 Welcome. You're watching Life in the Law on Wednesdays from 1 to 1.30 on Think Tech, Hawaii. I'm delighted today to talk about something I'm participating in, and we have a great guest to talk about the local aspect of it. I'm marching in Washington for Women's Rights on the weekend, on the 21st, and Michael Golou, Golou, Golou, Golou, Golou you. I did it every time I said it. Is the program manager for the Oahu portion of the march. So we'll talk a little bit about the Oahu portion of the march, which expects tremendous crowds, and so does Washington. And then we'll talk a little bit about national and what you think is going to happen there. So welcome. Thank you for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. So what, okay, let's tell everybody, I guess, first of all, the story of how the part, the march, became, came to be. Well, on November 8th, like a lot of people, Teresa Shook, a wonderful grandma from Hana Maui, went to bed. She was in a chat room, basically, on Facebook called Pantsuit Nation, and she, everybody was commiserating with each other, and she's like, they had to teach her how to set up an event thing on Facebook. And so they taught her how to do it, and so she's put out there that she wanted to march on Washington on the day after the inauguration. She went to bed with like 40 people saying, yes, I want to do this. She woke up the next morning with 10,000 people, and that's where Facebook blocks you as a single person user. Oh, really? If you're only a single person and you put up an event, it gets blocked at 10,000. So she had to develop a group in order to have, yeah. And then this sprung of the movement. It's actually an international movement now. There are over 700 sister marches. Really? Cappied all across the globe. I'm so proud that this idea came out of Hawaii. I can't tell you how proud I am. I'm like, well, my old friends in New York, I'm like, you see? You see what we're doing over here? You should follow us. So the idea is that women and men also are marching on Washington in support of our rights to protect our rights, our reproductive rights, and our rights to equal pay. What would you say? We're very adamant that this is not an anti-Trump march, right? This is a pro-women march. It's a pro-women. It's a pro-issues. It's a pro-policy. We are looking beyond the 21st. We're looking beyond that with the march. The marches, what we are hoping it will do is turn these accidental activists. Because if you look at who's running the national program, you have different, all these different people who don't really have a background in community organizing. But they've come together and they've put together an amazing program. And I encourage everybody that's watching to go to womensmarch.com. And you'll see all the stuff that they have together. You'll also see the sister marches. All over the country. All over the world. All over the world. What came online this week is really chicken skin time. It's when there's a women's march in Iraq. There's one in Saudi Arabia. Wow. So we're talking Nigeria. So women across the globe are being empowered by this to step up, not just women, but all and the men that support them and everybody else that supports it. And yes, it's called the women's march. But it's our social agenda of inclusion. And making sure that all minorities are taken care of and to send the message loud and clear to the incoming administration that we will not allow to the clock to be turned back on the advances we made. We are going to be here. You may not like it. You may not agree with it. We're going to be here. Our voices will be heard. Right. And it's going to be hard to not pay attention when you have as many women and their supporters show up on the 21st. Yeah, it's all like wildfire. It's just catching on like wildfire. So you told me that you were going to start at the Everplain. Is that right? The Everlon. Everlon. Everlon at the cap for O'ahu. We're actually beginning a little bit before eight o'clock on the January 21st to, there's a national moment of silence that happens at one o'clock East Coast time. So it's eight o'clock our time and we're going to participate in that. Okay. And so it's led by Gloria Steinem. And so it's a minute of silence and then a minute after that, silent no more. Excellent. And so it's going to be very, very skin tingling. Yes. Yeah. It's going to be very powerful. We're hosting a sign making session for the last minute people, because we have people that have contacted us or they're here on vacation and they want to take part of it. It's going to be amazing. So many newbies. So many newbs. Yeah. And people taking time out of their vacations. They're spending a lot of money to come to Hawaii and they're going to take a good portion of Saturday to come out and spend time in March and send a message. And so we were hosting that from eight o'clock one to nine thirty we're going to wrap that up. And we have a drum, an African drum crew coming in at nine twenty to get the crowd going. And then at nine fifty there'll be a quick high. Thank you. A quick overview of what the day and then ten o'clock the mark starts. Okay. And it starts on the Evalon goes down Richard Street, Richard's to King, King to Alipay, Alipay back to the capital. We have two left lanes. Thanks to the city issued our permit. Oh, excellent. So we're actually taking to the streets for this one. This is going to be, I think people are going to be really wowed and really moved because I vaguely remember Martin Luther King's March in Washington and I was very, very young. I probably was four or five years old. But the reaction of the people around me was what, I mean I was too young to process the actual event. But the reaction of the grown-ups was so massive it was like ripples in a pond. And I think that it's going to be really eye-opening because I'll tell you something. I know a lot of people that are conservative and even here in Hawaii believe it or not. And I don't think they realize the impact this is going to make. Just it's going to be like a bell ringing around the globe, you know. And it can be, it can be very, very powerful. Yeah, it's going to be very powerful because it's a non-partisan event. And like today representative Beth Foucaumoto and just at the Capitol when we were on another station for the morning show. And she's going to be joining us again on Saturday. And you see the groups that are joining us. We have 56 supporting organizations across the spectrum covering lots of different issues. Like I said, we had many Hoonie Water came on board. It was one of our supporting sponsors. They're going to be supporting donating water. We have Valley of the Rainbows came on board this morning. And so every day it's been growing and growing. And at this point it's become exponentially with the people at our RCP through Eventbrite with us. And people are like, oh, do I have to RCP? No, you don't have to. No, it just helps you guys. It helps us plan. And so it helps us instead of having to, we're still going to have to do the math to figure out how many people we're expecting. But we're expecting a nice turnout. And I believe we will help send a message because, well, this is going to kick off in New Zealand. One of the first marches is going to be happening in New Zealand. Hawaii gets to close it all out. It starts and ends with us. It started with Teresa Shook and it ends with us again. That's great. Like a parenthesis around the idea. And I think everybody needs to know that this is just a starting point. There's a real wave, a real movement among people to continue working hard, continue the struggle because it's going to be a struggle over the next few years. And we really don't want to have any rollback of any of the great things that we've been able to accomplish and we want to push forward. So I think this is sort of the opening act of a new wave of activism. I'm hoping it is. Oh, it is. We're hearing from women and men across the country and with the national organizations here in Hawaii. We're hearing from people that have never gone into activism. Right. This is, like I said earlier, accidental activists. And these people are making a point of coming out and being part of this. And they're like, this one lady wrote and she goes, I'm going outside my comfort zone by doing this. And she goes, but I'm bringing my daughter. Oh, well, yeah, that's great. And she's bringing it. We're going to see the next generation of activists hopefully be born out of this movement and be brought to and given the chance to have their say. And it's, people have opened their hearts and their wallets to us because putting on something in a huge, huge, it's not big. Expensive message. Where should they send money? If people want to send money. They send money. You can go online to women'smartialwahu.wordpress.com. We have a donation button there. And that's basically, we've been surviving on donations. We did some t-shirt sales that started off quick back in December. That gave us the seed money to move forward. We just, and then as the donations started coming in and so we, this is a truly grassroots movement and that's why we have the wordpress.com and we didn't have the money to go out and buy a URL at the time when we started this. And like I said, it's just been amazing. The outpour of Aloha from everything. And we've seen that for here on Oahu and it should be noted there's actually marches on, we have a sign with you on Kauai, the big march here on Oahu. And then we have Hana. It came on board last week where it all started. They're having a gathering at Hana Bay at 3 p.m. And then, let's see, Maui College at 8 a.m. Kona has theirs as well as Hilo. And everybody can find information from the same website. There's links to everything else. Right, it's all over the internet. Just type in women's march in Washington and you'll be loaded with information. But you know, I have to say, I really think that this is galvanized women because I think it was profoundly disappointing that, I mean, many women I know, many women my age and older were really ready for a woman president. We really, really thought this time had come. And it's a deep wound. It's a profound wound and I think that people, it's going to encourage people to work hard and to see the kinds of faces they want to see in politics and not the same old faces. You know, that's what we want, new people, you know, different people. New ideas. Exactly. And making sure that we take care of everybody. And making sure that we... It was a very shocking Sherry, who's our senior in charge of the state coordinator. She said she was shocked when it happened. She realized we lived in a bubble that she thought that this couldn't have happened. This bully would not be elected and they elected the bully. And we're going to have to figure out how we deal with the ramifications of that for the upcoming generation, how we make sure we insulate and fix and make sure that everybody understands, the children understand you cannot treat others the way it is, just because he's doing it, it's not right. Right. Well, you know, I'm showing my age today, I think, but you know, I remember the profound disappointment when Richard Nixon was elected president and that was a really, really hard time. America was very conflicted. People didn't have... People's rights were really restricted and you know, and the guy was just a bad guy and you knew it, you knew it but people insisted on electing him, you know? And really, so I'm glad that I'm able to tell people, you know, we've been through hard times before, we've been through hard times with the president before, but we can get through it and we can push through it and we can prevail. This is not like a debt sentence, this is not the end of everything. This just is a clarion call to, you know, do something, be involved. You can no longer be an armchair activist. You don't have to dedicate 24-7, but just be, show up every once in a while, put a little effort out there and you'd be amazed if everybody did that, what a better world we'd all live in. I couldn't agree more. You're watching Life in the Law on Think Tech Hawaii. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back in a minute. Hello, my name is Crystal. Let me tell you, my talk show, I'm all about health. It's healthy to talk about sex. It's healthy to talk about things that people don't talk about. It's healthy to discuss things that you think are unhealthy because you need to talk about it. So I welcome you to watch Quok Talk and engage in some provocative discussions on things that do relate to healthy issues and have a well-balanced attitude in life. Join me. Hi, I'm Donna Blanchard. I'm the host of Center Stage, which is on Wednesdays at 2 o'clock here on Think Tech. On Center Stage, I talk with artists about not only what they do and how they do it, but the meat of the conversation for me is why they do it, why we go through this. A lot of us are not making our livings doing this and a lot of us would do this with our last dying breath if we had that choice. And that's what I love to talk to people about. I hope you enjoy watching it and I hope you get inspired because there's an artist inside G2. Join us on Center Stage at 2 o'clock on Wednesdays. Bye. Hi, you're watching Life in the Law. I'm Mary Ann Sasaki. I'm here with Michael Goulou-Loy. Say I try to correct myself, but I over-correct myself. So Michael is the program manager for the Oahu Women's March, and I'm going to march on Washington. I'm doing a crazy thing. I'm flying out on Friday, going to the march, staying over one night and then coming back. You know, my mother said a very funny thing because I marched on Washington many times, but I'm from New York. So my mother said to me, oh, I thought that now that you are done with all this, now that you're out all the way over there, I said, ma, some things never die. It never goes away. Exactly. So in some ways it'll be easier than taking the bus eight hours around trip on a single day. So it'll be a whole new experience for me, traveling to go. So how many people from Hawaii are going? Do we know? Approximately. Approximately. We have around 200 people that we know of. Huge. Then you add in the people that are from Hawaii that are already in the mainland that have not, that we don't know for 100% sure. I'd say we're being close to four to $600 people. That's great. That would ties to Hawaii. And when we talk about the outpouring of Aloha, we've had Danny from Hilo, that made 200 tea leaf glaze. Right, the glaze. The glaze, those are being sent out tonight are travel coordinator. Amelia's already there. She left last night. What about Patagonia's donating? Patagonia donating. One where, which we'll need, because it will all be freezing. Yes. They were very generous in their donation to the team. Oh, the Ohana. And so it's been really exciting to see how many people this has energized and brought out. And all the passion and the drive to actually do more. And that, like you said earlier, this is not, it doesn't end on the January 21st. It's just the beginning. Right. Because like in D.C., they're going to have a rally. We'll have our rally after the March. And that's where you get the meat of it. It gets you inspired and you see other people. I remember on one piece, March I went to in Washington, I marched with a member of the Lincoln Brigade from the Spanish, not the Spanish, but the Spanish management with Lincoln Brigade 1930 Spain. Anyway, so he was so inspiring because he was in a walker. He was probably 90 years old. He'd been doing this since the 30s. Since he was fighting fascism in the 30s. And you meet people like that and then you just can't, you can't not do something yourself. You just inspired by them, I think. You never know where inspiration is going to come for you. And they're going to be the stories that we're hearing coming from here locally and nationally about the people that are making the effort to go to D.C. And it's also the effort just to take, in some cases women are taking the day off of work because they work on Saturdays. Right. That's a huge, going is a huge thing. I mean, I'm humbled by the idea that 200 people are traveling this far to participate in something. I mean, I think that bodes well for the size of the crowd generally. I think people are going to be converging on Washington. I think it's going to be very difficult to, it's going to be very difficult to maneuver around there post, you know, post inauguration. So we'll be seeing what the remnants of that is too. Well, the other interesting part about that is there are 200 buses that requested a permit to park for the inauguration. 1200. Actually, I'm sorry, 14 plus for the women's march. People will be getting out in Virginia. Just make sure you know the train system because you're going to be out, out, out. That's why if, well, you know, the best way to go is by train, but unfortunately it's very expensive. But it's the best, it plops you right in the middle of things and it zips you right out of things. But I hear Union Station is going to be closed tonight for Trump rally. Yes. That's what I hear. Tomorrow night, I think. Oh, today's Wednesday. It's Thursday. You're right, exactly right. Yeah. And how odd. I know. So strange. He's already doing so much to disrupt everything in D.C. And I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about people's normal lives. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Day to day. Day to day. And so the reason he's doing this is just, who knows why? And it's part of people thinking he's trying to disrupt the incoming travelers for the women's march. And he might be. Because he's closing down the station? He's closing down the station for him to have his little rally. And I'm like... I don't understand why a president needs a rally. You're the president. The president-elect. Like the whole country is like your rally at that point. Now you don't have to sell anybody anymore. You just have to do, do, do. The only people that really need... The only people that are leaders that need rallies are fascists. Right, right, right. I'm just... My personal thing that's not... Early, early editorial on that, I mean, the comparison is just disturbing. And it's all over the world. This right-wing kind of extremism is growing in every country. Even Sweden, places like that, a super liberal, Germany and France, it's... Did I say left-wing? I meant right-wing. Did I say left-wing? But it's super right-wing, super conservative, dictatorial, sort of... I would hate to say charismatic leaders, but strong leaders. It's a terrible trend. And people really ought to learn from history and read about World War II and what happened and how easily it could happen, how easily things like that can go upside down. And that's one of the reasons I'm really inspired by the Women's March, is that it's permeated the atmosphere and the culture and people... I went to the healthcare rally this past Sunday with Senator Schatz. And almost every woman I walked up to to try to give him a flyer. I already know about it. I already planned on being there. We're putting together a team. And I'm like, great. What's your team's name? And they say, I'm like, okay. You want to register? And they're like, why? And I'm like, well, because it helps us. And I explained who I was to a couple. And they're like, oh, okay. So a couple more registered. We have teams covering the gamut of all issues. And it's amazing to see that people coming together from different areas, different focuses, mental health professionals. We have environmentalists. We have, of course, all the different gamut of women's rights organizations. And we should mention the seeds of peace who are kind enough to host a workshop on Martin Luther King Day on Monday. And they're doing terrific work. Yes, they are. They're one of our founding sponsors for this to help make sure that this goes beyond the one day that we continue the fight, we continue the movement and figure out what we can do as a community to help move the needle forward or at least make sure it doesn't go back. You know, this is going to sound Texas, but I'm going to say it anyway. You know, when women get involved in an issue, that's a protein growth. I mean, when women got involved in the anti-war movement in the 60s, mothers, the expansion was amazing. You know, because women are used to working in groups and working in communities and having, they network, we talk to each other. That's how we network. We're very hands-on with our friends and we share our lives, share what we're doing. So naturally the word gets out. You know, that was like before Facebook. But when women are involved, things get done. And that's not one that are involved. It's not Texas. It's an actual fact. Because I've worked with all men's organizations before, and I will never do that again. It's a little more hierarchical. I call it, you know, women's movements like gossipy, but I say that in a good way. Because we talk and we talk and we share and we talk and we divide things up. You can do this, I can do this, I can bring this. You know, whether it's lays or we had a gathering and everybody brought a potluck, that's how we're used to operating. There's nobody in charge. We're all in it together, you know, to go forward. So that's how I think it's going to be in Washington, too. Well, there's, yeah, we've seen, because you have all these different women coming together, working together in different areas, because there's so much to get done. And putting on an event like this usually takes a year or plenty. Right, that's right. They've had eight weeks. Right. The magnitude for the amount of time is unbelievable. I'm going to take a little bit of a divergence here because we were talking about something that's really important to me. And I think it's really important to you. And that's the commutation of the sentence for Chelsea Manning, which, you know, I very much am in favor of. And I think you are, too. And what do you think this can mean for the future, for the LGBTQ community? Or just what are your thoughts about this commutation, this act of mercy by the president? When he commuted Chelsea Manning's sentence, it was something that would have never, your average person, ravaged whistleblower would have never been tried and convicted for releasing evidence of war crimes. And that's what Chelsea Manning did. Whether you can disagree or agree about the manner in which she did it, it needed to get out there. Right. Well, I think it's what she did was very brave. Yes. And I think what President Obama did is very brave, too. So, yeah, I wish he'd done it a little sooner. He didn't. But I take it as a parting gift from him to the LGBTQ community, a parting gift to the anti-war movement that, yes, war crimes shall not be tolerated, should not be tolerated. And that we need more people like Chelsea Manning to come forward when they see something wrong, say something. Absolutely. We're definitely going to need that now moving forward more than ever with this new administration that we are going to need people that are willing to have the fortitude to say something, stick their necks out when something like this happens. Right. That's asking a lot because you risk everything. But if you see something, you have to stand up. But think of all the lives she saved by speaking out and doing something. And so, yeah, everything there's a risk of doing something. And one of the quotes that I came across is, don't let fear of failure be your fear of inaction. Oh, right. No, of course not. Yeah. And you can fail by coming forward. And you can... Failure is a sign that you're trying. If you're failing, you're doing... If you're failing some percentage of the time, you're doing something right. Because if you stay in your comfort zone, you don't fail. But if you try and fail, hey, you're in there. You're in it. So, yeah. And I hope also, just personally, that Chelsea Manning will be happier because she'll be able to have a happy, integrated, rich life. Yes. And not be a member of the community and not be ostracized by the community because of what she did or anything. Just be happy. I hope she's happy. I hope so too. And I believe she should get her heroes welcome. I think so too. But I think we're in the minority. Well, we might be, but you never know. Well, on that note, you're watching Life in the Law. I'm Marianne Sasaki. I'm Marianne Sasaki. We are on Wednesdays between 1 and 1.30. Here on Think Tech Hawaii.