Dallas women depart for the Women’s March on Austin

By Ruth Ferguson, NDG Editor

Despite the chill in the air on a cloudy Saturday morning, concerned women voters were fired up as they prepared to depart for the Women’s March on Austin. Four of the seven buses from Dallas departed from Northhaven United Methodist Church. The other buses left from Grapevine Mills Mall and Valley View Mall. The ladies assembled represented communities from Duncanville and Richardson to Frisco and Carrollton. Despite their different ages, economic backgrounds and races they were united on one issue: speaking up for the rights of women and others. Rights which they feel are under attack from President Donald Trump and the Texas lawmakers in Austin.

The entourage was coordinated by Lenna Webb, President of North Dallas Texas Democratic Women and Kim Morris of Liberal Ladies Who Lunch. Throughout the last two weeks, emails have flown issuing bus assignment updates. Keeping up with the cancellations and wait lists did not appear to be an easy task. Clearly, it was a passion project and well-organized judging by how orderly things unfolded this morning.

“Right after the election people started saying we want to do something,” Webb shared. After discovering a sister march was planned for Austin, the two groups determined they wanted to be involved and provide a means for women from DFW to participate. 

Webb emphasized this movement is not focused on being anti-Trump, “We are pro-women.”

“We want to have our voices heard,” Webb added that in the past women have been overlooked, citing that Austin and Washington’s lawmakers have not always made the concerns of women a priority.

So far there has been little indication of how the lawmakers in Austin feel about the march, but Dallas’ Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson made her support for the event known yesterday.

Issues range from equality, education to healthcare

The ladies assembled represented communities from Duncanville and Richardson to Frisco and Carrollton. Despite their different ages, economic backgrounds and races they were united on one issue: speaking up for the rights of women and others. Rights which they feel are under attack from President Donald Trump and the Texas lawmakers in Austin.

Queen Amen of Duncanville vigorously shared, “I am going to march against the racism in all of Donald Trump’s policies.” Her concerns do not appear unfounded, given the fact that within an hour of his inauguration speech, Civil Rights was removed from the WhiteHouse.gov’s issue page. Replaced with topics such as law enforcement, appearing to signal the Trump administration does not consider making sure the rights of different ethnic, gender and other historically discriminated against groups a priority. 

Cathy Petry said, “I feel like we need to take action to speak up for our rights. We are afraid we are going to be trampled over.” She added her concerns include education, equal pay and healthcare. 

Kim Hill of Dallas shares Petry’s concerns about education, “I care about at-risk children and education,” indicating alarm at how the State of Texas plans to handle these issues. Facing a budget shortfall as they work on the budget in Austin in 2017, funding for these two areas were not a top priority in the first draft of the budget filed earlier this week. 

“I am concerned about limiting women’s rights to healthcare and voter suppression,” according to Diane from Carrollton. In recent years voters have found a supportive ear in the Department of Justice and have won significant voter rights battles in the courts, including the defeat of Texas’ Voter ID law in federal court. It is not likely this is an issue the Trump administration will champion. 

Promising to stay engaged, Joanne of Dallas stated, “I gotta do something and this is the beginning of doing things. I just can’t sit back and do nothing.”

This is a sentiment Marylou Hoffman of Richardson shared, “I think it imperative for women to speak out. And I am following up on this. It is not just a one-time thing for me.” 

The ladies are not focused only on their personal rights, Bunny Summerline said, “I want to be counted standing up for human rights.”

Carrie of Dallas put the state and nation’s capital on notice that women are ready to take action. “I want to stand up for families, women, healthcare and the environment. I feel like they are all threatened by Austin and Washington.”