Sedona AZ (January 24, 2017) – 1,500 people marched, carried signs, and chanted at Sedona’s Peaceful Unity March, according to estimates from local organizers and the Sedona Police Department. The march was one of several hundred marches and rallies that took place last Saturday, throughout the country and in other cities all over the world, in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. Various media outlets have estimated that there were over one million participants, worldwide.
[soliloquy id=”36679″]
The Sedona crowd gathered at Birch Blvd. in West Sedona and marched to Forest Road, in Uptown, accompanied by the horn honking of passing vehicles expressing support for the marchers, who stayed on public sidewalks for the event. Sedona Police provided traffic control and reported that they received no complaints.
Speakers at a brief rally held just before marchers stepped off included Rabbi Alicia Magal of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty, and Barbara Litrell, President of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters. Each welcomed the crowd and spoke about the importance of speaking out and of working together. The crowd was made up of numerous, diverse community groups and individuals, including members from the religious community, political organizations, and environmental organizations.
2 Comments
I see the sign that says “All People are Equal” and I marvel at the hypocrisy of these marchers for several reasons. 1 – these marches have been perpetrated and paid for by professionals and sinister organizations around the world. To see folks in Sedona get sucked into this faux protest is disappointing at best. 2 – all people are NOT equal. If they really were then there would be no homeless anywhere and OUR poor and OUR VETS health would be way better than it is now. Our vets get second and third class treatment in comparison to illegals with free housing and health care. 3 – it’s a hypocrisy to sweep these homeless who ARE citizens and DO belong here, off the shiny streets of Sedona, and leave them to collect here in Cottonwood, where many Sedonites shop for better prices but ignore the beggars on the street corners. Look in the mirror all you self righteous and pretentious “protesters” and tell me you really believe what you’re preaching when you are the first to turn your eyes away from our own citizens in distress!
Oh Deanof Serene, It hurts to read your comments! I marched that day, and I can assure you that none of us were ‘paid for’ or ‘sucked in’. I marched with many folks I know to be good people, local people. There was no venom that day, just an attempt to bring some civility and caring back to our beloved country. Though I’m well into my 60’s and the day was cold and I would rather have stayed home by the fire, I felt it was important to show up. We are the ones whose voices are not being heard, who stand up to hate-speech and paranoid policies.
I do agree that our poor, homeless and our vets are not getting fair treatment, along with many others. But if you look at history, you’d know that Ronald Reagan’s policies ended federal programs that housed and cared for the mentally ill, putting them on the streets. I was a working adult in the 1980’s and saw it take place. When I was younger, our taxes went to social programs and to national infrastructure. Then, Republican policies turned our tax money into fodder for wars and dominance of corporations and the ultra-rich.
You have a right to express your opinion, just as we marchers do. But it would be more relevant if you took actual facts into account.