By Vanessa Hewitt and Alexa Cheaney
On Saturday, March 8, over 2,000 West Michigan residents gathered in Rosa Parks Circle for the International Women’s Day, “Unite and Resist” march. This peaceful protest consisted of speakers, a performance from the Grand Rapids Women’s Choir and a march starting on Michigan Street and ending on Ottawa Ave.
Local restaurateur Jenna Arcidiancono opened up the rally with a speech, saying, “As I look out to all of you, I’m reminded of the resilience, strength, passion and all of the things that define us as women.”
Also known as “Chef Jenna,” Arcidiancono owns Amore Trattoria Italiana, a local Italian restaurant located off Alpine Avenue. She shared with those in attendance that prior to owning her own business, she faced trouble getting hired because of her gender.
“No one in Grand Rapids would hire me as a chef, even with 20 years of experience because I am a woman,” Arcidiancono shared, to which the crowd responded with booing. “… Remember it is our unique experiences that equip us to lead with empathy … and creativity, and persevere with unwavering determination.”
As a woman in leadership, speaker and State Representative Kristian Grant, (D-Grand Rapids), shared that during her campaign she was met with a similar resistance. When Grant and her team would knock on doors to gather support, they would be met with hushed support, such as “I’m going to vote for her, but please don’t come back. I don’t want my neighbors to see you guys… I don’t want to start any trouble.”
However, standing in front of her constituency on Saturday afternoon, Grant encouraged rally attendees to start some trouble.
“We won’t have a next time to stand up if we don’t stand up today,” she said. “And so we have to be the women and the people who support the women who are willing to stand up.”
Among those lending their support was Democrats at Grand Rapids Community College President Collin Helak, who rallied in support of both cis-gendered women and transgender women.
“Women’s rights are very important in society, but also the current administration’s attacks on gender nonconforming people, especially working class gender nonconforming people, trans people (and) especially trans women (are) perpetuating misogynistic and frankly horrific stereotypes,” Helak said.
Twenty-two-year-old Madan native Katrina Shafer-Dyer echoed the same message.
“I feel like a lot of things are really being threatened, not just for cis women but for all women. Trans women can’t even be women right now in the administration, even though they are,” she said. “That seems like the most basic right is to be able to be a woman.”
Izzy Hathway, 17, came to show support while dressed in Chapel Roan merchandise. She brought attention to the shirt she was wearing that read “Femininomenon”.
“I think this is a Femininomenon or the definition of a Femininomenon,” Hathway said. She also shared why she thinks it’s important for events like the Unite and Resist march to exist.
“I think everyone needs to form together and fight for what’s right, and this is what’s right. I think seeing all of this, it shows how far we’re going to make it and that this administration is not going to take us down.”
The actions of two-time President Donald Trump and legislation introduced under his administration were hot-button topics for those gathered in Rosa Parks Circle.
The “SAVE Act,” which was reintroduced to Congress on Jan. 3, and has many speculating that it may be harder for married women to vote, motivated 68-year-old Beth Miller, joined by her husband Micheal, 67, to attend the march in protest.
“Being a married woman I’m going to have to change my name back to my maiden name, which I hated. I’ll kind of feel like I lost my identity, I’ve been a Miller for 44 years. That’s my reason, and he’s supporting,” she said, gesturing to her husband beside her.
Micheal, who was there to support his wife, also took great interest in the event individually. He mentioned being at past protests for similar things and questioned the progressiveness of American society.
“I mean, we’ve been here before, why are we here again?” Micheal said.
Kym Combs, 56, brought attention to women’s suffrage and said her great-grandmother voted in the first election that allowed women the right to vote.
“When my great-grandmother was in labor with my grandmother, she made her husband stop at the polls because it was the first time ever in this country that a woman could vote,” Combs said. “My great-grandmother had more rights than we do today.”
Seventeen-year-old Jolie Guevara was alongside her boyfriend, Sam Schult, 19. Guevara said her main reason for attending the event was to support the cause. “I’m here to support everybody, you know, I’m a young woman myself,” she said. “It’s important that we’re all just supporting each other, especially with what’s going on in the world.”
As for Schult, it was the women in his life that motivated him to attend the event.
“I love my mom, I love my girlfriend. I appreciate women,” he said.
For event organizer Lauren Coman, the turnout was “incredible and “overwhelming.” She has been marching for women’s rights since before Trump’s first term in 2016, but the “Unite and Resist” march was her first time organizing something of this scale.
Lynne Ike is also a long-time protestor. She mentioned marching in Washington D.C. to protest during Trump’s first presidential term and expressed contentment for the replicated energy in downtown Grand Rapids.
“It was just so good to be around people that had like-minded concerns and so (today) we just got a bunch of friends together and, this is great,” Ike said.
Gage Lee Bender, 22, of Marin, is typically right-leaning. However, he doesn’t feel as if the current Republican party represents his beliefs. According to Bender, the shift began halfway through Trump’s first term.
“Ultimately, what conservatives and Republicans believe in most is ‘live and let live’ you know, do what you want to do and we don’t care. We just want to do what we want to do,” he said. “That’s not what the current administration is doing.”
State Representative Grant said she thought the turnout of the march was “amazing”, and vocalized the importance of showing up, especially when the administration is putting human rights in “jeopardy”.
“We’re just a few weeks into this year, and into this presidential term and we’re already seeing just how bad it can get… This is not a time for us to give up. The people of America and the people of Michigan still have power and we can use every bit of it if we want to see change,” she said. “We need these same turnouts in all the spaces where our rights are in jeopardy and where our rights are being taken away. We need the same kind of turnout and we need the same kind of passion behind that work. Today is a really great start, it’s March, but we’re going to need this in August, we’re going to need this in December and for the next four plus years.”
Collegiate reporters Grace Howard and Kaylee Alvarez contributed to this report.
