A call to "Dump
Trump" echoed during the Women's March in Santa Barbara, as activists held
their fourth event, which gathered in the Sunken Garden at the County
Courthouse on Saturday and marched down State Street to De la Guerra Plaza. The
crowd was smaller than in the past yet filled the courthouse green, fired up by
the prospect of an impeachment trial. November's election — and
the possibility of Donald Trump's re-election— took on a special significance
to demonstrators. Speakers, posters, and chants overlapped in urgency to encourage
“marching all the way to November,” Supervisor Das Williams called to the
crowd.
“Is there anything that I can do?” asked speaker Savannah Parison, who chairs Indivisible Santa Barbara. “Be informed about your ballot," she told the assembled, "not just the top of the ticket.”
The first Women’s March drew immense support
three years ago — deemed the largest single-day protest in human history — the
day after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. Wearing pink "pussy"
hats, knitted in response to a lewd comment of Trump's caught on tape, protesters
called for legislation for women’s rights, environmental justice, LGBTQ+
rights, racial equality, and workers’ rights — all seen by demonstrators as
jeopardized by Trump's election.