Local women march for unification

Despite setbacks in their trip to the Million Woman March in Philadelphia on Saturday, the 92 women who left from the steps of the Michigan Union returned Saturday more unified and feeling more empowered than ever.

"I did not expect it to be so powerful," said LSA senior Dara Maurant. "It was cold. It was rainy. But no one was cold."

Two buses carrying the University group of women departed from the Union on Friday evening for what turned into a 13-hour drive to the march. Delays during the ride caused them to miss the march and other early events, which began Saturday at 6 a.m.

The women, including University students, staff, and their family members joined an estimated 2.1 million participants in Philadelphia.

Once arriving in Philadelphia, the University group listened to a collection of speakers, including South African anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela, and discussed contemporary concerns with women from across the country.

Maurant, one of the students who coordinated the campus involvement with the march, chose five adjectives to adequately describe the event: positive, stimulating, excitement, overwhelming and unexpecting.

LSA senior Tricia Moo-Young, who organized the event with Maurant, said the march allowed black women to gather as a singular powerful mass to address issues that affect them.

"In particular for me as an individual African American woman, a student on campus, it was a chance to take part in history," Moo-Young said. "The feeling at the march was that there was no boundaries between us," she said, adding that women from many generations attended the event.

Moo-Young, whose mother and sister experienced the event with her, said an underlying theme of Saturday's event revolved around the phrase: "Great Grandmother taught Grandmother; Grandmother taught Mother; Mother taught Me; I will teach You."

LSA senior Noemi Morales, who along with two other women videotaped the event and the preparation for it, said that although the march had a strict agenda, it was meaningful and purposeful to more than just black women.

"The more I thought about it, I thought that's not really true, (the march is) for women in general," said Morales, who is of Puerto Rican descent. "It doesn't really matter what ethnic background you are, but to just realize what our role in society is."

"Everyone had their different reasons for going, but mostly everyone wanted change, she said.

LSA junior Christina Branson said she was drawn to the march early on. "As soon as I know about it, I knew I had to be there," she said.

Branson said the march's messages motivated her to become a more active participant in the community. "I'm not going to say what I'm going to do to help people, I'm just going to do it," she said.

LSA Academic Adviser Wendy Woods, whose three daughters accompanied her to the march, said the time she spent with her daughters and the other women was a bonding experience.

"It was incredible," Woods said. "I think there was a lot of bonding starting from the moment we got to the Union."

Woods' daughter Kiana, who graduated from the University's Law School in May, said she was thankful to share the march with the most important women in her life.

"I couldn't think of anybody else I wanted to share that experience with," Kiana Woods said.

Moo-Young said mechanical difficulties, including broken windshield wipers, forced the University group's trip form Ann Arbor to Philadelphia to be lengthened, but it still bonded the women together. "We had a lot of different struggles in getting there," Moo-Young said. "(But,) the harsh conditions were actually what brought us closer together."

Maurant and Moo-Young formed the student group called Million Woman March Student Initiative with the purpose of gathering interested march participants. They now plan to continue the group for other reasons, including to put together a film presentation on the march and to open campus dialogues to continue the spirit of the march.

10-27-97