Marching for change
Sophomore Aarti Aravapalli along with seniors Sophie Kwon, Kaci Nguyen, Deepti Aravapalli, Sonika Rao, and Esther Wang (from left to right) walked in the Women’s March on Saturday.
Several Redhawk students took to the streets of Dallas Saturday in the second annual Women’s March, joining hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. including celebrities, politicians, athletes, members of the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, men and of course women.
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Senior Deepti Aravapalli held her sign to show her support as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I feel like every one of us has felt victimized in some capacity at some point in our lives and a lot of the time we bottle up those feelings and repress those memories,” senior Deepti Aravapalli said. “But there’s something about standing in solidarity with so many strong women and screaming our truth that makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger and that you’re not alone in what you’re going through.”
Identifying as bisexual, Aravapalli felt like she was at a place she belonged, surrounded by people that welcomed her.
“I’m not constantly surrounded by a huge LGBT population,” Aravapalli said. “Finding pockets of support like the march on Saturday is always a fun way to meet new people and talk about shared experiences.”
Other students, such as junior Iris Chang also marched alongside hundreds of people to let her voice be heard.
“It was really inspiring to see everybody come together to support a common cause,” Chang said. “It’s a really great platform for everybody to stand up and speak for what we believe in and actually be heard.”
People at the Women’s March were there on behalf of more than just women, as they sought to fight for equality for everyone.
“It was really empowering because what I felt was an overall feeling of acceptance for everyone that was there,” senior Sophie Kwon said. “It was a lot more about supporting just women’s rights, there was a lot more about the LGBTQ community, immigrants rights, and a lot of minorities that feel oppressed by the current administration and just getting together to show support for each other it was really cool.”
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