Nearly 1,000 gather at Main Beach to create ‘Resist!’ human banner protesting Trump administration

Nearly 1,000 people gathered Saturday at Santa Cruz Main Beach dressed in bright rainbow colors to form a human banner spelling out “Resist!” 

The event, organized by Becca Moeller and Indivisible Santa Cruz County, aimed to protest the actions of the Trump administration and also stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community as Santa Cruz celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Pride event this week, said Moeller. 

The human banner spanned 220 feet and each letter spelling out “Resist!” was 70 feet tall, said banner designer Brad Newsham. Under the letters was another message, “No Going Back,” a nod to the Santa Cruz Pride’s theme for this year’s celebration. 

“It’s very important, the more people [who] can show our neighbors, our politicians in the world, that nonviolent resistance is the way to express our dissatisfaction with the way our country’s going,” Moeller said. 

Moeller, Newsham and volunteers began rolling out large rolls of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red fabric along the sand to create each letter at 7 a.m., she said. Newsham directed volunteers, with a sketch of the design in hand, to create each letter outline. Volunteers had to overlap multiple pieces of fabric, making sure each piece was spaced out evenly to create the perfect shape and ensure participants could fit in the letter. 

Organizers asked participants who signed up for the human banner to show up in the designated colors to match the fabric letters.

Newsham, who is based in San Francisco, said Saturday’s human banner is the 26th one he’s designed. He’s been organizing this type of public demonstrations since 2007, when he began thinking of ways to fight back against former President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq after feeling that there needed to be more acts of protest using art, he said. 

This is the first time Newsham has brought the human banner to Santa Cruz County, said Moeller. After attending a few human banner events in San Francisco earlier this year, she wanted to bring that to her community, too. 

“Now, we’re with this new ridiculous regime, and we’re doing what we can to show some spunk in the resistance,” Newsham said. 

Participants like Beth Basilius and Phrani Pearl began to trickle in and stand in the letter corresponding to the color they were wearing around 10 a.m. Nearly an hour later, each letter was filled with people excited to be part of the banner. 

“It’s super exciting to me,” said Pearl. “I think it’s really a wonderful way to peacefully support our belief system and embrace the beauty of Santa Cruz.” 

The more people who continue to resist the actions of the Trump administration, the more it will empower people, said Basilius. “We don’t need a king. We want to go back to the way we were. We want to make America kind again,” she said. 

Indivisible Santa Cruz County co-leader Jenny Evans told Lookout that Saturday’s human banner is another way to resist what’s going on at the federal level. The unique act of protest demonstrates that the people are really in charge, especially when they show up in large numbers, she said. 

“When a great number of people come out to do something like this, it just is one more thing to show that we’re not all you know, saying, ‘Fine, fine. We’ll go along with whatever you want,’ and we’re not going to. So that’s why it’s important,” Evans said.

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