[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Top Image” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/WomenP3WF_MJS.jpg” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Top Image caption” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Members of Indivisible Midlands brought a banner from the protest a year ago, where many women went on strike for a day in protest of the administration of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/WomenP2W_MJS-1.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Indivisible Midlands members say they stand for protecting the most vulnerable members of the community from policies that they see as oppressive and regressive.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/WomenP7W_MJS.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Nancy DeSisto is one of the cofounders of Indivisible Aiken, but is not originally from South Carolina, and sees the embrace of tradition holding the state back.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/WomenP8W_MJS-1.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Karin Sisk, a teacher and cofounder of Indivisible Aiken, is very dismayed by the lack of attention given to children and education specifically.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 4″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CongareeP5W_MJS-2.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 4″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
When asked what specifically Indivisible Midlands is fighting, co-director Sam Edwards said “In terms of legislation, it all has to do with white supremacy.”<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/WomenG1_MJS-1.jpg” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
International Women\u2019s Day sparks activism each year around the United States, and Indivisible Midlands, a Columbia grassroots movement, held a protest at the State House on the one-year anniversary of its inception.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is Indivisible Midlands first birthday,\u201d said Sam Edwards, the co-director of Indivisible Midlands.<\/p>\n
Indivisible Midlands<\/a> is a chapter of Indivisible<\/a>, a national progressive movement initiated in 2016\u00a0as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. The organization is committed to increasing voter participation in S.C.\u2019s\u00a0Second District, and resisting the Trump agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cOur first year has been a very interesting time in America,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI think we have had a successful year in terms of letting our representatives know we are here. Progressive women who want equality are in their districts.\u201d<\/p>\n Indivisible Midlands held a strike last year, a part of the \u201cDay Without a Woman\u201d protest around the world. This year\u00a0its demonstration did not include a strike, but\u00a0participants came equipped with signs, posters and a megaphone and set up in front of Gervais Street.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s focus of the International Women\u2019s Day protests was the Trump administration and\u00a0its policies. While Trump is still is in Indivisible\u2019s sights, the anger this year was focused mainly on state issues. Nancy DeSisto, cofounder of Indivisible Aiken, is particularly frustrated with the proposed \u201cPersonhood\u201d amendment in the S.C. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have someone like State Senator (Richard) Cash up there talking about how it\u2019s his personal crusade,” \u00a0DeSisto said. \u201cNobody cares about your personal crusade. This is not about personal crusades. It\u2019s about the people who live here, all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSisto and fellow Indivisible Aiken founder, Karin Sisk, are also concerned with the idea of arming teachers in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting. Sisk is a\u00a0teacher and personally doesn\u2019t think having a gun would make her feel safer in school.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be armed. Other teachers in the state don\u2019t want to be armed,\u201d Sisk said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want our schools to be prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n On\u00a0Indivisible Midlands’ first birthday, most members said they felt optimistic for upcoming elections. Sisk referenced the \u201cblue tsunami\u201d predicted for Democrats in the mid-terms and said she and DeSisto make it their mission to be voter registration tools at every event they attend.<\/p>\n Sam Edwards also sees reason to be excited for the future. She mentioned collective calling as one of the most effective methods Indivisible Midlands employs.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can get everyone to call on an issue that\u2019s good. Public officials aren\u2019t having town halls anymore because they know we\u2019re going to be there,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n Even though the group outside got many honking car horns in support, not everyone finds the protest impressive.<\/p>\n \u201cThere weren\u2019t even 20 people out there,\u201d said William Mitchell, a contractor from Aiken. \u201cI drove by there and had to laugh because I thought people were honking for a big bunch of folks.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell, who had never heard of Indivisible or Indivisible Midlands, also takes issue with the hostility that protests like the ones on International Women\u2019s Day show towards white males.<\/p>\n But members of Indivisible Midlands are not interested in making concessions on their requests.<\/p>\n \u201cA man that is a real, quality guy is not freaked out by equality,\u201d DeSisto said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want superiority, we want equality.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_video _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/C_q8hxUNa_U” src_webm=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/C_q8hxUNa_U” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last year on International Women’s Day Indivisible Midlands began protesting as a group. 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