The election may be over, but its aftermath looms. There are things to unlearn, to face, and to improve upon in 2021 and beyond. There’s still a pandemic. There’s still white supremacy and health care inequality and threats to reproductive rights after four years of right-wing radicalization.
This need to rebuild is the central theme of the 2021 Womxn’s March on Raleigh, the fourth-annual event with pink pussy hats and posters plastered with progressive sayings.
“It’s been 4 years coming, but we finally got the Orange Cheeto out of office!” the group’s donation page says. “We’re excited to come together to celebrate and focus on all the work we still need to do as we transition to a new administration and rebuild an America that serves ALL of us.”
The virtual march will go live for 12 hours on Saturday, January 23. The theme is Onward Together (Vamos Adelante Juntxs), to focus on how to rebuild the country after the last four years, and reckoning with the aftermath of a hellish 2020. The group also says they will be shifting to focus on grassroots organizations and building local community.
The Women’s March on Washington, the inspiration behind the Raleigh event, has come under fire since it began for its lack of intersectional feminism. In 2019, some called out the organizers over alleged antisemitism and homophobia. There were also critiques in the Triangle: that year, activist Takiyah Thompson called out white women participants when she was interrogated by police at the march in 2019, with limited aid from white women attending.
“You could hear a rat piss on a cotton ball when I started that chant because everyone is afraid to affirm the rights of Black women, of Black people,” she said that year.
The group appears to be continuing its shift toward an equitable event: on November 11, the group changed its name slightly, from “Women” to “Womxn,” to be “all-inclusive.” This year the group is also focusing on language by hiring Spanish interpreters and guest speakers, and asking for donations so that they can hire weekly interpreters.
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