The Women’s March may be over, but Idaho teens won’t quit

On Saturday, Boise teens Colette Raptosh and Nora Harren led more than 5,000 people in Boise's take on the Women's March, a protest that drew millions of participants across the globe.

On Sunday the pair still buzzed with excitement, pausing every so often from recounting the rally to shake hands with awestruck marchers at a Downtown Boise coffee shop.

"Are you the girls who set up the Women's March?" asked one beaming young woman. A middle-aged man snapped photos with the teens.

As unreal as their recent celebrity feels, it's nothing compared to the experience of watching thousands of people surround the Idaho statehouse, they said. From their vantage point on the capitol steps, they watched people in pink Pussyhats pour in from the streets of Downtown. The crowd, wielding umbrellas to combat the snow and posters to combat what many viewed as a rollback of civil rights, surpassed initial estimates of 3,000. By Raptosh and Harren's count, the crowd neared 7,000.

And though they said they're looking forward to catching up on some sleep now that the rally is wrapped up, Raptosh, 16, and Harren, 18, have no plans to stop speaking their minds.

According to the girls, it's still not exactly cool at their age to call yourself a feminist — they jokingly whispered the title and last month told the Statesman that Harren's car had been vandalized with swastikas.

But they were pleasantly surprised to see a legion of their peers at the rally, sending up cheers when they mentioned their high schools — Raptosh is a junior at Capital, while Harren is a senior at Borah. They consider the success of Saturday's event a chance to prove that being young doesn't preclude them from making a difference.

"I think at this point, we know for sure that actually going out there and taking action and doing something tangible, it's more than just voting," Harren said.

Not to say that voting's unimportant to the two. Nora is now old enough to vote, and both encouraged people to participate in politics across the board.

"It's one thing to vote in the presidential election. But people need to go out there and vote in their state and local elections, as well," Harren said.

But, of course, the presidential election was the impetus for all this. The teens said they had largely avoided social media following the march (except a tweet from Hillary Clinton that gave Harren a nod — which she called "mind-blowing") and hadn't yet heard President Donald Trump's response to the worldwide gatherings. They were hopeful that the turnout would encourage him to take dissenters more seriously.

That optimism extended to the handful of people who showed up to protest the Women's March on Saturday. Harren said they were courteous, even offering kind words as the march winded down.

"I don't think anyone who came was anti-women," she said. "I think they came for the other things the march represented."

To attendees, that was a lot — from LGBTQ rights to women's health care, support for refugees and public lands and more. It was a broad collection of statements that drew a broad collection of criticisms, but Raptosh and Harren said they hoped critics would try to be more understanding.

"I think some people criticized it because of its message, and others criticized it because of the way it was done," Raptosh said. "I think we're all going to have different ways of how we want to do something or create the same change. But if we can agree, then more people will come because they believe in the message."

The teens felt the turnout said a lot for Idaho, a deeply red state that Raptosh said doesn't always show its support for diversity and tolerance. They couldn't express enough gratitude to those who rallied with them.

"Definitely thanks to the ... people that showed up in the snow and still marched," said Raptosh.

"Like ... badass," Harren agreed.

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 4:02 PM with the headline "The Women’s March may be over, but Idaho teens won’t quit."