On Saturday, speakers at the Women’s March on Washington urged protesters to continue organizing against a White House that they say will be hostile to people of color, women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and Muslims. Some of the steps that activists, civil rights lawyers, filmmakers, and actresses suggested included calling members of Congress, running for political office, challenging the Democratic Party’s “old guard,” and holding the media accountable.
Zahra Billoo, a civil rights lawyer and community organizer; Amanda Nguyen, the founder of Rise, a coalition of sexual assault survivors; and Michael Moore, a documentary filmmaker, told protesters what they should do after the march to resist a Trump administration.
Billoo said the Muslim community should be as intersectional as possible in its organizing by including LGBTQ people.
“American Muslims like me are committed to putting faith into action. We must live and breathe understanding that justice can’t be for just us. Our liberation is connected,” Billoo said. “We can’t be free at each other’s expense.”
Billoo said protesters should “meet your Muslim neighbors, videotape police officers, interrupt racism, and hold the media accountable.”
Amanda Nguyen is a sexual assault survivor whose coalition, Rise, was responsible for pushing lawmakers to craft the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act, which was signed into law last year. She urged protesters to get involved in her organization, which focuses on protecting sexual assault survivors’ rights, or advocate for legislation themselves.
“In America, no one is powerless when we come together, and no one can make us feel invisible when we demand to be seen,” Nguyen said.
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore told protesters to call members of Congress, challenge the “old guard” of the Democratic Party, run for precinct delegate, and create “regions of resistance.” Moore said Congressional Republicans’ decision to back off of gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics is evidence that calling members of Congress is effective.
He added that protesters should push for more young people, women, LGBTQ people, and people of color to represent the Democratic Party.
“The old guard of the Democratic Party has to go. We need new leadership. We need young leadership,” Moore said.
ThinkProgress interviewed protesters at the march to find out why they came and what they plan to do after the march. Andrea White, who came from Philadelphia, and Ashley Parker, a U.S. Navy veteran who came from New York, said they came to make their voices heard. After the march, Parker said, she plans to “call people out when they’re wrong … and back it up with facts.”
Joan Hurley, a teacher from Hartford, Connecticut, said she came to the march to “fight against Donald Trump.” Hurley said she plans to call her representatives in Congress and urge her students to do the same.
“I think this a grassroots movement, a lot like [support for Bernie Sanders]. This can continue but our voices have to continue to be heard,” Hurley said. “We have to keep encouraging others to not be discouraged and to continue to fight the good fight.”
Michelle, who lives in Washington D.C., said she came to the march because she is proud of the people fighting for the rights of women, LGBTQ people, and immigrants. She said she is getting involved in community organizing.
A group of women — Chrissy, Laura, and Dina — traveled from Brooklyn to participate in what they called the “collective power” of the march.
“It’s one thing to know we have the popular vote but it’s another to be physically present … and see people here together,” Chrissy said.