Birmingham Women’s March Draws Massive Crowd
CORRECTION: The original headline for the this story said “hundreds” were in attendance. Late reporting from the Birmingham Police Department estimates around 5,000 people joined the march.
Large crowds gathered Saturday at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham for the Women’s March. Women, men, children, and even their pets convened on the Civil Rights District to do what many who came before them had done, to protest injustice and inequality.
Demonstrators demanded equal rights and better treatment for women, Muslims, people of color, immigrants and the LGBTQ community. Many demonstrators held signs opposing President Donald Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric about women and minority groups.
Esther Ciammachilli,WBHM
Protesters march up 20th St. toward Linn Park.
“I hope to get the attention of the people who are coming into power to understand that there are a lot of people out here who believe in equality, who believe in justice, who support immigrants, and they need to understand,” says Carol Dean of Hoover. “I don’t think they’ve heard those voices. And they need to see the people and hear the voices,” she says Dean marched with her husband, Joseph Dean.
Nilufar Tabari attended the Birmingham march rather than the one in Atlanta, Ga., where she lives. She says she hopes this movement will stimulate the masses and spur change from the bottom up.
“Change isn’t always going to occur from above. It’s going to come from grassroots level, it’s going to come from the population and then it’s going to come from above in terms of policy and laws. And we need both of those things. Right now, we know we’re not going to be able to attain what we need from above, so we have to galvanize from underneath,” she says.
Women’s Marches were held in cities in all 50 U.S. states and dozens of countries around the world, including England, Australia, Brazil and Kenya.
Esther Ciammachilli,WBHM
This is an art piece by Birmingham resident Ira Hill. People wrote their thoughts and feelings on this American flag and after the group marched around downtown, Hill invited demonstrators to paint over all the writing with pink paint. He says, “It’s the power of people working together to make change.” The idea was lost on some attendees at first and many thought Hill’s artwork was a counter protest. Hill assured them it was not.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
