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A women's movement grows in 'the most Trumpian place in America'
“At first we all felt like we were little creatures crawling out from under rocks, just reaching out to each other,” said Hollen. “Then we found a few, and a few more.”
Source: PBS
The women gathered hesitantly in front of the county courthouse, many of them holding signs. At first there were a few, then a few more, and then more than 70. It was early February, and they had come to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban. At first, as they marched down Main Street, they got thumbs up and honks of support. But it wasn’t long before the counter-protesters arrived, men holding signs that said “Make America Great Again,” “Trump” and “These People are Stupid!”
Soon, a parade of pickup trucks followed, led by a truck full of fraternity brothers from the nearby college in Buckhannon, a small town in north central West Virginia. As men whooped and hollered, and did a “burn out” -- spinning their wheels while stationary, until their treads burned and smoked on the asphalt -- the women were doused in a giant cloud of black smoke. Some were hit with pebbles and debris. When another truck dropped firecrackers, the women, some with children, tried not to run or scream.
Among them was Lisa Hollen, a soft-spoken speech pathologist, who had changed jobs after the 2016 election because of how pro-Trump the school she worked at had become. To her, Trump had always been a wealthy, “larger-than-life loser,” a man who made womanizing comments on the Howard Stern Show and acted like a bully on reality TV, even long before he was a political candidate. After he was elected, the principal at Hollen’s school told the teachers not to talk about Trump’s victory, which Hollen thought was not very good advice. Not after the scene at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School on the day after the election, when kids in the hallways chanted “Build a wall!” And not after one of her seventh grade students said that “people who voted for Hillary Clinton should be taken out in the yard and shot.”
To Hollen, addressing Trump’s win was not about being a “cry-baby liberal.” But she knew most of Buckhannon saw it differently.
...
An older woman speaks up next, her voice trembling a little. “I was sitting here earlier thinking, I never really had a voice before.” She begins to cry, and another woman comes over and takes her hand. “I was raised to be seen and not heard. Then I got married right out of high school and it was the same thing. And I was abused for 14 years. (You all) gave me a voice again.” The woman touches her chest. She is still crying. “So sorry.”
Soon, a parade of pickup trucks followed, led by a truck full of fraternity brothers from the nearby college in Buckhannon, a small town in north central West Virginia. As men whooped and hollered, and did a “burn out” -- spinning their wheels while stationary, until their treads burned and smoked on the asphalt -- the women were doused in a giant cloud of black smoke. Some were hit with pebbles and debris. When another truck dropped firecrackers, the women, some with children, tried not to run or scream.
Among them was Lisa Hollen, a soft-spoken speech pathologist, who had changed jobs after the 2016 election because of how pro-Trump the school she worked at had become. To her, Trump had always been a wealthy, “larger-than-life loser,” a man who made womanizing comments on the Howard Stern Show and acted like a bully on reality TV, even long before he was a political candidate. After he was elected, the principal at Hollen’s school told the teachers not to talk about Trump’s victory, which Hollen thought was not very good advice. Not after the scene at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School on the day after the election, when kids in the hallways chanted “Build a wall!” And not after one of her seventh grade students said that “people who voted for Hillary Clinton should be taken out in the yard and shot.”
To Hollen, addressing Trump’s win was not about being a “cry-baby liberal.” But she knew most of Buckhannon saw it differently.
...
An older woman speaks up next, her voice trembling a little. “I was sitting here earlier thinking, I never really had a voice before.” She begins to cry, and another woman comes over and takes her hand. “I was raised to be seen and not heard. Then I got married right out of high school and it was the same thing. And I was abused for 14 years. (You all) gave me a voice again.” The woman touches her chest. She is still crying. “So sorry.”
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/trump-west-virginia/
Well worth the read... these women are inspiring!
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