‘Women’s Rally’ draws big crowd to Mitchell Park

The winds that brought frigid temperatures to the area for several days last week abated a bit this weekend, but standing outside for close to two hours as traces of snow gave way to steady flakes still chilled the crowd of more than 100 in Mitchell Park.

But several participants at Greenport’s “Women’s Rally” said they were standing firm to turn fear and anger into action and hope. The gathering was a pre-cursor to the “People’s March” scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18, which is expected to attract thousands to Washington, D.C. as well as to concurrent events across the country.

Valerie Shelby, a member of the Greenport rally organizing committee, functioned as an emcee for the program and quoted Jamaican songwriter Bob Marley: “Get up, stand up and don’t give up the fight.” Early in the program she led the gathering in a spirited chant: “My body, my choice,” to which the group responded with enthusiasm, as they did to songs interspersed between speeches, including John Lennon’s “Power to the People” and “Imagine;” Holly Near’s “Singing for our Lives;” and Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.”

The crowd heard from speakers focusing on concerns mostly of women who, they said, have seen their rights diminished in recent years. But other demonstrators raised issues transcending gender.

Shelter Islander Sarah Shepherd took the ferry to Greenport to be part of the rally, which she described as “a beautiful example of a community coming together on a cold, sunny day for all kinds of reasons. It was important for me to be part of enthusiastic change. January is a month for advocacy and action and I want to be part of the change.”

Greenport Village Mayor Kevin Stuessi, who along with the rest of the village board had supported the use of Mitchell Park for the rally, told the crowd he was raised by a single mother and is now a single parent to two daughters. “The strength of the women in my life impacted me in many ways,” Mr. Stuessi said.

He urged rally goers to bring their voices to the table in Greenport and the surrounding area to demand action on key issues such as affordable housing. “This is an emergency,” he said. “We need to put politics aside.”

Rev. Natalie Wimberly of Greenport’s Clinton Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church looked out at the array of demonstrators holding signs, each bearing a single name, mostly of women. She called them her “heroines and heroes” — Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Amelia Earhart and many more. Another sign read, “Here’s to strong women. May you know them, raise them, be them.”

A few bore names of men, and the pastor spoke of Bishop Desmond Tutu, who devoted much of his life to fighting apartheid in South Africa. Death has not silenced his words, Rev. Wimberly said before sharing one of the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s more famous quotes: “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”

“Being here is doing something with your anger,” Patte McManus of Southold United Universalist Church said, noting she had heard some in the community express fear about coming to the rally, many of them in the immigrants. “You be the light for your friends and family,” she urged.

“These times scare me,” said Tijuana Fulford, founder and executive director of The Butterfly Effect Project, a nonprofit aiming to empower young girls with confidence, develop healthy relationships and strengthen their critical thinking.

“Who the hell do they think they’re talking to?” she said about those who want to make decisions for women. “Enough is enough.”

Greenport resident Rosario Rodriguez said health care needs are not always available, especially to immigrants, noting her father, an immigrant from Guatemala, was well treated as a cancer patient because his doctor was also from Guatemala. “Immigrants truly make America great,” she said.

Gwynn Schroeder, an aide to Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski when he served in the Suffolk County Legislature, spoke about the need for universal healthcare, and in broader terms, the challenges confronting the entire country. “Our democracy is damaged,” she said.

Carolyn Peabody, chair of the North Fork Action Committee and one of the event organizers, made it clear that Saturday’s rally was just a beginning. She invited attendees to meet on the fourth Friday of every month at 4 p.m. at the new Community Action Center at 51900 Main St. in Southold. Bring friends, ideas, information on other progressive activities, she said, or opt to work with established groups on efforts to promote important issues.