MARCH ON

*This is the last of three writings exploring how positive resistance strengthens community and family. A trip cross-country to the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. showcases a father and daughter’s bond. Meaningful memories leave a lasting legacy today and forever.

The day after the Women’s March, my mind continued downloading the experience. It was the biggest protest in US history with supporting events throughout the world. Starting from one Facebook posting, a movement was born uniting diverse communities nationally and internationally.

Today my father and I would visit the Lincoln Memorial with renewed energy and purpose. Workers were busy taking down the scaffolding from the inauguration ceremony. Trump supporters with ceremonial pins, Women Marchers with pink knitted hats, and visitors packed its chambers.

Excerpt from the Gettysburg Address: “…The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced…”

Next stop was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial filled with visitors and school groups. The civil rights leader was a visionary who died for freedom, equality, and justice. His words are hauntingly true and meaningful for today.

Next to the Washington Monument is the new National Museum of African American History & Culture. Unfortunately, couldn’t enter because access was booked with timed tickets till next May. Disappointed not to view exhibitions but pleased with the overwhelming support and interest.

During our daily hotel breakfasts, guests were confronted with a man proudly wearing a red T-shirt displaying profane sentiment towards Hillary Clinton. He harassed a lesbian couple and initiated eye contact to start racist rants despite the presence of children. Gave my last FREEDOM necklace to a woman named Monica who was in charge of the breakfast buffet. She earned it.

The Women’s March retweeted my photo in front of Capital Hill modeling a new favorite sweatshirt. Response was overall positive in the Twitter universe except for one Trump supporter who called me @disgusting. FREEDOM is worth it.

During my Washington, D.C. experience I lost a Susan O’Malley pin. Perhaps it was fate. Almost two years ago, it fell and was rediscovered in the swampy Mississippi waters during an artist residency. We will meet again but now it serves a higher purpose.

BE HERE NOW.