Thousands of people gathered at rallies and marches in the Rochester area on Saturday as part of a global effort to raise awareness of women’s rights and other civil rights, a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The largest event, in Washington, D.C., may draw around 500,000 people. A number of Rochester area people were at the Washington event including Imani Olear.
“The message, xenophobia or misogyny is not acceptable within this culture, within our country and even more so, within our faith," she told WXXI News.
Organizers of the events generally have said they were not targeting Trump specifically, but some of the hateful rhetoric that began surfacing during the campaign and concerns that the new administration might roll back certain programs and laws affecting women and minority communities.
In Seneca Falls, it’s estimated about 5,000 people showed up at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. There will be speeches and events Saturday afternoon in the First Presbyterian Church where Alice Paul in 1923 introduced what became known as the proposed equal rights amendment.
An organizer of the Seneca Falls rally, Melina Carnicelli, the former Mayor of Auburn says she wanted to channel her disappointment with the election results into a “public statement of resistance.”
In Rochester, about 1,000 people gathered at Washington Square Park. Nicole Black, a local attorney is one of the organizers of the “Action Together Rochester Rally, “and she says those involved wanted to take a stand about some of the language that was used during the presidential campaign.
“To make a statement against the hateful rhetoric and to let Rochester’s voice be heard to show that we don’t accept that, we stand behind the marginalized people in our society that are most likely to be affected by a lot of the policies of this administration.”
Ann McMican and was at the park and like many, brought a homemade sign.
"My sign says “love trumps hate” because I think the lack of inclusiveness and the clear message taken by both the president and all of the people that he’s placing around him is the opposite direction that the country needs to go in."
The crowd was energized, but generally calm. Some marched up Clinton early on but most stayed in the park chanting and cheering between speakers including Assemblyman Harry Bronson and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren.
Sandy Ylistil was at the rally with his wife Jackie, they said they came out to channel their post inauguration energy into some actual change.
"We were upset about the election, and we do a lot of Facebook posting, so we said we have to do something else. We thought at least being around similar minds would be a good thing to do and were happy we came down here."
Many of the speakers focused on this idea of action, encouraging people to act locally, reach out to representatives and volunteer at area organizations
The rally on Saturday started at Washington Square Park and then moved over to the First Universalist Church at South Clinton and Court Street.
It brought near gridlock at times to parts of the downtown area, and slowdowns on I-490, but there were no major problems reported by police. Several people were charged with harassment or inciting to riot, accused of punching a cameraman trying to photograph the event.
