KAILUA-KONA — Marching from south of Henry Street to The Edible World Institute off Kopiko Street, 3,500 people, according to one organizer, waved signs and shouted chants of solidarity one day after Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
The event was organized as part of the larger Women’s March on Washington, which is estimated to have drawn more than 500,000 people on Saturday, according to the District of Columbia’s homeland security director as quoted by the Associated Press.
Organizers and activists held similar marches drawing tens of thousands and in a couple cases hundreds of thousands at some events across the country with similar events held across the globe.
Here in Kona, the event brought out attendees all with a common goal: have their voices heard.
“Because resistance is visible,” said Nancy White of Kona. “And having something like this like a march enables anybody to have a voice and to feel involved and to be seen.”
White doesn’t consider herself a very politically active person.
“But I am becoming so with the disaster that happened with the last election,” she said. “This particular event is of great interest to me because it’s specifically about women, mostly about women.”
The area’s men weren’t shy about coming out in full support of the march, regularly saying that the support of women’s rights lifts up everyone.
“When (my daughter) was born — I used to say — I became an instant feminist,” said Alan Silverman, who was marching with his family. “It’s important for us all to realize that, as a lot of the signs have said, women’s rights are human rights. We all care about these things and we all need to care about them. I think men ignore them at their peril.”
Silverman said it’s important for everyone who cares about particular issues to come out and make their voices heard.
“Just the idea that the act of being here and being seen should make people realize that there a lot of us who feel these issues need to be addressed,” he said, “from women’s rights to gay rights to climate change — a lot of the issues that the incoming administration seems not to care about or to deny exist.”
Benjamin Ficklin, a Captain Cook resident, said men have a responsibility to challenge sexism and racism in society.
“White men voted for Trump; the majority of white men voted for Trump,” he said, referring to the large margin, 63 percent nationwide, of white men who voted for the current president.
“There is so much privilege that comes with being a white man in a sexist, racist society and so it’s on us, like, the people that voted Trump in, the people that are privileged by his hate speech, to come out and say ‘We don’t want that. It doesn’t stand for who we are,’” he said. “And it’s on me to go and talk to the other white, heterosexual men in the world about these issues. They’re the ones who get to not be affected by (Trump’s) hateful rhetoric.”
Marchers named a variety of key issues that they consider under threat by Trump’s administration. While many named reproductive rights and gender equality, others also consistently mentioned issues like climate policy, economic issues and health care.
“My opinion from what I’ve learned and read through a lot of different avenues, not just mainstream media, is that this president is setting us back and taking away so many freedoms that so many have fought for,” said White.
Concern about Trump’s impact on the issues was on the minds of many marchers.
“It’s sad that we’ve reached this point where we have to march in the streets in order to be heard, in order to say that this is not right,” said Gloria Myklebust, a Paauilo resident.
Trump, she said, “is not representative of our country.”
“This,” she said, pointing to the crowd of marchers that surrounded her as they made their way down Palani Street, “is representative of our country, but he is not representative of our country.”
It was an event that also brought out the area’s youth, some of whom were more than thrilled to be a part of what they considered a big movement.
They included 16-year-olds Eva Garces and Riley McGuire, both of Kona.
“I love it,” said Garces. “I’m so happy. Usually stuff like this doesn’t really come to Kona. It’s so great. I’m so happy about it.”
McGuire said she saw the event as an opportunity to be voices in the community. The two also noted the importance of having younger generations represented at demonstrations.
“It proves we’re strong enough to make a difference and that we can change the world if we put our mind to it,” said McGuire.
“And all those signs, ‘The Future is Female,’” said Garces, “The future is half-female and if you don’t give us the rights that we ask for and that we deserve, then how are we supposed to make this world a better place?”
The march ended at the Rally for Common Ground, a sister event planned in coordination with the march that featured local organizations, music and speakers.
There, Lulie Cottle, one of the organizers, said she was overwhelmed at the march’s attendance, which she said was estimated at about 3,500.
“I felt so inspired and so hopeful for the future, so supported,” she said. “I almost cried; I cried. I felt so overwhelmed with joy; I had no idea it was gonna be this many people.”
It’s not stopping here, though, she said.
Cottle noted that their group “Matriarchy Rising,” plans to continue and channel the energy and momentum of Saturday’s march.
“We know that there’s a lot of people on our side and in support of what we’re doing,” she said. “We’re gonna keep going and doing what we can to get heard.”
Another organizer, Jackie Kalani, said the day’s events gave her hope.
“It gives us hope that people want to change something. And that’s why we did it,” she said. “That’s why I did it.”
March attendees were nearly unanimous in the belief that the march was the beginning of a movement.
“I don’t know what the next step is, but I’m sure that this is only the beginning,” said Myklebust.
“I think that there are movements that are going to come from this and they will translate into action this time, rather than just demonstrations,” she said later.
Myklebust contrasted her experience marching Saturday with the marches in which she took part during the 1960s with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.
Those marches, she said, were “fraught with tension.”
“This marching, I think, is full of hope.”