One day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. President, Sarah Fouad wore an American flag hijab around her head. She stood in front of WOW Hall in Eugene, and she carried a sign reading, “Hug a Muslim.”

Sarah Fouad welcomes fellow marchers to hug her at the Eugene Women’s March. (Anna Lieberman/Emerald)

Fouad is one of the thousands of people who marched from the Wayne Morse U.S. Courthouse to WOW Hall on Jan. 21. The march unified people in defiance of Trump’s racist and misogynistic comments toward women and minorities throughout the election cycle. Similar events happened in U.S. cities like New York, Chicago and Portland, and around the world — influenced by The Women’s March in Washington D.C.

The event began with marchers listening to speeches at the courthouse, although the volume wasn’t loud enough to reach the 10,000 attendees police estimated were there. When rain began to fall, people grabbed their umbrellas and signs and marched together down W. Eighth Ave.

Fouad said she marched to support her community and to raise her voice against the Trump administration.

“A lot of our community is afraid,” she said, referencing Trump’s talk of creating a registry for Muslims in the United States. “My family didn’t want to leave their house because they didn’t know what was going to happen. They didn’t want to become a target.”

Every few seconds, a marcher noticed Fouad’s sign and gave her a hug.

Father and daughter, Iylah and Matthew Molyneaux, march in recognition of women’s strength. (Courtesy of Fonta Molyneaux)

“Personally, I’ve needed a hug,” Fouad said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the future because we don’t know if [Trump] is going to stay true to his word.”

Others held signs, like Matthew Molyneaux, whose glitter-covered poster read, “I am a girl. Hear me roar,” and showed a cat drawing.

His 9-year-old daughter Iylah made it.

“Girls give life,” she said. “And girls are strong in every way. We should be respected.”

She said she made the sign to show the strength of women, but also to represent the Pussyhat Project. During Trump’s campaign, a 2005 video leaked in which he mentioned grabbing women “by the pussy.” The project encourages marchers to wear pink hats with cat ears to reclaim the word “pussy,” according to the project’s website.

Hundreds of people wore the hats at the march.

“They’re cat hats,” said Kathleen Epstein, one of the planners of the march. “But the inference is you can’t possibly touch us. You’re forbidden to touch us.”

Epstein worries that some rights, especially abortion, would be taken away under Trump’s leadership.

Different people and organizations, including Planned Parenthood and Oregon State Representative Julie Fahey, hosted tables at the event and referenced protecting women’s rights in the future.

Epstein hopes this activism continues.

“We are Americans,” she said. “It’s, ‘We the people of the United States.’ We are now responsible for taking whatever action we possibly can.”

The post Women’s March unites Eugene following Trump inauguration appeared first on Emerald Media.