At a recent protest in my area, the crowd was spirited, and noticeably older white people. It’s something I’ve seen more and more, and I’ve been thinking about why. Part of it is statistically, that’s who is available on a weekday afternoon to stand on a corner with a sign. Younger people are often at work, juggling childcare, or stretched thin in ways that make showing up physically much harder. Retirement brings time. And time is a powerful resource in civic life.
But there’s something else, something less logistical and more uncomfortable: risk.
I have friends who are green card holders. There is no universe in which I would casually encourage them to attend a protest, even a peaceful one. The stakes are different for them. An arrest, even a misunderstanding, could carry consequences that go far beyond a fine. For some people—immigrants, people of color, trans folks, the undocumented, the protest carries a layer of danger that others don’t have to weigh in the same way.
Being able to protest without fear is a privilege. Older white Americans, particularly citizens, often occupy a comparatively protected space in the public square. The “jackboots,” as the saying goes, are less likely to crack the skull of someone who looks like their parents. That’s not justice—it’s reality. And in moments when rights feel fragile, those who have a margin of safety may feel an obligation to use it.
That’s how I see my own presence. I’m middle-aged and white. I can stand in that crowd with less personal risk than many of the people whose rights or safety might be most directly affected by the issue at hand. I feel like I have to be there because some of my friends can’t safely be.
Still, I would love to see more Americans of all ages and backgrounds showing up—not because older protesters are doing something wrong, but because multiracial, multigenerational crowds are powerful. They signal shared stakes. They push back against the narrative that only one demographic cares. I heard someone say, “When protest ceases to be a sign of privilege, it becomes revolution.”
At the same time, we should be careful about who we expect to shoulder risk. It’s easy to say “everyone should show up.” It’s harder to acknowledge that for some, showing up could mean detention, job loss, harassment, or worse. So yes, there are a lot of older people at protests. Some of it is time, and some of it is history—many of them have been marching since the Vietnam era or the civil rights movement. And some of it is privilege—an imperfect shield, but a shield nonetheless.
Maybe that’s not a failure. Maybe, in this moment, it’s a form of solidarity: those who can safely stand in the street doing so on behalf of those who can’t. The real goal isn’t to shame those who show up. It’s to build a country where everyone can—without fear.
Indivisible organizes an ongoing event every Monday, from 5pm to 6:30pm. Those demonstrating are met with friendly honks and waves from the vast majority of rush-hour traffic. People gather on the four corners of State College and Imperial between Fullerton and Brea in peaceful protest of the current federal government’s actions against the Constitution and democracy. The crowd size varies between as few as 60 and 500 from week to week. Parking is available at the nearby closed Cocos restaurant.
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Categories: Community Voices, Local Events, Local News
Yes – this is why I come out though I am old and white. But – don’t forget the high school and college kids that have also come out in their own protests on campuses.
I love you, Saskia! Absolutely right on! I’m right there with you! Why? I work two jobs and just publsihed a book about a big social issue. I don’t have a lot of extra time. But I’M FED UP! The only reason Trump is in the White House, demolishing everything, is because the Heritage Foundation (who picks our Supreme Court judges and keeps Ginni Thomas’ husband on the bench) most likely offered Trump a ‘get-out-of-jail”, “grift yourself to your heart’s content” promise if he would be the hated face of their Project 2025 mission. It’s not working out very well for ANY of them, and his SOTU address was pathetic! The seniors have lived long enough to see the contrast of how the country used to be, and is now! And I, for one, cannot be shoved around without breaking my hip again, but I am not afraid to stand up and speak out against fascism and the hyjacking of our country by ignorant, rage-aholic MAGA’ts!
I love your passion for speaking out, but as a recent college grad who’s all about keeping it 100 with the facts, Trump is in the White House because the American people overwhelmingly voted for him loud and clear on fixing the economy, borders, and real issues not some imaginary backroom deal with the Heritage Foundation or Project 2025. Calling democracy ‘fascism’ and a ‘hijacking by MAGA’ts’ is completely exaggerration.
I’m hopeful we can drop the conspiracies and come together to actually make progress for all of us!
Aaliyah – Trump is exactly following the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and many including Border Czar Tom Homan and OMB Director Russell Vought among others are key Trump cabinet members as well as co-authors of Project 2025.
Ask yourself – have food, goods, housing prices come down? Is Trump/Vance administration bringing people together?
I agree with you we should come together – but I hear your Fox “news” talking points and see you are being fooled. Try to broaden your news which will help you see actual facts about what is happening.
I like that we both want real unity and better lives for working families. Project 2025 has become the favorite boogeyman to scare folks like a slogan, but this administration is focused on the agenda millions of voters actually overwhelmingly voted for with experienced leaders like Homan and Vought helping deliver. Gas prices are already at their lowest in nearly five years nationally (CA is bad because of our state government) thanks to his energy dominance push, and grocery inflation is cooling fast with staples like eggs and dairy easing beef still higher after years of painful Biden era spikes.
