Olympia, Washington — On Labor Day Weekend, banners will be lifted over highways across the west coast. In Washington State, from 10 am to 1 pm on September 1st, Evergreen Resistance, a Washington chapter of the 50501 Movement, in partnership with Indivisible and Backbone Campaign, with the help of numerous volunteers from our own neighborhoods, will raise banners on overpasses along Washington’s Interstates containing pro-democracy, pro-worker, pro-equal rights messages. Interspersed will be messages against the Trump fascist regime and the billionaire takeover of the United States. These banners are grounded in a coordinated effort of non-violent resistance and driven by grassroots coalitions.
Jessica C. is an Olympia resident and member of both Evergreen Resistance and Backbone Campaigns who leads the Olympia Visibility Brigade, an Olympia-area overpass bannering group that will be out in force on Labor Day in the Olympia area. The team banners on local overpasses twice weekly to both call attention to the authoritarian regime and its harms and spur on and encourage others to take resistance actions of their own. “Resistance can look like persistent boycotting, one-person street-corner protests, overpass bannering, or, most importantly, joining others in direct actions to make fascists truly uncomfortable,” she said. Jessica wants more people in western Washington to direct their attention to the Northwest Detention Center, a privately-managed prison facility located in Tacoma, where ICE detains prisoners unlawfully and subjects them to inhumane conditions.
While there is group-led coordination for the Labor Day bannering event for many overpasses, we encourage others (you!) to pick up the banner and run with it. Find some friends and get out there on an overpass to tell holiday drivers you are Over It. If you decide to do this, please fill out this form, developed by a partner in California, to track bridge coverage after the event.
By overpass bannering, you remind others that they are not alone, you empower others to take action, and as a bonus, you as a bannerer get instant positive and loud feedback that you are also not alone! For great instructions about how to make overpass banners, follow the guide made by Backbone Campaigns. And for general bannering tips, see this handy guide, made by Evergreen Resistance.
The banners displayed on Washington highways are a clear exercise of the peoples’ 1st Amendment right and our duty to protect our Constitution.
We urge Democratic members of the U.S. Congress to use all the powers that remain to defy this regime at every opportunity, to fight for every single one of us, and to protect our Constitution, human rights, and our liberty at all costs.
We urge lawmakers to use their express rights to inspect the ICE detention centers in Washington State regularly, to ensure that detainees have access to legal representation and that they are housed humanely.
We urge Governor Bob Ferguson and local governments to use creativity to outsmart the militarization of our streets, to examine local rules to determine if ICE detention facilities are operating lawfully in accordance with their permits, and to ensure that the laws we enacted to restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities are upheld.
And lastly, we urge every American who values democrary, rule of law, due process, and the safety of our neighbors to get involved, volunteer, and resist the unconstitutional actions of the Trump regime. This is not a partisan issue! Billionaires and right-wing billionaire-funded think tanks have direct access to policy makers, influencing the Trump administration, writing new far-right laws and policies, and obviating our Constitutional rights to equal representation.
What Evergreen Resistance Stands For:
- Upholding the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.
- Ensuring checks and balances to prevent the consolidation of power in any one individual.
- Supporting local, state, and federal workers for the vital services they provide.
- Defending the inalienable rights of all people, including immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and political opponents.
- Protecting the freedom of speech and the right to protest.
Evergreen Resistance
Media contact: evergreenresistance@proton.me
www.evergreenresistance.org
www.fiftyfifty.one
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