S.C. Million Womxn’s March promotes unity and change

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - In the Lowcountry, some people are spending Labor Day calling for change. Nearly 200 people came out to the “Million Womxn’s March” in North Charleston on Monday.

Event organizer, Erica Cokly, says the event is about women empowerment.

“Coming out today is going to be like a natural rebirth,” Cokly said. “We are going to come out, we are going to love each other, lift each other up and try to figure out how we can keep women lifted up going forward.”

The ’x’ in women is to include people who are transgender, non-binary and women of color. It’s meant to be inclusive of diversity. The original “Million Woman March” was in 1997 in Philadelphia. The focus was on unifying the African American community and support for black women.

Paticipant Whitney Anderson says it’s nice to attend an event where people can come together and make their voices heard.

“Growing up as a black woman I have seen and been through many experiences that women go through that aren’t spoken about and not really looked at like a big deal because we are women,” Anderson said.

Partipant Dexter White says he came to support women and show solidarity.

“The ‘Me Too’ movement really taught me, made me realize that women have been marginalized and are one of the more underprivileged and underrepresented populations,” White said. “How they have been treated has just been horrible, they’ve been treated subpar and inhuman.”

The event in North Charleston included speakers, an emphasis on voting and representation of some local candidates.

While there’s a focus on uplifting women, Cokly says the event was also about promoting that unity among others as well and to create positive change in the community.

“This is the time to take the opportunity, to be able to take those chances that are necessary to get our voices heard together,” Cokly said.

Cokly says she would like to see social, education and justice system reforms.

Organizers said their vision is to have a future where tangible socioeconomic change is evident. In addition, they would like to see a future where diversity and inclusion, civic leadership and issue-based activism includes all ‘womxn.’

Partipant Jennifer Egnor says when women come together they can change the world.

“It’s an amazing feeling because there’s such a diversity of people here and that’s what we need, we need intersectionality we need to be inclusive,” Egnor said. “I takes all of us together.”

Egnor says she would like to see more diversity in legislation and elected officials that are representing their consituents.

At the event, they provided hand sanitizer, t-shirts and masks with “Rise Sister Rise” on them.

Cokly says she plans to have another event in the near future, and invites more women to attend.

“We want to make sure that we are keeping in touch with each other. We want to make sure that we are empowering each other,” Cokly said. “Not just today and tomorrow, but six months from now.”

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