Aaliyah – thank you for showing who you are with that hilarious bunch of misinformation. You voted for the atrocities happening to innocent people but most who voted aren’t buying what’s happening or trip/vance project 2025 lies or plan to destroy our country and the world. Prices are high because of the trump/vance tariffs which thankfully the US Supreme Court just ruled illegal.
LOL! Thank you for the laugh with that “hilarious misinformation” bit while you spin conspiracy theories about “atrocities” Trump/Vance “lies” and destroying the planet. The voters chose this agenda, not your Project 2025 nightmare fantasy, and its already working with national gas prices are at their lowest in nearly five years around $3/gal thanks to smart energy policies (CA suffering is your beloved Dem state govt fault), eggs have crashed over 50% from Biden peaks as grocery inflation cools. Those tariffs were smart pressure on China and borders for fentanyl and fair trade and prices are easing regardless, proving your sky-is-falling act is pure exaggerration.
You claim to have come to your own conclusions through research but you’re just delivering verbatim maga talking points.
If you had done your own research would you know inflation was world wide after COVID. Global supply chains had been broken which didn’t cause a problem until the pandemic ended and pent up demand was unleashed.
You can blame it on Biden because he was president when we came out of COVID. But you would be wrong. Sure like lots of other Americans. But you’d still be wrong. I don’t blame trump either except for his lying blame and your repetition of the lie.
I don’t think Americans signed up for a mass detention and deportation scheme Trump promised to deport the “worst of the worst”. America did not think the “worst of the worst” was visa overstays, requesting asylum at the border, once bounced a check, a student against Israel ‘s handling of Gaza. The true policy was hidden and only became evident once Herr Miller put his policies into effect.
No one is buying your nonsense “Aaliyah”. No one except all the other maga bots. You will find out with every special election to November.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” – MLK Jr, 1963
Unfortunately this article continues the misguided and divisive rhetoric and opinions that continue to divide our country by using Marxist techniques to separate people by how they look. It’s been over 60 years since MLK Jr tried to influence people to focus on what they do, how they behave and not how they look. These so-called ‘protests’ as you can see from the signage belong in the Bureau of Imaginary Problems caused by brainwashing people with slogans.
Let us unite on the real issues that affect our city and our country so that life is improved for all!
Bot.
not.
Our nation is building out concentration camps to mass detain every immigrant… illegal or that they can make illegal to leverage them into self deportation. Meanwhile using vicious tactics on the street against citizens and non citizens alike. That is not imaginary. It is what is happening. You can like it if that is who you are. But it is what is happening.
And the “color blind” thing is wholly laughable. Mlk jr did not argue that skin color doesn’t exist, should not exist or doesn’t have real world implications on behavior of bigots. Pretending any of those things is not rational and is just an excuse to do nothing about bigotry.
Look, calling these immigration detention expansions “concentration camps” to mass detain every immigrant is straight-up reckless exaggerration that cheapens the real memory of actual death camps and genocides. Enforcing our borders and the laws Congress passed is just legitimate sovereignty, not “vicious tactics against citizens” as peaceful protests are still popping off every single day without mass crackdowns on legal residents. Dr. King’s dream hits different for me: judge folks by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Yeah bigotry is real i’m not blind to that but acknowledging it doesn’t mean we ditch color-blind principles or twist everything into some racial hierarchy about who can safely show up. That just warps his words into an excuse for grievance politics over true equal justice. This fear-driven framing divides us when shared rule of law and the same standards for everybody could actually unite us in real solidarity. Thats the world I graduated wanting to build.
Fear driven framing? It is what is happening.
“A concentration camp is a facility where governments imprison specific groups such as civilians, political opponents, or ethnic minorities — without trial, often under harsh conditions. These camps serve to detain, exploit or punish indivisla, frequently based on perceived national security threats or prejudice”
Go ahead explain how this mass detention campaign is not a mass detention campaign and is not building out and filling concentration camps. And explain how it is a lawful use of detention to imprison people that are not a flight risk. For example, people detained at an immigration hearing and then moved to another state far from family and legal counsel. Or students who were not in hiding at all.
As to ice enforcement the border is not in Minneapolis so this has nothing to do with enforcing the border. This is a mass detention campaign far from the border of many people who are no threat whatsoever. And citizens have every right to oppose this. And they do. And when they do the government does not have a right to harm or kill them for recording them or showing up on the street in opposition. And if the government does kill people there should be an investigation EVERY SINGLE TIME because getting it wrong is never acceptable and must not be swept under the rug for political expedience.
