PORT TOWNSEND — Organizers hope to see Water Street rimmed with people “holding the line” today after Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, while others are carrying protest to Seattle and Washington, D.C., as well as marching at home, on Saturday.
“We feel that it’s important to make a statement of solidarity,” said Linda Sutton, one of the Holding the Line coordinators. “With the Trump administration coming in, a lot of people are really afraid.”
Today’s event will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Rotary Park next to the Port Townsend ferry dock. Those in attendance will line up on the sidewalk and hold hands. Organizers hope to see a line of people extending north on Water Street.
The event will run from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and roughly 50 people are expected to attend.
People are urged to come without signs leaving their hands free to hold hands, and the event is expected to be a quiet one, Sutton said.
On Saturday, Water Street will be partially shut down for another post-inauguration protest. Women from across the North Olympic Peninsula will be in Port Townsend for the Women’s March, which will mirror those in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Marchers will leave from 817 Water St., at 10 a.m. and will march down Water Street, blocking one of the lanes before marching back to Adams and Washington streets. The march will end at the Haller Fountain.
“This is way for women to express their concern for the negativity coming from the president and his cabinet,” organizer Emelia De Souza said.
De Souza said she expects 40 to 50 people including two cars full of people coming from Port Angeles and one car coming from Sequim.
Rep. Derek Kilmer — a Democrat representing the 6th Congressional District, which includes the Peninsula — is expected to attend the Port Townsend march.
De Souza said he would leave soon after the march ends to attend the Gathering for Hope in Port Angeles.
Many Peninsula residents will express the same concerns at the Seattle Womxn’s March on Saturday. Roughly 250 people from Jefferson and Clallam counties will head to the Seattle Womxn’s March in four buses and up to 14 carpools.
According to Debbi Steele, who helped organize the event, the people coming from Port Townsend have been designated an official group by Womxn March staff.
Steele said the group will have a large red sign and a designated spot to gather. Those hoping to meet up with the Port Townsend group just need to ask a volunteer at the march where to find them on Saturday.
“I marched in the ‘60s, hoping it was the last time I’d have to do that,” Steele said, “but I’m concerned we’re going backwards as far as women’s rights go.”
The march’s emphasis is on women’s rights and not a Trump protest, Steele said.
“This is not about anti-Trump sentiment,” Steele said Thursday. “On Friday he’ll be my president so I just want him to know that there are people paying attention.”
The protest is bigger than politics, said Susan Sherman, a Clallam county resident who will be heading to Seattle on Saturday.
“It’s bigger than politics, it’s about human rights,” said Susan Sherman, a Clallam county resident who will head to Seattle on Saturday.
“It’s about basic human rights that we have to protect.”
Some Peninsula residents are making the trip to Washington D.C. to make their voices heard, including Port Townsend City Councilwoman Michelle Sandoval.
Sandoval had hoped to be in D.C., to celebrate the country’s first woman president but after Hillary Clinton lost the race, she coordinated a group to march in D.C. the day after Trump’s inauguration.
Her desire to participate in a protest was sparked by the President-elect.
“I’ve been saddened and outraged by the behavior of the President-elect,” Sandoval said. “It made me want to speak out as a woman since the history of this man is as a misogynist, a sexist at best, and I don’t think he shows the dignity for the office.”
Sandoval will be joined by her son, 25-year-old Dakota Sandoval, and her husband Marty Gay as well as more than 30 people from Port Townsend, including three young people sponsored by the community.
“We have the ability to go, but the trip is expensive,” said Sandoval. “So I reached out on Facebook and we raised enough to fly them to D.C. and back and give them a little money for a daily stipend.”
Josh Kelety and Dylan Nichol, both journalism majors in their 20s flew out to D.C. on Thursday. They were joined by Western Washington University women’s studies major Mollie West.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
