Photo by Mirika RayaproluBright green banners that proclaimed “Women Are Marching” and “We Won’t Go Back” led Saturday’s Women’s March in DC. Thousands marched from Freedom Plaza to the White House in support of Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the election, chanting the march’s theme—”We Won’t Go Back”—as they walked. Saturday’s march echoed the landmark Women’s March of 2017, which attracted half a million people in DC alone and more than a million around the world; it was the largest demonstration in US history that year. The organization’s volunteers holding a banner that says “We won’t go back” at the start of the rally. This year’s event came at a potentially historic moment in which a woman could occupy the Oval Office for the first time. Harris’s name shimmered in rhinestones and sequins across the backs of jackets. Women of all ages, races, and ethnicities raised their fists into the air as attorney and activist Gloria Allred addressed the crowd. “Everyone here agrees and I’ve seen it on the signs, a woman’s place is in the House,” Allred said to the crowd. “The White House!” she yelled, as the screams of thousands echoed off of the surrounding buildings. Susan Champa travelled from Maine to demonstrate at Saturday’s rally. Susan Champa, 80, traveled from Maine to DC to express solidarity with women demonstrating at Freedom Plaza. “I have granddaughters and great-granddaughters and in my 80 years, I’ve seen many rights taken away,” Champa told Washingtonian. “Not anymore.” Champa tearfully cupped her mouth as she recalled a painful 2016 incident after former president Donald Trump was elected: A family friend’s Black daughter was pushed to the back of her school bus. “They said, ‘This is where you belong,’ ” she recounted. “I’ve seen protests make a difference and I hope this will too.” Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March organization, told The Washington Post that while 5,000 people RSVP’d for the event, 10,000 were in attendance. “The people united will never be defeated” rally-goers chanted as a sea of pink moved from the plaza to the White House. Batalá Washington, an all-woman percussion ensemble, led the rally and as the sun began to set, thousands moved their feet to the beat of the drums.  According to the movement’s website, 438 women’s marches took place on Saturday nationwide. Marilyn Hurley and her husband, Alfred, travelled from Georgia to rally in DC. Marilyn Hurley, 67, and her husband, Alfred Hurley, 71, chose to exercise their right to demonstrate in the District. “I want unity over division,” Marilyn, a nurse and a grandmother who drove from Georgia to join the march, told Washingtonian.  This is not the first time that Marilyn, a Trinidadian immigrant, and her family are demonstrating. She joined the 2017 Women’s March with her daughter and daughter-in-law.  “I want someone that my children and my grandchildren can look up to,” she said as she brandished her “Choose Democracy Over Dictatorship” poster above her head. “I’m scared because people who look like me, who are citizens, can be picked up from the street and thrown into a camp and I’d have to prove myself,” said Hurley. “I want freedom, decent and dignity.” Femaarta Momo, a mother of three, travelled from New Jersey to demonstrate at Saturday’s rally. Momo is also a crafter and designed sweatshirts for her group of eight. The back of the sweatshirt said “We’re Not Going Back.”  “If we lose our rights today, it doesn’t just impact me today,” says Momo. “It impacts my future generations.” Femaarta Momo designed sweatshirts to show solidarity with the women at Saturday’s march. The post “We Won’t Go Back” : Women’s March Returns to DC Ahead of Elections first appeared on Washingtonian.