{"id":276501,"date":"2017-01-22T10:44:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-22T17:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=276501"},"modified":"2017-01-22T10:44:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T17:44:24","slug":"i-marched-with-my-daughter-to-feel-proud-strong-and-brave-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/01\/i-marched-with-my-daughter-to-feel-proud-strong-and-brave-together\/","title":{"rendered":"I marched with my daughter to feel proud, strong and brave together"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liz

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Liz Schirmer at the Women’s March in Las Cruces on Saturday.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>On Saturday\u00a0my 5-year-old daughter and I joined some 1,500 other people<\/a> at the \u201cUnified Community Action in Solidarity with the Women\u2019s March\u201d here in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

We almost didn\u2019t go. It was cold and rainy when we woke up, and S. doesn\u2019t like to \u201chike.\u201d But we talked about what she\u2019d been learning about MLK and Rosa Parks \u2014 that some people think white folks are better than anyone else, and those people often have too much power; that sometimes laws are unjust, or powerful leaders disrespect others, and regular people like us have to stand up to them.<\/p>\n

We looked at the \u201cGirls Rule\u201d magnet on our fridge and the Clinton\/Kaine sticker with its fading \u201cI voted\u201d oval on our car. I like to think S. remembered what it felt like to fill in the bubble for the first girl president. And she put on her big girl pants and her hated puffy coat and we marched.<\/p>\n

For me, it was a chance to hug my people, show my colors, and feel some hope. The news on the morning of Nov. 9\u00a0hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. I\u2019m privileged enough to have been shocked by the election of a reality TV star who baited racial extremists, bragged of sexually assaulting women, and scorned any appeal to learning or expertise.<\/p>\n

American democracy suddenly appeared to me as a fragile and deeply flawed institution, providing cover for naked power plays and for stark racial and economic injustice. I heard walls crumbling in my sleep. Let\u2019s say I was not feeling optimistic. But I picked myself up and tried to teach, to parent, to organize in my community.<\/p>\n

I talked too much, as usual. I lectured my father about Standing Rock over Thanksgiving dinner (and I\u2019m not sorry). But I also tried to listen to people who, having lived the reality of racial oppression in America, were far less surprised \u2014 if no less shocked \u2014 by, say, Trump\u2019s appointment of overt white supremacists to White House posts.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u00a0morning, as S. and I walked through the downtown mall towards the Southwest Environmental Center (SWEC), the sun broke through after all. S., an artist, was excited to make our own poster. Because she\u2019s recently learned the Pledge of Allegiance at school, I wrote, \u201cLiberty and Justice for ALL,\u201d and S. added \u201cGirls Rule!\u201d in brilliant rainbow colors.<\/p>\n

There were so many people at SWEC that they had to move the rally out to the new downtown plaza. So many people that when we marched, our line stretched from the plaza down Church Street, around the roundabout, and back up Water to meet its own tail at the start. Organizers lined the road yelling \u201cNASTY WOMEN IN THE HOUSE!\u201d Our kindergarten girls chanted and whooped and danced. Singing Out, the local LGBT+ chorus, did \u201cStand By Me\u201d and, OK, I admit it. I cried.<\/p>\n

Because the thing is, it\u2019s been really scary. And I\u2019m not even an obvious target of hate. I don\u2019t know when our DACA students might be deported or our Muslim students attacked openly in parking lots (yes, this has happened); if my friends\u2019 families will be able to keep the protections of federally-recognized marriage; whether S. will be denied health insurance for a preexisting condition; if laws might be passed to limit what my students and I can talk about in our classes.<\/p>\n

When the power went out twice in two days last\u00a0week I had the totally crazy, but newly plausible, thought that the whole damn grid had been hacked. I know many many people have always lived with this kind of fear. And I know that one march, however impressive or uplifting, does not systemic change make.<\/p>\n

But I marched, and I took my daughter, so that we could feel proud and strong and brave together, and show the world \u2014 and especially, the Trump administration \u2014 that we nasty women are a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

I marched, and I took my daughter, because this is how democracy works, and how our country rights itself. We need more democracy, not less. More and more and more.<\/p>\n

Liz Schirmer is a humanities professor at New Mexico State University\u00a0and a queer single parent by choice. She has lived in Las Cruces for 15\u00a0years and is proud to call it home.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is how democracy works, and how our country rights itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":276518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[708,140,3307,117,233,116,292],"class_list":["post-276501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-2016-election","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-donald-trump","tag-health-care","tag-gay-and-lesbian-issues","tag-washington","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}