‘March on’: WomensWave speakers tell St. Cloud crowd to keep fighting for equality, justice

Jan. 20--ST. CLOUD -- "March on!"

Debra Leigh ended the WomensWave St. Cloud rally Saturday afternoon with those words.

"Feminist movement work is difficult and we make mistakes," she told the crowd inside the Technical High School gym.

"But the alternative is to stay safe and do little or do nothing. We think you all agree that action continues to be needed," she said. The work does not end with the rally, she told the crowd of more than 100 people.

They were dressed in heavy jackets, snow boots and snow pants, having braved the single-digit temperatures, gathering at Lake George and marching to Tech in the area's first Women's March.

They joined thousands of others in the Twin Cities and across the country, in the third annual march.

The original march in 2017 was the day after President Trump's inauguration. It flooded cities around the country and the world with hundreds of thousands of people. The march in Washington, D.C. is generally regarded as the largest Washington protest since the Vietnam era.

This year, marchers held signs in support of everything from abortion rights to immigrants and refugees. There were cheers and chants for rights for women, the LGBTQ community, indigenous people, people of color and many others.

Leigh said the conflict that has emerged in the national Women's March movement isn't unexpected. In November, one of the founders of the Women's March accused the organization's four main leaders of anti-Semitism.

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"It makes us uncomfortable, and it's part of the process of the feminist movement's struggle," Leigh said. "It's the way we evolve. But we resoundingly reject any anti-Semitism and anti-LGBTQ actions coming out of the Women's March."

The crowd listened to more than a dozen women speak on a range of issues important to the marchers: immigration, equity for women, people of color, people with disabilities and people from the LGBTQ community, reproductive justice, ending gun violence, stopping sex trafficking and exploitation, fighting racism and anti-Semitism, and pushing for collective action on climate change.

Among the speakers was Karen Thompson, a former St. Cloud State professor and athletic coach. Her partner, Sharon Kowalski, was hit by a drunk driver in the 1980s, resulting in a traumatic brain injury. Thompson fought to get guardianship of Kowalski through the courts.

"We fought the patriarchy, the ableism and the homophobia in the courts and won," Thompson told the crowd. "We, women, were not supposed to stay in the fight. But we did."

Thompson said there are common threads from the grassroots organizing which supported her and Sharon and today's women's movement.

She said the people supporting her and Sharon were some of the first to build coalitions between women's groups, LGBTQ groups and disability-rights groups. Those groups are working together today, on behalf of one another, she said.

"Never lose hope. Now is the time to celebrate our victories, while continuing to do the work needed to get justice for all women," Thompson said. "Now is the time to build bridges, not walls."

MORE: 'Represent us!': Women's March returns amid controversy over anti-Semitism

Melissa Frank, a graduate of St. Cloud State and current graduate student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, spoke to the crowd about the victims of gun violence.

"These victims are much more than a statistic. They have names, stories, families and friends. My son, Benedict, was one of them," Frank said.

Her son, Benedict Frank, was shot and killed at the age of 19 by his roommate in a St. Cloud apartment in December 2017. He was a graduate of Tech, she said.

"He walked in these halls. His friends tell me that he respected boundaries and that he was always there for them, no matter what," she said.

"The bullet that went through Ben's head made identification impossible without dental records,' she said. "I have been an activist for most of my life. I've marched, and I've educated and I've shown up. But nothing prepared me to stand here and talk about the agony of losing Ben."

As she did, she advocated for better gun safety.

"I'm here today, as a legal gun owner, to tell you that we haven't done enough to protect the valuable lives around us," she said. "We deserve the opportunity to ask gun owners to be conscientious and learn about the responsibilities of owning firearms."

Two teenagers also took the stage to advocate for action on climate change.

"Bold climate action is as important as ever," said 15-year-old Anna Grace Hottinger. "It has become clear that Minnesota and this country is not doing enough to protect future generations from the impacts of climate change or to guarantee future life, liberty, happiness and and justice. We want a livable future."

Julianna Deibel, 17, said it is everyone's responsibility to reverse the effects of climate change.

"It will take innovative and bold ideas to combat the damage done to our planet already," Deibel said. "That is why it is so important that we work together. ... Our combined perspectives can cooperate to leave this earth a better place than we found it. ... We need to work together towards climate justice now, because Minnesota can't wait."

Natalie Ringsmuth, founder of UniteCloud, spoke, making a small change to a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The true neighbor will risk her position, her prestige and even her life for the welfare of others."

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She said that for her, because of the color of her skin, her religion, her socio-economic status and where she was born, she had little to risk for most of her life.

"The little bit that I've risked by starting UniteCloud is just a glimpse into what so many people in the Central Minnesota area have had to risk for decades and decades to get us to the point where we are today -- a mostly, somewhat inclusive city," Ringsmuth said. And there's more to be done, she said.

"We need to move out of indifference," she said. "We need to listen, we need to learn. We need to talk to each other and we need to act."

The Associated Press and Tribune Content Agency contributed to this story.

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