On January 21, millions of people marched across all seven continents to advocate for equal rights and demonstrate a unity for peace across the globe.

The Women’s Marches, held anywhere from large urban areas, like New York City, to small rural towns, to a research base in Antarctica, included countless different groups of people. Women’s rights activists, LGBT, Black Lives Matter, environmentalist, and immigrant’s rights groups were all in attendance. Although many of these groups were advocating for different goals, they were all united by one person, Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump is a man who has shown his lack of respect for women, minorities, the LGBT community, and the environment. He is a businessman who made outrageous claims to get into office, and now that he’s there, myself and others worry about what the future of our nation could look like.

It is this fear that has driven so many different groups of people together to fight for the continuation of equality and peace. English teacher Molly Klodor was one of the thousands in attendance at the Cleveland Women’s March.

“I went because I wanted to be a part of the movement expressing dissatisfaction for the treatment of not just women, but all groups of people. I felt like the only way to show that dissatisfaction was as a whole, as a giant movement of people,” Klodor said.

This dissatisfaction she’s mentioned is one that many, including myself, feel. I’m dissatisfied in the American public’s vote for a man who has belligerently made sexist and racist remarks, a man with no political experience, a man who thinks diplomacy is tweeting at the Mexican president.

Donald Trump spewed patriotic rhetoric at the American people, using his catchphrase “Make America Great Again,” and enough of the voting population fell for it and named him the 45th president.

Many conservatives lashed out following the Women’s March. A common criticism was that liberals were “overreacting.” We were told to calm down; checks and balances exist, meaning we had nothing to worry about. That statement is egregiously false.

This year’s general election saw the rise of a Republican president and a Republican House of Representatives and Senate. Now, with Trump’s latest Supreme Court nomination, all three branches of our federal government are majority Republican. This should make everyone, not just Democrats, concerned.

The fear of being quieted by the majority was another driving factor of the Women’s March. Concerning this, Klodor said, “The message that we wanted to send was that we count, we matter, look how many of us there are, listen to what we’re trying to say and how many people feel that way.”

The marches were a protest of solidarity, a call to say that Trump will never be able to quiet the fearful masses, no matter how many times he tries to silence us.

We must continue to speak out against the injustices we witness. We can’t stop until we’re finally understood and our opinion begins to matter to those who have undermined us.

Even though the Women’s Marches may be over, the fight for equality and respect is just beginning.