An estimated 10,000 people showed up at Kansas City’s Washington Park on the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration to rally for some cause or another.
According to Action 41 News, which covered the event live, the issues addressed included “women’ rights, immigration, LGBT rights, increasing minimum wage, and gun violence.”
Mayor Sly James showed up to encourage the attendees to persist in whatever their cause might be. “You got people from all over this area and region working together to try and change the circumstances that they can’t and don’t want to accept,” explained Mayor James. “We got people who want to see changes. They don’t want to see gains that they’ve had taken away from them.”
What no one in Kansas City wanted to talk about, at least openly, was the organizing principle behind the March in Washington. “The Women’s March’s platform is pro-choice and that has been our stance from day one,” the organizers said unapologetically.
“We want to assure all our partners, as well as participants, that we are pro-choice as clearly stated in our Unity Principles. We look forward to marching on behalf of individuals who share the view that women deserve the right to make their own reproductive decisions.”
In excluding pro-life groups from the march the organizers showed that their understanding of the word “unity” was as flexible as their understanding of the word “choice.”
