Thousands rally for women’s rights in Columbia, joining millions more worldwide

Ten-year-old Mackenzie Seymour wants to grow up to be a teacher, and her little sister, 7-year-old Sophie, has dreams of becoming a police officer.

Their mother, Erykah Seymour, wants much for their futures. And, importantly, she wants them to know, “no matter who you are, you deserve respect.”

“As a female, you can be anything you want,” she told her daughters. “Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t be or do whatever you want. And you deserve equal everything.”

The Seymours traveled to Columbia from Charleston on Saturday to join the “Stand Up” rally for women’s rights and social issues, one of hundreds of events planned in solidarity across the nation and the world.

Thousands of women, men and children of all demographics overflowed downtown Columbia’s Music Farm concert hall, its parking lot, sidewalks and the street. Hundreds more gathered at the S.C. State House grounds – the originally planned site of the rally before the weather forecast prompted the official move indoors – and marched together to the Music Farm.

They joined the movement of millions of people around the globe organizing in support of not only women’s rights, but broader social justice issues. Racism, homophobia, criminal justice and immigration were a few among the broad spectrum of issues that must change for the better, rally-goers insisted.

At the core of the movement, the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., some half a million people or more were expected to converge Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

At the Columbia rally, tones varied from celebratory to hopeful to downright revolutionary.

“America is much more than a country. It is an idea. It is the idea that everybody can be – regardless of who she or he is,” Akan Malici, a Furman University professor of international politics, preached from a stage. “America is the idea that I can say this is mine as much as this is yours, and you can, too.”

He told the crowd that the next chapter of American history was theirs to write.

Zeke Hanford, of Columbia, held a sign that read “= work, =pay,” referencing the wage gap between men and women. His wife, Anne, stood by his side.

“It’s time for women to have the equal rights that they deserve,” she said. “You know, this is the greatest country in the world, and I’ve lived overseas. So I come back and it’s like, I’m not getting paid as much doing the same job as someone else who is a male? That’s a problem. ... It’s time to make our voices heard.”

The movement toward equality has been a long time coming and has a long way to go, the couple said.

It was a sentiment echoed by S.C. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who spared no punches in a video-recorded call to action for the crowd.

“The worst thing you can do is throw up your hands and say, ‘Oh, woe is me. There’s no use. It doesn’t matter,’” Cobb-Hunter said. “It does matter. The future is in your hands.

“There is nobody riding in on a white horse from the government to save us. We’ve got to save ourselves.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Thousands rally for women’s rights in Columbia, joining millions more worldwide."