CLEVELAND, OH-Women's March Cleveland 2019 drew a couple thousand people to its third- year event.

The streets were filled Saturday afternoon as Cleveland took part in a Women’s March that began downtown at outside of Public Square. The event coincided with multiple civil rights rallies held concurrently across the country the same day.

The event was organized as a means to address issues central to the Women’s Rights movement, including, but not limited to equal pay in the workplace, freedom from sexual harassment and abuse, and reproduction rights.

The crowd at Public Square was met with a panel of speakers curated by Women's March Cleveland organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, a community activist, and Kenyona Sunny Matthews and Kara Bara of Women's March Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson spoke briefly in support of the day’s event, as did NARAL’s Hannah Servedio, Solon High School’s Girl Up program, community activists such as Genevieve Mitchell, Honey Bell-Bey,  Tessa Xuan, Yvonka Hall of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, Cheryl Lessin, Ruth Gray of the National Congress of Black Women, and Tamir Rice’s mother Samaria Rice, among others.

Other elected officials speaking were state Sen. Nickie Antonio of Lakewood, state Rep Juanita Brent of Cleveland, and Cleveland Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland.

Community activists Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Valerie Robinson, the Rev Pamela Pinkney Butts, Alfred Porter Jr, and Brenda Adrine, the Rev Cynthia Smith of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Black Women's PAC President Elaine Gohlstin and Susan Bro, the mother of slain Civil Rights activist Heather Heyer of Virginia,  were among those who spoke later at the Old Stone Church following the march.

Winter storm Harper, which led to the cancellation of similar marches in Dayton and Trenton, New Jersey, may have affected attendance.

Coleman estimated the crowd at a couple thousand.

The storm’s heavy predicted snowfall began breaking across Cleveland the same time as the rally and only strengthened by the time marchers took to Ontario Avenue at noon before rounding Lakeside Avenue. During the march, advocates and activists carried signs in support of educators and many critical of the Trump administration.

One of the more enthusiastically received chants that led the march was “Our body, our choice.”

Cleveland’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America was among those marching. A statementreleased on their Twitter account explained that they “march for anti-capitalist, international, intersectional feminism.”

Unity among the African American population and the strength in minority women was a recurring theme across multiple speakers. Their power was emphasized not only at a community level but at a political one. They argued for more minority women in positions of governance as well as in the voting booths supporting them.

A fusion of civic passion and political accountability was prevalent, driven home with speakers and event organizers highlighting the fiftieth anniversary of Shirley Chisholm’s election to U.S. Congress. Chisholm made history in 1968 by being the first African-American woman to be elected for the position and later the first to run for the Presidency.

In addition to the diversity of race, gender, and nationality on hand, a striking facet of the march was the multiple generations. Mothers, grandmothers and daughters from a wide gambit of ages made the majority of the event’s numbers, lending a tight-knit community feel.

“I just wanted to get her out here just so she can see other women asserting themselves. There’s a lot of different politics, it’s a rough world for everybody. (My daughter) can figure out all that later. I just want her to have a voice to do that,” Demuth said.

The march comes at a moment of uncertainty for the organization. Earlier this week multiple major news outlets reported that the Democratic Party was distancing itself from the organization after its founder Tamika Mallory’s ties to the controversial Reverend Louis Farrakhan and allegations of antisemitism continued to gather more attention.

The ongoing issue has led to marches in Washington state, Madison, Wisconsin; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Chicago, Illinois to be cancelled. Similarly, a march in Eureka, California was called off due to a “lack of diversity”.

Cleveland’s rally was not met with similar controversy. Whatever systemic issues the larger organization may be facing, the day’s event proved a warm spot for a staggered, but nonetheless enthusiastic, crowd on an otherwise cold afternoon in January.

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