Scarsdalians March on Washington

Many locals and former Scarsdale residents made the trip to Washington DC to participate in the March on Saturday January 21. They found the experience and the signs uplifting.

Here are comments and photos from some of your neighbors:

Michelle Lichtenberg
The January 21st March on Washington was an amazing uplifting experience. To call it a "March" is a bit of a misnomer since the turnout so far exceeded expectations, you could barely move. Occasionally you would hear someone ask if they could please squeeze by because they were claustrophobic and had to get out of the tight spaces. Despite the press on humanity, the atmosphere was of high spirits, rambunctiousness, playful, with an appreciation of differences and a PEACEFUL protest. People coming from all over the nation, including Alaska, old and young, many in wheelchairs or with canes, nothing was keeping them away. The variety of hand made placards was very entertaining and offered many opportunities for conversation with the new friends with whom you were sharing your little bit of turf. This is what Democracy looks like!

BK Munguia marched with her daughter Ramona Mark:
"It was an amazing day and I was so happy to share it with my daughter, friends, and complete strangers. Many clever signs and chants but the one that resonated the most with me was "This is what America looks like" and the men, women and children who stood with me were of all persuasions and they were beautiful. And this is what democracy looks like as well."

Stacey Brodsky
Participating in the D.C. march with my husband David was the most uplifting experience I have had since Election Day. I have never been in a crowd of people as enormous and far reaching in every direction. At times the press of bodies was denser than a packed subway car even though we were outside, in what would normally be wide open space, and still we did not have a thread of daylight between each other.

During the pre-march rally, David and I never were close enough to a loud speaker or Jumbotron to hear or see anything happening but that seemed completely unimportant. I was overwhelmingly struck by how powerful it felt just to be part of the extraordinary numbers of people who showed up on this extraordinary day. The signs were funny and smart critiques, the chants were energizing, and the spontaneous roars of sound were electrifying and cathartic.

My sense of gloom and despair since the election has been profoundly altered by standing with the ocean of our fellow Americans who share similar feelings and who all acted with great kindness and respect toward each other. Now we have to find some way to direct and harness all this intense concern and sense of collective purpose and find a path forward. I don't want this wonderful march to turn into a dead end.