I made my way up 16th Street Mall, bobbing and weaving through a sea of purpose, while people carrying signs with clever messages lit up Downtown Denver with splashes of pink. The energy in the air was electrified by the passionate excitement of people from all over Colorado uniting in one place to have their voices heard.
As I stood in the shadow of the Colorado State Capital Building, I watched as tens of thousands of people flooded Civic Center Park to participate in The Women’s March. Women, and men, girls, and boys, representing different cultures, races and age groups showed their solidarity at the Women’s March. Women and women’s rights were celebrated by everyone, but the march soon became something more. I began to see posters for many different other causes, including immigration, jobs, Native American rights, and LGBT issues among many others.
This was a crowd that cared about more than just woman’s rights, this was a crowd of American’s coming together to stand up for what they believed in. Each other…
Waves of applause moved through the park, as over 100,000 people howled and surged forward onto the streets of Denver. I ran ahead, and was quickly engulfed by the crowd.
This was not the angry mob I had heard about on the news, rather I was surrounded by smiling people chanting, hugging one another, and holding hands. The march moved through the city
swelling by the minute, as the cheers became louder and louder like rolling thunder echoing across the sky.
After a tour of Denver, the March returned to the Capital. Thousands of people that had yet to begin the march greeted the lead group with cheers and hugs. For many hours people stood waiting patiently
for the massive crowd to work its way through the streets to enter the march route. The smell of burning sage filled the air as civil rights activists and performers took the stage throughout the day speaking to the crowd and receiving thunderous, breath taking applause which fueled the supportive group for the remainder of the day. People danced, while others cried, many laughed but at the end of the day everyone smiled and supported each other .
The celebration continued for many hours until the sun began to cast its gentle afternoon glow, and its golden warmth gave way to shadows and cold. The day had been filled with such wonderful positive energy that the warmth will last inside of many.
While the day was wrapping up and coming to an end, there was a feeling that something else had just begun.