Lancaster Woman Marched In Washington

For Kornegay, it was an ‘inclusion march,’ not an anti-Trump event

By Mandy Catoe

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Lauren Kornegay of Lancaster demonstrated with hundreds of thousands at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., last weekend.
Kornegay, 28, attended with three friends from her hometown in Maryland. She stressed that the march for her was about respect – about showing up and being “for” something more than marching “against” incoming President Donald Trump.
“It was an inclusion march,” Kornegay said. “It was not an anti-Trump march, though some people held signs protesting recent remarks he made on the campaign trail.”
The most obvious reaction to Trump’s comments were the pink, knitted, cat-ear hats worn in response to a crude remark he made about a decade ago that surfaced in a video tape just before the election.
Kornegay described the event as a celebration of differences. The demonstration was a declaration of resistance to any view other than we are all equal. The premise of the march was that women’s rights are human rights.
Among the causes being championed in the nation’s capital were the environment, immigrants, Muslims, survivors of sexual assault, Native Americans, women, reproductive health, equal pay, gays, transgendered people, Latinos, blacks, the disabled, and civil rights.
The website for the Women’s March on Washington stated: “We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”
The rally attracted nearly 500,000 people, according to Washington city officials.
Kornegay said she stopped and stood in the middle of the street, in the sea of pink, and felt the gravity of the movement as people walked past her from all directions. People were crying and hugging strangers and walking hand-in-hand in the shadow of national memorials proclaiming freedom.
“I was like, this is amazing, with all these different people here for the same reason, the same mission – to support what we believe in, to show the world that our voice matters and that we are here. It was powerful.”
She described the march as reminiscent of the peace, love and harmony movement of the hippie generation.

courtesy of LAUREN KORNEGAY

Lauren Kornegay carries her sign at the march with a lyric from a Beyonce Knowles song.

Kornegay said she marched for her grandmother and mother, her nieces and for her future children – for those who could not march and for those who made it possible for her to march. Kornegay’s grandmother, Mary Belk Mackey Robertson, was a principal at Clinton Elementary School years ago.
She said she was especially moved by the men attending the march who carried signs of equality and support for their female friends and relatives.
Hundreds of sister marches were held in most major U.S. cities, including Charlotte, where the march drew 10,000 people. Lancaster resident and retired nurse Pam Phillips said she marched in Charlotte because she “did not want to see progress rolled back” for the LGBTQ community, environmental protection and insurance coverage.
She said the Affordable Care Act has allowed for preventive colonoscopies, mammograms and contraceptives for most people and prevented people being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“After watching Trump on TV this weekend, I just felt compelled to make my voice heard,” Phillips said.

Follow Reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or contact her at (803) 283-1152.