On January 21st, 2017, I attended the Women's March on Charlotte. Charlotte, North Carolina was just one of many cities having a Women's March and Washington D.C. had the largest number of attendees. I wish I could have been there.

The website for the Women's March on Charlotte says this: "We stand together in solidarity for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families--recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country."

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This march was not just one for women though. People were marching for the rights of everyone. I, for one, was marching in solidarity with anyone who felt that their rights were threatened. I was marching for my friends of color, for all people of color, for my LGBT+ friends (especially trans women), for immigrants, for people of different religions and for anyone who needs it. I spent my time on the 21st trying to bring awareness to things that I felt was important. And it was incredible to be surrounded by thousands of people doing the same.

Not only was I surrounded by the thousands of people in my city marching for the same thing as me, but we were all joined by millions across the globe. The Women's March website (the original one) says that there were 673 marches, and 4.814 million sister marchers around the world. Now, as many people chanted during the marches: "This is what democracy looks like."

Charlotte alone reportedly had over 10,000 people marching on Saturday. There were an estimated 1+ million at the March on Washington.

Those of us who marched sat through an election where one of the candidates, the one who was elected president, ran a campaign on hate. This man may have a decent business background, and maybe he can do a decent job at something, but that does not take away from the fact that so many people now fear for their rights and their lives.

I have written two political articles about this election. The first one was titled, "Trump, His Mannerisms, and His 'If I Win Ideology'". The second one I wrote was after the results of the election were announced. It was titled, "To America After the 2016 Election". In both of these articles I express my concern for our country and our people. In the first article, I was advising against voting for someone who would only accept the results if he won. But then he did win. And I was scared. So I wrote the second article. My second article was about bringing love back to our country. And that is why I marched.

I am a firm believer in practicing what you preach. If you preach love and acceptance, you need to act upon your love and acceptance. You should stand up for what is right. Being able to change things without resistance is a great though, but it is not possible. It takes resistance and strength to make a change. And that change does not happen over night, or after one demonstration.

People are going to tell us that we need to sit down and be quiet. They will try to tell us that this is not a fight were fighting, and that there is nothing worth fighting for.

There was one man on twitter who said this: "What victory? Women already have equal rights, and YES equal pay in this country. What MORE do you want? Free mani/pedis?"

Well, Mr. Resilient Patriot, no. That is definitely not what I want. Ignoring the comment in your tweet about how we already have equal pay in this country (which, pretty sure we do not, but I am not about to fight you on that), the end of your tweet was quite sexist--regardless of the "satirical" intent, as you so nicely tweeted later.

I want men to stop acting as though women only pay attention to make-up and other "feminine" things. I want men like you to stop pretending that there is not a fight left. There will always be a fight.

I want men like you to stop pretending that we are only marching in our own interest. I am marching in the interests of the LGBT+, the people of color, the immigrants, those of different religions, and the interests of anyone who has felt degraded by men and other people like you.

So guess what? I will not be silenced. We will not sit down. We will rise together. We will fight together. And we will be fighting against people who want to live in a country where hate is more frequent than love.

Try to stop us. I dare you.

(picture taken by me)