Signs above Highway 99 in Modesto bring more eyes to anti-Trump protest
A smattering of protesters dotted the L Street overpass in Modesto on Friday morning, part of a planned four-day Labor weekend action by Stanislaus Indivisible to raise awareness about objections to President Donald Trump’s administration.
A canvas sign tied to the south-facing fence overlooking Highway 99 read “Yes on 50,” referring to the proposition to redistrict California to give Democrats an edge. Another canvas sign read “Save our democracy,” and a message with large cardboard letters spelled out “Release the files.”
Newman resident Lauretta Ayers, a Stanislaus Indivisible organizer, said the plan was to set up on both the L and K street overpasses over the next few days, and also in Turlock. The protests are part of a wider West Coast movement along Highway 99, Interstate 5 and U.S. Route 101.
The aim is “to continually get in front of these people to say, ‘Hey, don’t feel bad, we’re all in this together,’” Ayers said. “Because it’s going to wear people down. [But] if they see people like this, then they’ll know, ‘OK, maybe we have a shot.’”
Big rigs honked as they passed below. Protesters holding signs facing L street also met with supportive honks from passing cars.
But not everyone liked seeing the protesters. A man in a green SUV slowed down to make eye contact with protesters as he sang along to music and held up his middle finger toward them.
Lynne Cummerow Kellner of Central Modesto held a sign that read “Hey Trump, nobody paid us to be here, we hate you for free.”
“We get some one-finger salutes, but that’s to be expected, I guess,” she said.
A laminated page was zip-tied to the chain-link fence, facing inward and flapping in the wind. It detailed Indivisible’s expectations for participants, including a bold-print section that read: “Negative attention, or engagement, may require de-escalation techniques of staying calm, using non-threatening body language and actively listening rather than engaging or reacting. Non engagement is the best practice.”
Victoria Viste from northwest Modesto said one of the most important concerns she has is that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refers to autism as a disease.
“He’s saying it’s a disease when it’s not a disease. My son is autistic and he is a wonderful young man,” she said. “He has hopes and dreams like everyone else, and they’re just disgusting the way they talk about people with disabilities.”
Robin Fowler-Lourenco, a retired teacher, said she is fighting for democracy and is worried for her gay son and her grandchildren, who are half Mexican. “I’m scared for their future, women’s rights, all of it taken away” she said.
About 16 protesters showed up Friday morning, a smaller turnout than organizers expected, but Ayers said she expects it to pick up over the weekend leading up to Labor Day.
One protester held up a sign that said “Let’s fire TACO LOCO 47 si se puede,” which translates from Spanish to “Let’s fire crazy TACO 47, we can do it”
Dee Pinto, 80, from east Modesto, said the state of the country is scary, and “people should be more frightened than they are.”
The group will coordinate with another group, Visibility Stanislaus, on Monday for a protest on the L and K overpass with a more direct labor focus referred to as “#WorkersOverBillionaires”
