Long before one of the biggest marches in the United States’ history became a reality, the Women’s March on Washington — organized for the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration to protest his presidency and the misogyny it represents — racialized women all over the country criticized its failure to be inclusive.
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Despite these critiques, it appears the grand march’s initial shortcomings were replicated at one of its “sister marches” — north of the border, in Vancouver, Canada. The protest there saw thousands take to the streets, but the event effectively shut out its local chapter of Black Lives Matter.
In D.C., what began as liberal white feminism, organized by a cadre of white women who refused to talk about issues such as police brutality against Black people and anti-immigrant posturing against Muslims, had — through critique and callouts — morphed into something far more inclusive. The organizers there reshuffled its leadership to include a number of veteran activists who were women of colour. Soon after, its agenda included language that named the struggles of racialized women, queer and trans women, working-class women and others not initially included.
In Vancouver, however, when the speakers of the solidarity march there were announced, Black Lives Matter-Vancouver released a statement in response, saying its members were “pleased to see that the list of speakers includes Indigenous people and women of colour,” but noted that “the apparent lack of Black women and trans women in both the organization and on the official speakers’ list is problematic.”
Stating that the group began organizing “in solidarity with BLM chapters in the United States as well as to call attention to the systemic racism Black people and people of colour experience in Canada,” BLMV noted that its organization constantly faces a barrage of threats and harassment from white people online, including frequent comments telling them Canada “doesn’t have racism” and that they “don’t need to exist.”
The erasure of these experiences sidelined the group as a fundamental organizing force against racism in the city, and while Vancouver organizers of the women’s march explicitly stated the event was for “standing up against racism,” no one from BLMV was consulted or contacted, according to the group.
“The Vancouver organizers did not contact, consult, or include Black Lives Matter Vancouver despite the fact that the misogyny and bleak realities of the Trump administration will disproportionately harm Black people and people of color, particularly those who are trans and queer,” read BLMV’s statement.
“There are multiple outspoken, well-known Black women activists and trans women activists in Vancouver, any of whom deserve a voice at this event. Black Lives Matter has also existed and protested in the city for well over a year, calling attention to the ways in which women also experience violence from the police and other institutions,” the group added.
Once word got out of the march’s supposed oversight, community members and activists began to post on the march’s event page, calling out the organizers for excluding BLMV — only to see these posts get deleted.
“The Women's March on Washington-Vancouver appears to have deleted the BLM-Vancouver discussion posted by a member of the public on their event wall,” BLMV wrote in a follow-up statement.
“This is an act of silencing and violence. This is precisely demonstrative of the issues we raised in our original statement — the irony is palpable. This active suppression of our voices only serves to perpetuate the exclusion and lack of accountability we have highlighted,” they continued.
While marches elsewhere around the globe saw women of all backgrounds rally, including racialized trans women and non-binary femmes, many on social media have still highlighted the ways in which liberal white feminism formed the crux of the march.