The Women鈥檚 March on Oahu is a massive mobilization of women, our families, and allies through the streets of Honolulu on the day after the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump.

The Women鈥檚 March on Oahu is a sister march to hundreds of demonstrations across the United States under the same name, with the largest protest on Washington, D.C. This is a space for those who want a Hawaii where all communities of women can thrive, raise our children without fear, claim our bodies as our own, and feel safe in our own skin.

The Women鈥檚 March was started by a long file of women from the underside of Hawaii, long before the time when sugar was king: your mother, grandmothers, and all the women strugglers in your line.

This image from the Women鈥檚 March Facebook page has helped spark marches throughout the country, including in Hawaii. Women鈥檚 March Facebook page

It is the march of the Filipina woman onto the airplane, where she cried for the newborn who she was leaving behind to clean hotel rooms for in Waikiki.

It is the march of the undocumented woman away from the WIC Clinic where an employee threatened to have her deported while she was attempting to get food assistance for her qualifying children.

It is the march of the woman with a disability onto our computer screens moving us to see her struggle. It is the march of the Marshallese woman into the dark streets of her neighborhood because police refused to answer her 911 call.

It is the march of the young transwoman into loving arms who comforted her from the threat of deadly violence faced by countless sisters who were 鈥渇ound out鈥 or 鈥渙uted.鈥

It is the march of the Native Hawaiian woman carrying the heaviest burden of living under United States laws and a system that values men, profit and white power over all else.

We are marching because these marches are not taken seriously. Because of the consistent denial of women鈥檚 oppression in Hawaii and abroad, our communities are broken.

Leaving the Obama presidency, we know that one person cannot bring the change we seek. Likewise, as we enter the Trump presidency, we know that one person cannot prevent us from coming margin to center. We are not marching to build an oppositional movement to Donald Trump.

We are marching to energize a new wave of women to take the next steps toward an inclusive movement against that culture inside of Donald Trump. That culture moved his hand to grab a women鈥檚 genitals against her will, and it moves our communities and the people in our lives to disrespect, devalue and mistreat us based on our gender.

It is the culture that impedes the passage of critical policies like paid family leave, public childcare, living wage and equal pay. It is the culture that has fueled the rape of more than 67,000 women in Hawaii. It is the culture that allows a police officer to remain in a job after beating his partner on camera.

We march to build dissent against this culture, to open difficult dialogues about the privileges that prevent our unity, and to organize women to engage in political work to better their lives.

While some of us are now privileged professionals, we insist on a movement led by working women of color, immigrant and Native women, LGBTQIA women and women with so-called disabilities.

Let us take this first step together. Join us on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 9:30 a.m. at the Hawaii State Capitol for the Women鈥檚 March on Oahu.

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