Quick Take
Chapters of the progressive activist group Indivisible in Santa Cruz and Watsonville will be part of a nationwide rally Saturday against the moves of the Trump administration. The "Hands Off" rallies are expected to unfold in 1,200 towns and cities across the U.S., including outside the county courthouse in Santa Cruz and in Watsonville's downtown plaza.
Para leer el artículo en español, haga clic aquí.
Santa Cruz and Watsonville are among hundreds of cities and towns across the U.S. planning to participate in a nationwide “Hands Off” mass protest on Saturday against the Trump administration’s “unprecedented power grab,” in the words of one of the event’s coordinating groups.
The mass protest is being coordinated by a number of organizations including 50501, MoveOn, Public Citizen, Stand Up America and Indivisible, along with more than 150 co-sponsoring national and regional advocacy groups. In a public Zoom call on Tuesday, designed to rally local coordinators, Jonah Minkoff-Zern of the consumer-rights group Public Citizen evoked the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, declaring, “This is our Selma moment.”
The rally in Santa Cruz is scheduled to begin at noon on Water Street, adjacent to the county courthouse, the site of a similar rally in February. The rally in Watsonville is also scheduled for noon, at the downtown plaza. Both events are coordinated by local chapters of the national organization Indivisible.
The rallies will have slightly different programming, said Olivia Millard, member of Indivisible South County. In Watsonville, the programming will focus on immigration issues, and attendees will hear from County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah and Francisco Rodriguez, interim executive director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. Speakers at the Santa Cruz protest – set to include County Supervisor Justin Cummings and Dr. Jen Hastings, co-founder of Santa Cruz Trans Therapist Group – will focus on LGBTQ+ rights.
“This can’t be business as usual,” said Millard. “We’re facing an unconstitutional threat to our country and our freedoms through an illegal power grab. And so we need to make our voices heard and demand that our lawmakers use their power to hold these people accountable.”
Amanda Harris Altice of Indivisible Santa Cruz said that the rally is meant to communicate the wide range of interests and issues that are under attack by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “We’re asking the speakers to pick the topic that best fits them and their area of [expertise],” she said. “So, Supervisor Cummings will go with the ‘hands off our democracy’ theme, and talk about how his work and the communities he serves are impacted by the current changes by the administration.”
Ahead of Saturday’s protest, Millard said Indivisible South County is hosting a sign-making party Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Watsonville Public House, 625 Main St.; materials to make signs will be provided by Indivisible South County. The event is meant to help create community and find some joy, and not give into the chaos coming from the Trump administration, she said.
“It will also help get people excited for Saturday and thinking about what messages they want to convey on that day,” Millard said.
In Santa Cruz, Altice said that more than 900 people have registered for the rally, and that the next step for Indivisible Santa Cruz is to build a stronger connection to other similar regional groups, including Indivisible Monterey and Indivisible Palo Alto. “We are already getting kinda flooded with people in our community who want to get involved,” she said, “and it’s up to us to figure out how we can best engage them in our organization.”
There will be trained de-escalators — people who are trained to break up a tense situation — at both protests, as a precautionary measure in case counterprotesters show up, she said. “I do hope that those people who feel differently than we do will allow us our First Amendment rights for peaceful assembly and protest without feeling that they need to attack us,” said Millard.
While there are people who believe what’s going on at the federal level will not affect them, Millard said, there’s a high likelihood that issues they deeply care about are also on the chopping block for Musk and President Donald Trump.
“But this fight is just beginning, and we’re mobilizing because we do think that together, we do have the power to stop this takeover,” Millard said.
On the preparation Zoom call Tuesday, Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, said that more than 1,200 separate rallies and events were in the planning stages for Saturday, including more than 100 in California.
“We need peaceful protesters,” he said, “‘angelic protesters,’ as Bayard Rustin used to say, making ‘good trouble’ as John Lewis used to say, in every nook and cranny of this country.”
“It’s going to be big,” said Indivisible Santa Cruz’s Altice of the nationwide effort on April 5. “They’re saying that, based on the registration numbers we’re seeing, it’s going to be one of the largest mass movements in recent history.”
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.