by Jeva Lange, TheWeek.com. Photo: Getty Images.
The estimated 3 to 4 million Americans who participated in January’s anti-Trump Women’s March are being honored with a major prize from PEN America, The Associated Press reports. The PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award is going to the “Women’s March” for “galvaniz[ing] a potent global movement to resist infringements on the rights and dignity of women and many other groups.”
Past honorees for the Freedom of Expression Courage Award include the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the work of Lee-Anne Walters and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who brought the deadly levels of lead in Flint’s water supply to national attention.
Bob Bland, who was one of the Women’s March’s four national co-chairs, will accept the prize at PEN’s gala on April 25. “The Women’s March began as a quixotic idea shared with friends on Facebook,” said PEN America’s executive director, Suzanne Nossel. “In the hands of 99.9 percent of people, it would have ended there, as a pipe dream. But Bob Bland and the group of women who joined her forged a powerful, diverse coalition that worked with immense drive to win over skeptics and build the support of an extraordinarily broad coalition of which PEN America became part.”
Nossel added: “We honor the Women’s March for acting at a critical moment to overcome the inertia and fear of failure that can impair public mobilization, and for inspiring millions in America and around the world to do the same.” The Week‘s Lili Loofbourow explains why the Women’s March was the perfect way to needle President Trump here.