I hear your worry about rights and fairness, but this “concentration camp” talk is straight-up exaggerration. ICE detention centers are lawful federal facilities holding people who violated immigration laws, often with criminal records or final removal orders, not ethnic roundups without trial like actual historical atrocities. Transfers to other states happen every day for bed space, security, or efficiency (not to “isolate” folks), and interior enforcement in places like Minneapolis is 100% legal because the border isn’t the only place laws get broken it’s about removing those who came illegally and cut the line in front of others so communities stay fair and safe. Peaceful protests and filming are protected, period, and any force used gets investigated like always so let’s drop the fearmongering and focus on real solutions that uplift all of us through strong, fair borders!
Courts have and continue to rule against the detentions and deportations of US citizens and others who are going through the many-years-long process to become a legal citizen. Trump promised to go after “worst of worst” but that is not what is happening – 73% of those arrested have zero criminal record. The conservative CATO Institute reported only 5% of those detained have violent convictions. Please take a look and rethink your position from actual facts.
I read the CATO stats you’re sharing and respect digging into the numbers but keeping it 100 real that “73% with no criminal record” mostly counts people who are here illegally, overstayed visas, or already lost in immigration court with final removal orders, so enforcing the law against them as due process is done is exactly what voters emphatically decided in 2024 and chose to restore fairness for legal immigrants waiting in line and citizens who followed the rules. U.S. citizens aren’t being deported under this policy any rare mistaken detentions get corrected fast in court, which actually proves the system has strong safeguards not that its targeting anyone. Lets drop the fear and exaggerration so we can back real, strong borders that protect communities and keep legal pathways open for everyone.
You are incorrect – overstaying a visa, being a refugee, waiting in line for court to accept your asylum or other valid claim so you can continue with legal documentation , being a Dreamer, etc are not crimes. You claim to do your research but you fall down on the job. Most voters are not in favor of the gestapo on the streets and did not vote for that or the other things happening like loss of health care , tax cuts for billionaires, destruction of environment , trumps name and face on public buildings, embarrassing our country on the world stage, not releasing all of the Epstien files, starting regime change wars in other countries, and sadly much more. It is a clown show.
Thank you for that glorious meltdown, turning basic law enforcement into a “gestapo clown show” while insisting visa overstays, ignored final removal orders, and illegal entries “arent crimes.” Newsflash! Overstaying is unlawful presence that triggers deportation and illegal entry is literally a federal misdemeanor exactly what voters demanded in a 2024 landslide to stop the chaos and restore fairness for legal immigrants and citizens who actually follow the rules. Dreamers and asylum claims still get hearings no one’s targeting U.S. citizens. You’re laundry list fever dream of billionaire tax cuts, environmental Armageddon, Epstein files, regime change wars and Trump’s face on buildings is peak sky is falling exaggerration theater to dodge the point. Drop the conspiracy bingo and accept that America chose strong borders that protect communities instead of the open border mess you clearly miss.
Aaliyah – Hmmm. I didn’t get that from this article at all. Did you actually read beyond the headline?
I did. Anyone who read beyond the headline can understand what I wrote even if they disagree with my opinion.
Aaliyah – I love and agree with the quote from MLK. You are right that is how we should be treating each other. That said – the current administration and its various arms such as ICE – are doing the opposite. And I hope you are aware that the current regime is targeting people going through the process of becoming legal citizens – as well as those who are already legal including full citizens – even here in Fullerton. How do you explain away the murders of two citizens? How do you agree with arresting and detaining citizens? How can you agree with taking children? How can you agree with targeting Somali refugees here legally? How can you put working people who have not completed documentation in the category of the “worst of the worst”?
I can guarantee that MLK would not be in favor of what is happening.
I’m glad that you’re lifting up MLK’s call for love and justice that’s the heart we all need! But lets keep it 100: ICE targets people here illegally who cut in line in front of others or with serious criminal records (the “worst of the worst” like gang members and felons), not citizens, legal residents, or folks properly in the citizenship process full U.S. citizens can’t be deported, any rare mistaken detention gets corrected fast with oversight, and no administration is “murdering” citizens (sad consequence of placing themselves in a obstruction of law enforcement) or snatching kids those are twisted headlines ignoring that families are kept together whenever possible under current law. Somali and any refugees and others here legally are protected unless they break the rules, and working people without proper docs still broke immigration law thats not hate, its enforcing fairness so legal pathways stay strong and communities stay fair and safe for those that followed immigration law. MLK believed in equal justice under the law, not ignoring borders, so let’s honor him by pushing for real, compassionate reform!
This is not about “line cutting”
Just not credible. No one actually cares that much about “line cutting”
When the vp of the united states is using blood and soil arguments and you’re filling up mass detention CONCENTRATION CAMPS (it’s exactly the right word) we know this is about something I visceral. It’s about hatred. Fear. Bigotry. That is what motivates a program to detain or deport 20 million people.
