The day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Brimmer and May community members joined millions worldwide in women’s marches to support gender equality—as well as voice a myriad of concerns about the new administration.

Cora William’s ’20 comes from a biracial family. She was offended by Trump’s tweets and comments about the state of blacks in America, and she felt “deeply concerned” after his victory.

“All throughout his campaign, Trump  made sweeping generalizations about an entire population of people, assuming that blacks are all poor and living in bad and dangerous neighborhoods,” Williams said, noting that she was equally troubled by Trump’s stance toward other minorities.

Attending the Women’s March in Washington, she says, was a “no brainer.” She felt empowered by the march, where so many others—250,000 in fact, by most estimates— were united a common cause.

“Whatever Trump does will impact my generation,” Williams said. “I want America to be as accepting as Brimmer, and I am going to continue to fight for this and for our voices to be heard.”

In Boston, Stone McLaren ’18 also marched with over 150,000 local residents. “The purpose of the march was to build awareness about social injustice and equality between males and females, to protest against Trump’s womanizing statements, and to show that women have power too,” he said.

The march made a statement toward “building awareness and making a bold statement,” McLaren said.

Abby Mynahan ’19 shared similar statements, adding that she felt “honored to participate in a unified front in the face of discrimination.” Mynahan also praised the diversity of the marchers, including men, “who sent a message that they will not stay silent.”

English teacher Kenley Smith also took an overnight bus from Boston to Washington. “I think what was really interesting for me was that there had been a lot of talk about ‘oh well they don’t have one issue, it’s all these issues’ which was seen as a weakness by a lot of people in the press,” she said. “But I actually found that that was really lovely because people were supporting each other’s issues”