Even in Lubbock

I attended the Lubbock Women’s March today with my family and it was incredible. It was unlike anything I’ve seen in my 5 years here. Lubbock, where I teach at Texas Tech, is in the northwest portion of the state, and is extremely conservative: in local elections, many offices are competitions between Republicans & Libertarians only. The anti-Trump rally that was initially scheduled was cancelled after the organizers faced threats online.

Given this context, it was amazing to arrive at the rally today to see hundreds of other people (I’ve seen estimates of anywhere from 400-1000.) We occupied a park on a busy corner, directly across from the university and adjacent to two major streets. It was a diverse crowd of young & old, all races, genders & lots of rainbow flags. We chanted & cheered and many, many, cars honked in support. We did have several dudes in huge trucks drive by blowing smoke out of their exhaust pipes or revving their engines (it is West Texas after all) but overall it was a great experience.

Even in Lubbock, folks were chanting about women’s rights today.