To the Editor of the DI

(Lily Abromeit, respectively)

Not only did I attend the Women’s March on Washington, also I listened to hours of videotape and coverage the following day to fully comprehend the speeches I could not hear.  I was one of more than 500,000 women, families, peoples of all colors, men — old, middle-age, and babies, as well as people with crutches and wheelchairs, all of whom stood for more than five hours to listen to activists.

I found your article offensively inaccurate. Over and over again, there were specifics given to people on how to express their constitutional rights if they did not agree with policies, nominees, bills, and statements made by our representatives in Congress. We heard from women’s groups as varied as women mayors, who purported the empowerment of their offices, to Planned Parenthood and LGBT/ trans groups … it was a full representation of women’s groups and their concerns for the future. Examples were given concerning why activism is important at this time in history and the means to deliver your concern to the right place — phone numbers and texts were shared by speakers.

It was concrete and empowering, and I am very upset by the slant of this article. There was no radical protesting; on the contrary, we simply owned the streets of Washington, D.C., the day after a poorly attended inauguration of a man whom the attendees did not support. By simply writing this letter, I am telling you how empowered we felt and how committed we are to support democracy and our concern that issues of the people be heard and responded to.

— Corinne Stanley,

Language and Culture facilitator,

University of Iowa