San Jose Women’s March Draws Estimated Crowd of 20,000 to Protest President Trump

A crowd of 20,000 marched through downtown San Jose on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the Women’s March. The national demonstration, which began last year as a protest against President Trump’s inauguration, focused its message in 2018 on putting more female leaders in elected office.

People carried signs condemning President Trump and sexual violence and advocated for women’s equality and reproductive rights in a demonstration that kicked off at City Hall and ended at the Arena Green by Little Italy.

“This isn’t just about how much I hate Donald Trump,” said Evergreen Valley High senior Katie Tran, who held a poster with an orange effigy of the president’s face emblazoned with the warning, “There will be hell toupée.” “But he represents everything that I don’t. How can I support someone who doesn’t support me and everything I stand for?”

“Also,” she added, “he’s the biggest asshole.”

The event also hosted a diverse lineup of speakers, including many young women who work in local government or for nonprofit organizations that promote public service.

“It is time that our elected officials look like us, think like us and, most importantly, vote like us,” said Ketzal Gomez, a fellow for the New Leaders Council of Silicon Valley who delivered an address at a pre-march rally. “The moment is ours.”

Around the state, thousands of people gathered at similar rallies with crowds ranging from the hundreds in smaller towns to upward of 500,000 in Los Angeles.

In San Jose, the march converged at a “Call to Action Alley,” where local civic groups set up booths to recruit volunteers to channel the day’s energy into continued activism.

Below are some photos of the San Jose march, some taken by San Jose Inside and others contributed by other attendees.

Jennifer Wadsworth is the former news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley. Follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

12 Comments

  1. “It is time that our elected officials look like us, think like us and, most importantly, vote like us.”

    ~ Ketzal Gomez, ‘New Leaders Council’

    I have a few questions:

    Who elected Ms. Ketzel? Who is this ‘Leadership Council’, and who appoints them? Will they lead with their own money, or are they simply another self-serving group with their mitts rooting around deep in the taxpayers’ pockets?

    I’m all for civic involvement. But what is positive about this group? They appear to be left-wing partisan nay-sayers who blame the current President for the very same things that past Democrat Presidents did repeatedly. Why the double standard?

    Sundays are fine days to round up folks for a walk in the park, and this national demonstration, which began last year as a protest against President Trump’s inauguration, focused its message in 2018 on putting more female leaders in elected office is an admirable civic goal. But… there are only two chances that this group would support the election of a slate of Conservative women: slim, and none. All the evidence confirms that they’re puppets for lefist partisan polititics—the same politics that has brought about most of our current city problems (like ‘road diets’.) Our cities are worse for that kind of ‘leadership’, not better; the large majority of residents suffers when small, loud minorities are catered to.

    And why are they protesting President Trump’s Inauguration? He is the clear choice of the electorate in a free and fair election. This group wants a fair and open democratic election to be canceled, simply because they don’t like the outcome. That is un-American, no?

    I can assure these gals that the folks who voted against President Obama, twice, felt exactly the same as they do about President Trump. The difference is that those voters understand that the system is designed for the benefit of the majority. In other words, those who voted against Obama acted like adults following those elections. But these ‘Leadership’ women are simply thowing a non-stop tantrum.

    Here’s a positive suggestion: how about working toward fixing our local problems? There are thousands of pot holes needing repair. Our local infrastructure continues to decay despite plenty of taxes available to maintain it, but over the past few decades the scam has become obvious: the electeds waste our tax payments on frivolous things that do not benefit the city as a whole—then when they neglect our schools, bridges, and streets, the same electeds—through their pet “Leadership Council” parrots and similar appointed mouthpieces—demand that the public float new bond issues to “fix our infrastructure”.

    The problem is that WE ALREADY PAID for infrastructure maintenance! So now we have to pay TWICE, because the electeds wasted our money on non-essential carp that doesn’t benefit the city, it only benefits some special interest groups. The city’s priorities have been turned upside down.

