KAILUA-KONA — After November’s presidential election, Kona resident Lulie Cottle wanted to take action. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — After November’s presidential election, Kona resident Lulie Cottle wanted to take action. “I was pretty upset about it,” she said. “I just decided
KAILUA-KONA — After November’s presidential election, Kona resident Lulie Cottle wanted to take action.
“I was pretty upset about it,” she said. “I just decided I wanted to do something.”
That something, she said, led to the creation of a support group, where people could get together and share and support one another, and for Cottle, two issues in particular stood out: reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights.
So she and others formed the group “Matriarchy Rising.”
Not long after the group started, word about a proposed “Women’s March on Washington,” started by Maui resident Teresa Shook, began to spread across the country. As of Thursday evening, more than 170,000 people indicated on Facebook they were going to the Jan. 21 march in the nation’s capital, scheduled for the day after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Among those who planned to attend the D.C. march was Kona resident Jackie Kalani, 85.
After “the initial shock and depression” of the election results, Kalani, like Cottle, wanted to do something. The march, she said, provided an opportunity.
“I said, ‘I’m going,’” Kalani said. “‘I’m going to D.C.’”
The woman, who describes herself as “an old-time feminist from 1972,’’ said she was originally going to meet a friend in the nation’s capital and march together.
But as time went on, Kalani said, she decided her friend could march, carrying the Hawaiian flag in her stead.
“I would be of better use if I came to Kona and organized something here,” she recalled thinking.
As the Women’s March on Washington has been picking up momentum, marches have been planned not only in every state but in 17 other countries, as well, Cottle said.
In Hawaii alone, there are five marches scheduled: one each on Oahu, Maui and Kauai, and two here on the Big Island.
All of them are scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21.
The Kona march will begin at 3 p.m. starting south of Henry Street along the makai side of Queen Kaahumanu Highway. The march will go north along the highway before turning at Palani Road and ending at The Edible World Institute off Kopiko Street.
A Hilo march is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mooheau Bandstand.
As of Thursday evening, 162 people indicated they’d be attending the Kona march with 190 more registering their interest.
Cottle stressed that the event is meant to be an inclusive event for anybody supporting the march’s stated mission that “defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us,” according to the event’s Facebook page.
“We’re marching for all of the issues that are in jeopardy right now,” Cottle said.
At a sign wave promoting the march Thursday evening, Laura Gharazeddine said the march and activism is the “next step in the revolution.”
“It’s going to be an ongoing thing,” she said. “It’s what Bernie (Sanders) asked us to do; he asked us to become active in our communities.”
In addition to local residents, Cottle said, she’s getting interest from tourists who told her they’re going to be on-island at the time of the march and want to take part.
“All over the country and in the world, people are really enthusiastic about this,” she said. “So that’s pretty awesome.”
The march, she said though, is “just the beginning.”
It will end at the “Rally for Common Ground,” an event being organized separately that Cottle described as a “sister event to the Women’s March.”
The rally’s goal, according to its mission statement, is “to unify upon our common ground, resist threats to our rights, our communities and our environment and to promote efforts toward equality, solidarity and stewardship.”
The rally will feature speakers, artists and other organizations. It will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Edible World Institute.
