Kansas City women ready to rally here for human rights on Saturday

While women from across the country have gathered in the nation’s capital this week, women in Kansas City have been laying out their final plans for a solidarity rally here.

The National Woman’s March on Washington is expecting more than 200,000 marchers, including many from Missouri and Kansas. But for those unable to make the trek to D.C., a local rally is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday at Washington Square Park at Pershing Road and Grand Boulevard.

Local organizers are expecting about 4,000 participants at the Kansas City event planned to honor the champions of human rights, dignity and justice, and to send a message to the new Donald Trump administration that “women’s rights are human rights,” organizers said.

“This is not an anti-Trump rally,” said Kristin Wing, one of the organizers of the event. Wing met with more than a dozen volunteers who gathered Thursday evening at the Westport Flea Market restaurant to outline the final details of the event plans.

“This rally is all about unity,” Wing said.

Mahnaz Shabbir, a member of the group’s steering committee, said the rally will be an effort “to bring people together. We have our different areas of interest, but together we are stronger.”

A Women’s March on Washington in KC website says, “This rally is a grassroots response to the unacceptable rhetoric employed during this election season.”

The rally promises more than a dozen speakers to talk about reproductive rights, sexual assault and domestic violence prevention, worker rights and living wage, responsible policing, and rights for people with disabilities.

Similar rallies are scheduled for Saturday in Topeka and Jefferson City.

A GoFundMe account established by the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus to pay for the local event had raised more than $10,000 as of Friday.

Any money left over from the local march is to be donated to Kansas City-area women’s organizations.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Kansas City women ready to rally here for human rights on Saturday."