Power behind that push

Sam Sewell is the Executive Coordinator for the President for NARAL Pro-Choice America

"Ow! That little woman had some power behind that push!"  I yelled out as I acted as a peacekeeper during the last stretch of the March for Women's Lives.  Other peacekeepers and I created a wall, elbows intertwined and locked, around Madeleine Albright, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kate Michelman, and other leaders of the pro-choice movement.  Women and men were taking turns ramming into us with nothing more than their own bodies, trying to get through to those we were guarding. Others were on the sidelines "praying" for us.  My arms were aching, but my excitement overruled the pain.

A few months prior, I didn't think I would be there.  I was 21 years old and president of the University of North Texas's Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance.  Our group didn't have much money, but our fund raising efforts had paid off and 30 of our members were headed to Washington, D.C. When we arrived, the city was buzzing with thousands of pro-choice Americans.  People who were too excited to wait until the day of the march were holding up their signs as they walked the streets:  Keep Your Laws Off My Body! and my favorite, Post Menopausal Women Nostalgic for Choice!

The day of the march, we rushed to the National Mall and soon enough, large crowds began pouring in, everyone with a massive smile plastered on their face. The FMLA at the University of North Texas is one of the most active and largest in the country, so we were in the honors delegation towards the front of the crowd.  About 45 minutes prior to start, an FMF staffer pulled me aside and asked if I would like to march at the front with other student leaders as an honored guest. Obviously I said yes! 

So, I left my friends and put on the yellow sash she handed me and followed her to the front.  When the march began the other student leaders and I walked directly behind Whoopi Goldberg, Ashley Judd, and other celebrities.  The whole thing seemed like a dream.  The air was bustling with chants, and the crowd was a patchwork pile of pink, purple, and yellow shirts. A while later one of the march organizers grabbed me and said she needed more peacekeepers at the front.

"Whatever you do, don't let go of the people next to you, and don't let the antis in," she said to me. 

I locked arms with the two women on either side of me, and looked back at Madeleine Albright in awe. Once the marching portion was over and everyone gathered around the stages, I was reunited with my group.  The Indigo Girls began to play, and my best-friend Sommer and I put our arms around each other and cried... we were exhausted and overwhelmed, but felt like we were on top of the world.

Photo submitted by Sam Sewell.