Women March, Urge Political Participation

OCEAN CITY – Over 600 women and men gathered in a small park across from Ocean City’s City Hall for a local expression of the national Women’s March, held Jan. 20. 
Speakers called on women to run for office, and to become more politically involved at every level. Many women, and several of the men, wore pink hats in the style popularized in the first Women’s March in 2017.
The event seemed larger than Ocean City’s march last year. This year, presented by the organization South Jersey Connection to Action, the event began with speakers in the park, and participants walked along the downtown sidewalks for several blocks, observing traffic rules with the encouragement of volunteer marshals wearing plastic leis.
Speakers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and women who ran for office spoke, many encouraging political involvement. They included Alexi Velez from the ACLU, Northfield City Councilwoman Susan Korngut, Danielle Davies, an unsuccessful candidate for Cape May County freeholder in 2017, and Caren Fitzpatrick, an Atlantic County freeholder.
Fitzpatrick said the knowledge of budgets, governmental operations and other aspects of office can be learned, if the candidate is motivated and willing to listen. She called on those with the motivation to reach out to their local political committee.
“Everybody can do this job. You just have to want to do it. And if you’re lucky like me you’ll have a blast,” she said. “I didn’t know how much fun it would be. I think that aggravated some people.”
People want to be heard, she said. Those who don’t want to put their name on the ballot can still help, saying volunteers are needed for political campaigns. 
“We all have to get out there and make a difference in our own little way. We all can do something to support the women who run, and the progressive men who also run, who are there for us, who have our voice,” said Suzanne Forrest of Ocean City, event organizer. She called on those attending to help register potential voters and to get involved in campaigns.
The speakers who ran for office, or are seeking seats this year were all women, and all Democrats. Forrest said she invited a Republican woman who is an elected official, who she said was thrilled with the invitation. But Forrest said she declined because she had a wedding to attend that weekend.
The event took place on the anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump. There was little doubt who they meant when they referenced the 2016 election, and numerous signs in the crowd mocked or criticized Trump. 
Former Atlantic County Freeholder John Carman stood on the sidewalk just outside the crowd, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” ball cap popularized by the Trump campaign, standing next to some participants. Carman, a Republican, lost his seat last year to Ashley Bennet, who decided to run after Carman had made a mocking reference to the 2017 Women’s March, an outcome that drew national attention.
Carman could not be reached through the thick crowd for comment that day, but he told a reporter from The Press of Atlantic City that he attended to hear what the speakers had to say.
Through the event, a few passersby quietly expressed support for Trump, but things seemed to remain polite. Ocean City tends to vote Republican, and in 2016 went for Trump for president over Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 1,000 votes, 3,708 to 2,670. 
The final speaker, Tanzie Youngblood, is one of several announced candidates for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, a seat held by longtime Republican incumbent Frank LoBiondo.
LoBiondo will not seek another term, one of a number of GOP incumbents in the House set to bow out in the 2018 midterm elections. Other announced Democratic candidates include state Sen. Jeff Van Drew and William Cunningham, who attended Saturday’s event but did not speak.
Youngblood, along with the other speakers, embraced the language of the women’s movement and the civil rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s, while others deliberately tied the current movement to the suffrage movement that got women the vote. In remarks at the start of the event, Forrest mentioned that it hasn’t been that long since women could vote in the United States, and even then it was initially limited to white women.
Youngblood looked to one of the signs in the crowd as inspiration, leading a chant of “Power to the people.”
“I want to thank all of my sisters and all of my brothers for coming out here today,” she said. “Women all across the nation are marching this weekend in solidarity. We are marching because we can. And we will send a message to our nation’s leaders that we are challenging them. Not only challenging, we are demanding (of) them to do a better job in running this country.”
She said those participating were putting leaders on notice that they have the power to make a change.
Most of the crowd walked several blocks along the sidewalks on Asbury Avenue, surprising a few Saturday shoppers on the warmest day in weeks. While walking, many of the participants waved their signs and chanted “This is what democracy looks like.”
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.