Seven years ago I made this sign stating “We Won’t Go Back” to carry in the first Women’s March.
That march in Washington bursting with thousands of women felt like democracy at its best. The fact that this was echoed in cities and towns across the country was uniting.
Who could have imagined how the very institution we were fighting for would hang by a thread just a few years later.
Or that women’s rights would be in jeopardy. That the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v Wade,
Or that Donald Trump would be running for President once again.
Poster Womens March, Jan. 2017
But on that cold day in January 7 years ago, those of us who participated in the Women’s March were left with a feeling of empowerment.
We would take hold of our democracy. It was historical. The largest single-day demonstration in recorded US history.
Walking into the crammed National Mall in DC filled with hundreds of thousands of people who simply rejected the racist, sexist, xenophobic Trump agenda was an instant balm to the despair that had been my new normal for the past several months.
As far as the eye could see, I was enveloped by a vast blanket of pink and brown, black and white, a sea of diversity and solidarity, one voice with many issues.
A massive expanse of women and men and children, their pink pussy-hats bobbing in a sea of protest choosing freedom over fear.
“We will be watching,” I wrote at the time. “We have our eye on you. Keep your hands off our democracy!”
The series of signs I made for that day are as prescient now as they were back in 2017.
We won’t Go Back Poster 2017, Sally Edelstein
My Body My Choice Sally Edelstein poster Washington DC March Jan. 2017
My Body My Choice Sally Edelstein poster Washington DC March Jan. 2017
Today with Kamala Harris at the helm, I believe we can. With childless cat ladies leading the movement, we can’t fail.
We are NOT going back.
And if the unthinkable happens I am ready to take to the streets again
We will never go back.