'Year of the Woman' Activists in Annapolis persevere for women's march, urge people to the polls in Martin Luther King Jr.'s memory

Scores of activists of different creeds sent a message as they gathered Saturday in Annapolis to kick off what they've dubbed the "Year of the Woman": They won't be subdued.

Not by what they say are too many men - mainly white - in positions of power. Not by what they describe as antiquated policies and politicians. And Saturday, certainly not by a dreary forecast, which yielded bitter cold and various forms of precipitation.

Last year, Eve Hurwitz and her co-organizers postponed the Women's Unity March in Annapolis on account of weather, and the turnout suffered. With this being an election year, she said, they wouldn't make the same mistake. And the community responded.

About 100 gathered at Whitmore Park around 2 p.m. next to the Civil Rights Foot Soldiers Memorial and the Lynching in Anne Arundel memorial - an example of the most heinous injustices faced by African Americans that prompted so many people to join Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for the March on Washington.

It was no coincidence that the Women's Unity March began on a weekend celebrating the late civil rights pioneer's birthday, Hurwitz said. Speakers referred to King's iconic words often as they addressed a crowd from a podium at Susan Campbell Park.

Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley gave remarks before the march. He said he promised the single mother who raised him he wouldn't miss such a march. "Haven't men been messing things up enough? We need to get more women elected."

And so began the fourth annual march, which is known to draw millions in cities across the country and globe. This year's theme was "Speaking Truth to Power," and Hurwitz wanted to hone in on a harsh reality: a profound lack of civic engagement.

People, she said, must vote in order to make their voices heard.

Marchers toted signs - "You can't fix stupid but you can go out and vote," one read - and participated in chants about democracy, unity and women's rights. When marchers got political and targeted President Donald Trump, which they did with some frequency, the march leadership responded by leading more chants about democracy.

This message resonated with Charlie Davenport, of Eastport. She sought out bystanders - groups of them, at that - to make sure they didn't stand on the sidelines come election time.

"Thank you," Davenport would tell them. "Remember to go vote!"

The throng of activists marched down West Street, around Church Circle and down Main Street. Its presence was noticed. Some cheered from bar windows; others ogled on sidewalks. A cold breeze greeted marchers when they arrived at City Dock.

At least 16 speakers addressed the crowd. They advocated for equal maternal health care for women of color, for the rights of Native Americans and the LGBTQ community, and for abortion rights. Others activists chimed in on climate change, racism, and the widespread need for free feminine hygiene products at schools and in prisons.

"Our prisons were designed for men and not for women," said Kimberly Haven, the coalition and policy director for Reproductive Justice Inside. She said they fight to force lawmakers to remember women "behind the fence" and their needs.

Drake Smith, president of the Anne Arundel County NAACP Youth & College Division Unit, was one of two men chosen to take the podium. He implored the audience to utilize the rights that King and his disciples - and women beforehand - fought so hard to earn. Marchers must, he said, drive at least one person with them to the polls and register five others beforehand.

Mary Matiella, the former assistant secretary of the Army under President Barack Obama, told the crowd she was overlooked for a promotion in the federal government in favor of a white male colleague. She said she was more qualified. Matiella sued.

"You have to stand up for yourself," she said. "You have to speak truth to power."

Monica Lindsey, a community activist who organized the march with Hurwitz and Emma Bachman, said speaking truth to power means talking about painful subjects, including details about the very location where they stood. It was Piscataway land and later the site where slaves were unloaded from the bottom of ships that came from Africa.

They "arrived on the shores unsure," Lindsey said. So where the scenic Severn River gives way to the Annapolis Harbor "represents for some pain where others find pleasure."

People must equip themselves with hard truths from the past and present as they take to the polls, Lindsey said.

She urged everybody to vote, reading a quote from King: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Caption: About 100 marchers gathered to march down Main Street during the 2020 Women's Unity March Saturday in Annapolis.

The throng of activists marched down West Street, around Church Circle and down Main Street Saturday in Annapolis.

Charlie Davenport, of Eastport, carries a sign during the 2020 Women's Unity March in Annapolis on Saturday.

Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette photos

Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette