The Black Hills Socialist Party participated in the 2018 Women's March in Rapid City, SD. Our signage and literature remained womxn focused, trans-inclusive, and intersectional. We called attention to specific issues faced, currently and historically, by Native American women in our community. Unfortunately, Rapid City's Women's March, like so many across the country, was hijacked by white liberals and polite feminism.
A team of local Democratic organizers called Indivisible Rapid City (IRC) policed BHSP attire, admittedly afraid the red bandanas around our necks would creep up, cover our faces, and cause mayhem. Leaders of their party approached a group of politically and religiously identified Witches, demanding they uncover their faces or march behind the parade. BHSP intervened and marched with the Witches.
But it wasn't really a march. The route led hundreds of protesters under a bridge, through a secluded park, to a band shell unseeable from any road. We didn't cross a single street or travel more than ten minutes from the starting point. Frustrated with the lack of visibility, BHSP and the Witches broke off from the planned route, stood on the median of a state thru-highway, marched through downtown, and posted up at busy intersections with our signs.
We later wrote a public post criticizing IRC for policing protest methods and attire, and we called them out for planning a route with no public visibility. This led to a community conversation about intersectionality and the importance of amplifying marginalized voices. Three days and many scapegoats later, IRC deleted all threads regarding the 2018 Women's March and publicly withdrew from any future planning of the event.