Saturday’s women’s march in the nation’s capital — and the sister events it inspired in Atlanta and other cities across the country — felt like a very loud response to Friday’s inauguration.
Chicago’s march became a rally after the crowd swelled past 150,000, proving too huge for streets to accommodate. Millions of feet beat the pavement in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere.
In Washington, following the day of official pageantry, a crowd eclipsing the previous day’s poured onto the National Mall for the Women’s March on Washington.
Marchers hailed from across the country and beyond, but there were lots of Atlanta connections within the sea of people, many carrying signs blasting President Donald Trump and wearing knitted caps with feline ears, a sartorial response to an obscene comment Trump uttered years ago when he thought his microphone was turned off.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” Emory University professor emeritus Denny Jewart said. She remembers marching in Washington in the 1960s and was back on Saturday, bringing her grandson this time.
The strides in gender and racial equality made over the past five decades and fears of a backslide brought her out on the dreary, drizzly day. “We are afraid of going backward,” she said.
Her grandson Zachary Lyda, a George Washington University student studying criminal justice and political science, attended both the march and the inauguration.
“Being here in this part of history is amazing,” he said.
Kevin Donahue, Washington’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, tweeted midday that organizers estimated the crowd at 500,000, more than double initial projections.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser alerted people a few hours into the march that the city’s subway stations were at full capacity, a warning she didn’t need to issue Friday.
Trump made no mention of the event at a Saturday stop at the CIA’s headquarters. Instead, he pledged his full-throated support to the intelligence community and hinted at giving it new avenues to fight the Islamic State and other terror groups.
“We haven’t used the abilities we’ve got,” Trump said, standing in front of a wall memorializing fallen officers before a crowd of mostly supportive officials. “We’ve been restrained.”
He boasted that inauguration crowds approached 1.5 million people, while official estimates are more like 200,000 to 300,000. Later, White House press secretary Sean Spicer spent his first official briefing blasting media reports about inauguration attendance.
Kathy Steele, a political newcomer who came from Tucker to march, called it a first strike at Trump’s new presidency the day after he inhabited the White House.
“Trump just can’t seem to take the heat,” she said. “I’m so worried about how thin his skin is.”
That was one of the reasons Tonya Thornton also made the trek from Athens. She hoped that the huge group of demonstrators arrayed near the White House — the chants could be heard from Trump’s new residence — would send a message.
“Trump and his administration don’t really care about us. And, if anything, they are going to set us back,” she said. “If Obama had tweeted about everyone who insulted him, everyone would have gone crazy.”
Maya Kearney, a 2013 Spelman College graduate now pursuing a doctorate in anthropology from American University, characterized the march as a direct message to Trump.
“As a black woman especially, I feel it’s important to stand up for our rights,” she said. “Women everywhere need to tell Trump and his administration that we control our bodies, not the government.”
Saturday’s crowd wasn’t just far larger than Friday’s, but it also packed star power mostly missing from the inauguration.
“Are you ready to shake up the world?” Madonna asked to deafening applause. “Welcome to the revolution of love, to the rebellion, to our refusal as women to accept this new age of tyranny.”
Atlanta singer and actress Janelle Monae, a star of the locally filmed hit movie “Hidden Figures,” delivered some timely remarks:
“We will not remain hidden figures. We have names,” she said. “We birthed this nation, and we can unbirth a nation if we choose.”
Other celebrities in attendance included Alicia Keys and one of Trump’s key nemeses, filmmaker Michael Moore.
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem told marchers the event was an “upside of the downside.”
“This is an outpouring of democracy like I’ve never seen in my very long life,” the 82-year-old said.
Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s vanquished opponent, was not there in person. But she, too, sent a Twitter message thanking the demonstrators for “standing, speaking & marching for our values.”
“I truly believe we’re always stronger together,” she added.
While the march was decidedly anti-Trump, the event was not entirely without supporters of the new president. Several waved Trump signs on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Roma Matiukiene, a native of Lithuania who lives in Washington under permanent resident status, is full of hope for her adopted country’s new leader.
“I think Trump will be an awesome president,” she said. “I think he wants good for the American people.”
She also saluted the marchers, even though she and the others occasionally booed or cursed them.
“I respect these people,” she said. “I’m from Europe. It’s amazing you can have such a difference of opinion here.”
Ken Conner of Las Vegas tweaked the marchers, shouting things such as, “Accept Trump as your leader!” But others in his small band waved and blew kisses and even gave out a few hugs.
“I support free protest more than anything,” said a guy who only gave his name as Darrin from Los Angeles. “I just have to stand with the country we’re all part of.”
As the protest wound down, many said they would heed the message to stay involved when they returned home. Veronica Kessenich, who booked her flight to Washington days after Trump’s victory, said the protest stoked new political fires.
“It feels amazing and empowering,” said Kessenich, who runs the Atlanta Contemporary arts nonprofit. “And I think a lot of people are first-time activists, protesters and champions of change.”
Atlanta real estate agent Lisa Fuller attended both the march and the inauguration.
“It was so strange to hear the boos and the raw hatred all around me when Hillary (Clinton) walked in and also when Chuck Schumer was speaking,” she said of Friday’s swearing-in ceremony. “I just could not believe it. I wanted to say, ‘Hey, guys you won!’ There was definitely no sign of respect.”
She felt embarrassed for the people chanting “Lock her up” and “Get off the stage.”
“Today was totally different,” she said after Saturday’s march. “The air around D.C. was truly full of a loving feeling. Everyone just came together.”
