Women's March NJ 2018
Ubuntu.
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu explains in The Book of Joy, “Ubuntu” describes the concept in his homeland that a person is a person only through other persons.
“None of us came into the world on our own," he said. "We needed two people to bring us into the world. We are bound up and can be human only together.”
I had no idea what I hoped for last January when I stepped on a bus in Montclair, N.J. at 4 a.m., headed to D.C. for the first Women’s March – not knowing a soul on any of the many buses leaving town that day. It certainly was something completely out of character for my usual cautious self.
“Why are you marching?” folks asked. “What do you think you’ll accomplish?”
I knew only that I had to do something to release the frustration and distress wearing on me since the November election.
What I found as that day wore on was great kinship, deep conviction and compassion and a shared recognition that we are, in fact, bound up with and responsible for each other.
I found Ubuntu.
Oh, and along the way since then, what did we accomplish?
Nothing short of a seismic shift. Look at the number of women running for public office and engaging in governing now. And look at the number of women who’ve found voice through the #MeToo movement.
This year I decided to stay local, curious to see how the movement was rippling out at home and interested in watching how women’s participation in the 2018 statewide races was evolving.
Early estimates for the New Jersey march, held in Morristown, capped expected participation at 10,000. By some reports, that number actually exceeded 15,000.
There were more men this year (including my husband), more families, more seniors.
And there was more hope – hope that stems from the strength of numbers, armed with a game plan.
Here then are some of the sights and sounds from the Morristown march.
(Click on the images below to see full photos.)
