Women's March Fox Valley highlights issues, voting

GENEVA – Neither cold, nor snow, freezing slush nor wind could keep some 1,200 people – mostly women – from participating in Saturday’s second Women’s March Fox Valley in Geneva.

They gathered at noon in the parking lot behind the Kane County Courthouse on Third Street, many sporting the distinctive pink hats that have become the emblem for resisting President Trump. Many also carried homemade signs. Messages included “The rise of woman is the rise of the nation,” “Peace with Iran,” “Vote to protect our constitutional rights” and a large dog wore a sandwich sign stating, “Pups for peace.”

“Why do we march?" organizer Mary O’Connor of St. Charles asked. "We want to call out and stop the assault we feel on civil and human rights. We march for dignity, equality for all regardless of race, gender, faith, age or ability.”

O’Connor paused as the crowd cheered and clapped.

Reasons to be there included health care reform, with coverage for all without bankrupting families, gun reform, for a complete count in the 2020 census, for the environment, for immigration reform and a path to success for DREAMERS – Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, she said.

“We especially march to get out the vote,” O’Connor said. “The 2020 election may be the most important in our nation’s history."

O’Connor told the crowd they now hold a place in history, as women’s marches were held across the globe today – in Italy, Australia, New York, Washington D.C. and Africa.

“And unbelievably, there is a march in Moscow today,” O’Connor said and the crowed cheered and whooped.

'Our lethal stalemate'

Two Geneva High School students, Hannah Paschke, daughter of Martha Paschke, a Democrat running in the 65th Legislative District, and Karoline Anthony spoke about gun reform.

Hannah Paschke, a junior, and Anthony, a freshman, are part of the March for Our Lives group that formed after the Parkland, Fla. shooting on Feb. 14, 2018.

“We are confused about why our country has been so slow to respond to the clear need for gun control legislation," Anthony said. "The Council on Foreign Relations has stated that the United States, with less than 5% of the world’s population, has about 46% of the world’s known guns. That’s a lot. There has been a 26% increase in intimate partner homicides by shooting since 2010. We have to do something about this.”

Hannah Paschke said other countries, such as Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and recently New Zealand, have successfully instituted gun legislation.

“Most of these countries passed these laws in the wake of mass shootings similar to the mass shootings we have experienced here in the United States,” Hannah Paschke said. “They took immediate action, ensuring the safety of their citizens, while we have remained locked in a debate while countless people die at the hands of our lethal stalemate. It’s time to do something. And the best way to do something is to vote.”

‘To send a strong message’

Several elected officials spoke, including Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, who said gathering today was to "send a strong message that as we continue to focus on the issues that are important to us, we will continue to work together.”

Noting that it is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King weekend, Burns quoted the late civil rights leader: “We as people began to die when we remain silent about those things that matter.”

“And I believe that communities begin to decline when we simply accept things as they are, as opposed to pursue things as they should be,” Burns said.

Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon also spoke, encouraging a complete count for the 2020 census so the state and its communities get resources they're entitled to, based on the census.

McMahon also spoke about the importance of more women serving in the judiciary, pointing out in the last 10 years, more than half the prosecutors in Kane County are women.

“Six have gone on to be judges. Right now, four people – four women – are running for public office out of the State’s Attorney’s Office," McMahon said. "They need your support. If you want to make leaders at the national level, we need to start at the local level. ... Support the women that are running for judicial office. Get involved and you can change the way our future and the decisions that take place in that building. Our freedom, our justice, our civil rights – get involved, support the strong women.”

‘Congress … has more women’

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville told the crowd Saturday that in November 2018, “we changed the face of Congress.”

“Thanks to your marching, your volunteer hours, your donations and enthusiasm, Congress is younger than ever. And more diverse than ever,” Underwood said.

But when she said, “And it has more women,” the crowd cheered its affirmation, while she finished her sentence, “than in any point our nation’s history. That is thanks to all of you.”

With a more female, more diverse and younger Congress, Underwood said the new majority has been able to accomplish funding for gun violence research for the first time in more than 20 years, expanded and protected health care coverage, passed legislation to re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement, to lower drug prices.

Underwood urged those present to mobilize by organizing in their neighborhoods, volunteering for a campaign or initiative, “but most importantly, voting.”

‘A democracy healing itself’

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville said the progress described by Underwood and others "only happened in the many small steps and the few giant steps.

"And when the history is written of the last three years and the year to come, it’s going to be about a democracy healing itself. And a democracy fixing itself and moving itself into the future.”

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, praised the crowd for turning out on a cold, wintry day.

“If this weather won’t stop us in the fight for equality, nothing can,” Krishnamoorthi said. “As the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe once said, ‘Never give up. For that is just the time and place that the tide will turn.’”

Krishnamoorthi engaged the crowd, asking if they would ever give up on reproductive rights and economic issues, the crowd yelled their answer, “No!”

“Even when the powerful, including the president of the United States normalizes abuse and makes jokes about sexual assault, will we ever give up?” he asked and the crowd answered a resounding, “No!”

“We will never give up because this is place, this is the time, this is where the evidence will show that the tide will turn,” Krishnamoorthi said. “The water is rising, the current is strong. The tide is turning."

‘We will continue to fight’

State Rep. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago said she kept the promises she made when she was elected, such as the passage of the Reproductive Health Care Act.

“That bill was passed because freshmen legislators, like (State Rep.) Barbara Hernandez (D-Aurora) and myself getting together and saying we are not going to allow anyone to tell us what we are going to do with our bodies and we passed that legislation,” Villa said.

Villa described how difficult it is to walk into rooms in Springfield where she knows she is not welcome.

“I sometimes close my eyes and I remember the Women’s March, from the first one to the one last year and now I will remember all of you when I walk into those rooms,” Villa said. “I belong there because of all of you.”

Villa also spoke of the need for comprehensive immigration reform, specifically referring to a father and daughter who both drowned in June trying to come to the U.S. for a better life.

“There is a problem when there are children in cages,” Villa said. “There is a problem when all of our DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students are living in fear and uncertainty, not knowing if they should re-apply for DACA because they’re afraid of what that might bring."

Domestic, sexual violence ongoing

Michelle Meyer, executive director of Mutual Ground, said domestic and sexual violence remains a critical issue for women everywhere and touches the lives of all who came to the march.

“One in four women and one in seven men experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime. One in three women and one in six men experiencing some form of sexual violence in their lifetime,” Meyer said. “Seventy-two percent of all murder-suicides involves intimate partner violence and 94% of these victims are female. And finally, the presence of guns in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.”

Meyer urged the crowd to support the nonprofits who serve the community by following on social media, helping to spread awareness and by volunteering and providing financial support.

“And we need you to call our U.S. Senators and tell them to support the Violence Against Women’s Reauthorization Act, which closes the boyfriend and stalking loophole that currently allows convicted stalkers and abusers to buy and possess guns,” Meyer said “And finally, the biggest thing you can do is encourage people to get out there and vote.”

After nearly 40 minutes of speeches, the march finally began.

‘I want to promote voting’

Many marchers, such as Keith Anderson of Sycamore, went to local shops after the event was over.

Anderson and others spoke about their participation at the All Chocolate Kitchen.

“I’ve been to several marches in the past,” Anderson said. “I support women’s rights. That’s mostly it. I want to promote voting and hopefully that will mean Trump will leave office.”

Batavia resident Nancy Bell also brought her sign with her while getting hot cocoa.

Her sign read, “We can’t afford four more years.”

Her reasons for coming: voter rights, women’s health, foreign policy, immigration, climate change, judges, abuse of power and democracy.

And now?

“I’m going to work for Lauren Underwood,” Bell said.