March 4th Event

Andreas Wenzel

Soc. 122: Social Movements

March Fo(u)rth!

On March 4, 2016, our "Food For All" social movements group took part in a march/protest called "March Forth on March Fourth" on campus at Fresno State University. It was the first time I got to participate in a march for a legitimate cause, and I was pretty enthused to be there and participate. Prior to the event we made flyers with facts about food insecurity and information about the event and posted them around campus.  Flyer posts were also made on various social media outlets by some of my group-mates to bring attention and invite people to participate in our cause as well. We made over a dozen posters with lots of color, art, and facts blended together for maximum attention-getting, and stapled them to wooden handles to raise up high during the march itself for ourselves and participants who wanted to join.

I also got ahold of a bright-yellow banana costume from a good friend that I thought would be a perfect fit considering the issue topic and the goal of maximizing the attention brought to it. Since I was the only one in a full costume and it was about as bright yellow as it gets, it also made sense to lead the march with one sign in each hand, shouting catch-phrases, singing, and inviting students to join in on our campus march. I felt honored to be in the position, and it was interesting to watch peoples' faces change from comedic enthusiasm to enthused respect for the event as a whole. I had a great time participating in an event that effectively turned hundreds of heads, both for the group that I represented and also all of the other important groups that participated. I know the tactic was effective, both because I was the first thing that people saw when turning around a corner with two informative signs in each hand, and also because of the long train of bodies that followed in complete support of one another, chanting and cheering. It was an event that I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of, and one that I won't willingly forget.

 The main thing that I think could be done differently in the future is to have more planning time to get that many more people, creative art, and props involved to participate and raise the awareness of those paying witness. There may be other qualitative aspects that I may have missed, but for the most part the quantity of participants is something that can always be bigger at effective protests.