Marching in the Mat-Su: Palmer Women’s March draws close to 1,000

PALMER — When local organizers were preparing for Saturday’s Women’s March in Palmer, they tentatively hoped for around 50 people. In a short time, however, they counted 300 Facebook RSVPs.

And by the time folks started meeting up in downtown Palmer, the actual count made by volunteers was between 900 and 1,000, said organizer Allison Little, who put the event together with Carol Ryan-Aube.

As a full-time teacher and mother of five, Little said she put what she could into organizing the march, but the large turnout was unexpected and showed how much spontaneous support there was for values of equality among many locals.

“It’s been so positive,” Little said. “And people mainly saying they want to get involved in local government. They want to know when our city councils are meeting, they want volunteer opportunities. That’s really the best thing to come out of it. If they feel disempowered with what’s happening nationally, well let’s plug them in locally.”

Marian Elliot, a Valley resident for 30 years who is 78 years old, said she came out expecting to meet up with a few friends, but when she got there, the crowd was so large that she couldn’t find them, and she said she was amazed to see downtown Palmer so thick with supporters.

When asked why she participated in the Women’s March, Elliott said, “To make a statement about the values that are important to me, which is protecting medicare, as well as issues regarding climate, and issues regarding equality, just to make a statement that there are people out here that care about these things. Certainly for our new president, who has promised to protect Medicare, but at the same time has put the person in charge of it who most wants to get rid of it.”

At press time, President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, had not yet been approved by Congress. Price chaired the House Budget Committee that forwarded the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Resolution, which calls for changes to Medicare that would include bringing in private plans.

Elliott said she is pro-life, but still thinks it is important to advocate for women’s rights to make their own reproductive health care decisions.

“I am pro-life based on the teachings of my religion and what I believe is the word of God,” Elliott said. “However, I do not believe in this country that you impose your religious beliefs on other people. People need to come to that understanding on their own. I wouldn’t want another religion imposing their beliefs on me. Why would I try to do that to other people?”

She said her pro-life views also means she thinks it is “immoral to take away people’s healthcare and put them in the position of not being able to get the medical aid they need.”

She cited the case of a friend of hers who died from cancer after the state of Alaska approved the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion too late for him to get the treatment he needed in time.

Little thinks concerns about President Trump likely brought additional people out to the March, and made it something of a catch-all for people who are concerned about, not just women’s equal political rights, but also issues as vast as equal access for people with disabilities, to policies on immigration.

“I did not put much work into organizing this; it was a reaction and a response,” Little said. “It was a reaction, and I think some fears and anxieties about coming policies, and people wanting to be heard and wanting to let other groups know they’re seen and heard and valued within our community. So there was that element, of people responding to the inauguration, that was I think the catalyst for all these people coming together.”

But one of the most important things to come out of the Palmer Women’s March, she said, was seeing how many people want to be involved in their local government. To that end, she said, organizers have set up the March Mat-Su Facebook page as forum that helps people make a contribution to their local community, whether through political or volunteer work.

“It’s a non-partisan clearinghouse of local opportunities to get involved,” Little said. “And how people choose to plug in somewhere in there, people will find something that they want to get involved in.”