Women’s March Passes Through Georgetown

The Women’s March NRA2DOJ made it to Key Bridge and moved down M Street to its destination, the Department of Justice building on Pennsylvania Avenue, one block from the Trump International Hotel, on the evening of July 14. After a late-afternoon storm, there were about 100 marchers. Traffic impact was minimal, as police kept cars and people apart.

The group, organized to protest a video and, more generally, the policies of the National Rifle Association, began its 17-mile march in Fairfax, Virginia, in front of the NRA’s headquarters.

Here is part of the Women’s March NRA2DOJ message: “Since the acquittal of Officer Yanez for shooting and killing Philando Castile in Minnesota, the NRA has failed to make any statement defending the civil rights of Mr. Castile, a law-abiding gun owner who can be heard in video footage clearly notifying the officer that he was carrying a licensed firearm. The NRA claims to stand for the 2nd Amendment rights of all Americans, but their silence on Mr. Castile’s constitutional right to own a gun betrayed a deep hypocrisy that many joined in calling out.

“Then, a vicious and incendiary NRA advertisement came to light, in which an alt-right propagandist appears to call for armed conflict against our communities, demonizing people of color, progressives and any of us who exercise our First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and exercise our free speech in protest. In response, Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory penned an open letter to the NRA asking them to remove and apologize for the ad, which was decried by many card-carrying NRA members and some Republican legislators as well.

“Instead of backing away from the vitriol of the ad, the NRA responded by releasing a new video attacking Tamika and other leaders personally and extending the false narrative that our movement is a violent threat to public safety.”

Opponents of the group countered that advocacy for gun control would not be helpful for getting most Democratic Party candidates any new votes.

The march moved out of Georgetown quickly, but in the age of Trump we can expect more to come.

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