrera gave a speech for the march stating: "We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war." Ferrera then proceeded to go on into more depth regarding the demonization of Muslims, the murder and incarceration of black lives, the availability of safe and legal abortions, and the safety of LGBTQ communities. Ashley Judd provided the crowd with a piece of poetry in the form of a rap. Judd's rap was revolved around the term and idea of "nasty" women. Some lines from the piece were as followed: "I am not as nasty as a swastika painted on a pride flag," and"I am not as nasty as racism, fraud, conflict of interest, homophobia, sexual assault, transphobia, white supremacy, misogyny, ignorance, and white privilege." Women have commented that these icons may be famous and well known, but in the end, they are still women. That's why they are out in D.C. fighting for equal rights, that's why they are using the platform they have been provided to do something about the current situation.

D.C. wasn't the only place today where women were marching for women's rights. Other huge cities where marches were held were New York City, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Los Angelos, Raleigh, and others. Many women exclaimed their frustration in not being able to attend the big D.C. march, some saying that they didn't have the time nor money to travel there. So what did they do to solve their predicament? They all banded together and created their own local march to accommodate for other people nearby who suffered from the same situation. Here locally, only an estimated 800 people were expected at the downtown Greensboro march, but a whole 3,000 people showed up to march for their beliefs and convictions. Nearby at downtown Raleigh, a large quotient of 17,000 estimated people marched. This display of local marches was happening across the country to represent the message of equal rights for all.

However, the United States weren't the only people protesting and marching today. It was stated that 30 other countries held protests and women marches across the world. A few cities protesting were London, Berlin, Sydney, Paris, Cape Fear, and others. The slogan for other countries was not just equality for women, but solidarity with America and anti-Trumpism. People claimed that they are fearful and astounded that such an outcome could even be fathomable. The hope in other countries was that the world would stand for people who would suffer under the power.

It is incredibly dumbfounding to realize that about 140 years ago the first women's convention was held in Seneca Falls regarding women's rights. To think that after 140 years we are still being discriminated against regarding equal pay, sexual harassment, and other sexist policies is disconcerting. Trump is officially our 45th president of the United States, so yes he is our president now, but for the people to fully believe that and support that, Trump must be EVERYONE'S president. We the people live in a democracy where we are entitled to freedom of speech and beliefs. A democracy where we are set up to the decision that we must agree to disagree. However, when the topic at hand is sexual assault or racism we cannot simply agree to disagree. On average 321,000 Americans are sexually assaulted and raped a year. There are numerous measure we can take to counteract this to diminish the number of victims. But having a man in the highest office of our nation making lewd and harassing statements regarding women is not one of them. Yes, they may just start out as words offhandedly said, but they then become words of permission and words of allowance to the people, furthering people to develop the belief that it is okay to do such things.

You may think these marches are childish, ignorant, unnecessary, and other descriptive words that are far more uninviting, but we as marchers will have to disagree today, and until true change is brought, regarding the issue. We are out there to fight for the so-called "American Dream" that all Americans should have access to. We do not hate our friends, family, and close relations others who voted for Trump. We just want everyone to know that sometimes everyone doesn't really include or benefit everyone and we live in a society where we are told it should. So take a stand for human rights and fight for the non-privileged.

At the end of the day, though, Donald Trump has won the election and is now our 45th president. I believe in fighting for your beliefs as much as the next person, but we also must give him a chance. For those of you who don't personally believe in that, then let me put it this way: at this point, there is nothing left to do to correct or change this outcome. So giving him a chance is all we have left. Maybe after seeing the outcome of this election, we all will realize that these protests and marches must be done before the results are posted. I would also like to state, to which some people have a hard time grasping, is that not all people who voted for Trump are sexist, racist, or homophobic. Just as it is wrong that they are generalizing all protesters as vandals and criminals, it is also just as wrong to generalize all trump supporters as the claims above. So continue to fight for your beliefs, but don't succumb to how the other side of society wants to view us as. Just remember in the end, "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:31