    But these is a remedy:

    This year we have municipal elections. If voters are satisfied with the way our money has been wasted on non-essential spending, then by all means, vote for the same electeds. They are the ones responsible for our current infrastructure mess and our high taxes. They are the ones who insist that we should have to pay double for infrastructure maintenance. So if voters want, they can reward that malfeasance.

    BUT… if voters want our local priorities to reflect things that benefit all the city’s residents, the answer is obvious: vote for candidates who state unequivocally that they will prioritize and work toward goals that benefit the majority of residents—and stop catering to fringe groups that insist on electing someone based on their sex.

    We need to elect representatives who will create policies and priorities that help our cities thrive, instead of handing our tax payments over to self-centered, self-appointed special interests groups that only reprersent a small minority. How does that make our city a better place to live for most of us? Really, what have these special interest groups ever done to make our city a more pleasant place to live for the majority? Can anyone think of a single thing?

  2. It’s time our local leaders look like us , think like us, and vote like us.

    The reality is they do, that’s why homeless bums, illegal aliens, drunks and druggies are pouring to live around parks, schools shopping centers. Molesting, raping, murdering our daughters, wives, sisters and mothers and they are doing it with full permission of state and local elected politicians under the sympathetic sanctuary governments that think like you.

    So go ahead Hate Donald Trump and remember who Kate Steinle and Sierra Mar were before they was murdered and raped.

    • If they were deporting those murderers and rapists…. you get to say that sentence. However, they are going after good people, who have families and held good jobs. Go to the prisons, get those murderers, rapists and ship them home to their countries. Not good citizens, who pay taxes(unlike our entitled president) and are trying to make a good decent life for the people they love. And yes, I will hate this vile man, who has no business being president of this amazing, strong country.

      • > Not good citizens, who pay taxes(unlike our entitled president)

        Stop the lying!

        President Trump pays taxes.

        President Trump’s businesses pays LOTS of taxes.

        And, as has been pointed out by others on SJI, illegal aliens are HUGE consumers of taxpayer paid benefits and services.

        Save us all some time in the future, and put a heading on your future posts:

        TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME — NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

  3. > Around the state, thousands of people gathered at similar rallies with crowds ranging from the hundreds in smaller towns to upward of 500,000 in Los Angeles.

    Or, maybe 400,000.

    https://www.dailynews.com/2018/01/20/thousands-show-up-for-womens-march-in-downtown-los-angeles/

    Or maybe 100,000.

    “They just estimated crowd at 100,000. Not like last year, but not bad. #WomensMarchLA”

    Or maybe, “hundreds”.

    “Hundreds of people gathered in downtown LA for #WomensMarch2018 #WomensMarchLA”

    it’s really misleading to refer to this as a “Womens march” since most women were NOT there.

    It was really a “march” of the Democrat Permanent Underclass (DPU).

    The DPU has different “battalions”: the Womens battalion, the LGBT battalion, the Black battalion, etc. etc.

    It’s amusing how the shamans of the underclass seem to believe in and practice segregation.

  4. “How can I support someone who doesn’t support me and everything I stand for?” — Katie Tran

    With this, Ms. Tan proved that cute high school girls don’t need pompoms to broadcast their stupidity. Someone, or more likely a number of credentialed someones, has deluded this intellectually vulnerable young woman into thinking her sophomoric political beliefs have real value.

  5. Well, definitely a lot of hate in this women’s march. I was initially supportive of but now question was their intention to motivate women’s rights or just piss and moan about everything and not offer a solution? Just wondering….

  6. > San Jose Women’s March Draws Estimated Crowd of 20,000 to Protest President Trump

    Jennifer:

    I have to confess that I voted for Trump, BUT IT’S NOT MY FAULT.

    I was going to vote for Hillary but I was tricked into voting for Trump by Russian bots on Facebook and Twitter.

    Congress should investigate this.

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