It’s not in any way about line cutting, that’s an excuse that no one buys.
Your feelings are interesting but facts matter and calling these lawful ICE facilities “concentration camps” and slapping on “blood and soil” bigotry is wild exaggerration and actually disrespects the real victims of history’s atrocities including my young Jewish friends. This isnt hatred or visceral fear driving anything its plain fairness so the millions who waited years in line legally aren’t cut in front of by 20 million who didn’t, while keeping communities safer and wages stronger for working families of every background and Americans who voted for this in record numbers. Line-cutting absolutely matters to everyday people that are doing this in the right way and have to wait longer now so lets drop the toxic smears.
Aaliyah – I think your purpose is to please exhaust everyone with BS talking points over and over again. For me – you have succeeded in doing that. So much misinformation. Sad that you claim to revere MLK and yet don’t understand his message.
Aaliyah – I certainly agree with you reform of the immigration system needs to happen. But I hope you will seek actual facts instead of repeating your misinformed talking points. Start with the very conservative CATO Institute report on who is being detained by ICE. You imagine that what is happening isn’t – and I too wish it wasn’t – but pretending it isn’t doesn’t make that true. Many of us are so busy keeping our heads above water – hard to find the time to do any research – but look around for a news agency you can trust – Associated Press, Democracy Now, Ground News are a few that I like.
I’m glad we both agree immigration reform is needed thats real common ground! I do broaden my news sources and don’t trust anything at first until I research to confirm. I would ask you to do the same. For example Cato isn’t a “very conservative” group their a libertarian think tank that actually pushes for way more immigration than most Americans support. And Democracy Now is openly far-left activist media, and AP and Ground News have run with several big Trump hoaxes over the years that I hope you still dont believe: the Russia collusion story they hyped for years before it fell apart and the misrepresented “very fine people” Charlottesville narrative that AP kept running with long after the full transcript showed Trump clearly condemning neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Aaliyah – where are you getting your “information” ?
I get my information and form my opinions as I learned during my college education by gathering multiple sources and opposing viewpoints, research to separate fact from fiction and form my opinion using critical thinking skills. I dont do what many people do by parroting what they hear from others because its what they WANT to be true instead of what is true.
Wikipedia: “The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank. Many Cato scholars have advocated support for civil liberties, liberal immigration policies, drug liberalization, and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The Cato Institute officially resists being labeled as part of the conservative movement.”
Ad Fontes Media Bias Rating: On their media chart, Democracy Now! is firmly in the Strong Left column and in the analysis/opinion tier vertically not in the “original fact reporting” section.
Trump and Very Fine People Charlottesville: In a June 20, 2024 fact-check titled “No, Trump Did Not Call Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists ‘Very Fine People'”, Snopes rated the hoax as False. Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” but he explicitly clarified in the same press conference “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”
It’s too bad the sources you listen to are lying to you and their audience. It hurts meaningful conversations on topics to try to achieve common understanding.
I have a very close friend who has worked all their life for social, economic, and environmental justice in this country, and they are just sick at heart at the present state of affairs. They went all the way from:
1. Working for McCarthy for President (The Chicago Police Riot and the farcical Democratic Convention really put the spurs in-(nothing like seeing a priest beaten bloody by a berserk cop in the street on live TV)
2. Stood 6 feet in front of a National Guardsman with a fixed bayonet at the Berkeley People’s Parch march with about 50,000 others (not one instance of violence in that, BTW)
3. Worked tirelessly for 50+ years professionally and privately to see the kind of ideals enshrined in the 1947-48 Universal Declaration of Human Rights come to pass;
…and although a lot of progress has been made, my friend of many years is just sick to the bottom of their heart over what this country has become under The Golden Menace.
But this person is still out there, white hair and all, still giving it their last ergs of energy doing what they can.
Don’t discount the Elders; as one once said to me, “Hey, the elevator in the Brain Hotel runs a little slower, but it still goes all the way to the top!”
“To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child. For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history. .”
-Tullius Cicero, 106-46 B.C
Thanks, Ms. Kennedy.
I deeply respect your friend’s lifelong grind for justice from those raw McCarthy days and Berkeley marches to chasing the Universal Declaration’s ideals that kind of heart and history is beautiful and real! But the “Golden Menace” label misses the mark this administration is delivering safer streets, stronger borders, and economic wins that actually protect working families and communities, not violate human rights its law and order rooted in dignity for citizens first, exactly the kind of progress our ancestors fought for. Lets honor the elders by dropping the fear, seeing the full historical picture, and uniting to keep building that better future together.
Hilarious …if it wasn’t so sad.
Glad you are enjoying the conversation and hoping you learned something.
Sharon,
Debating with Aaliyah is just words wasted on the desert air. It’s worse than useless, and your energy could be spent elsewhere far more effectively.