[INTRO MUSIC] Alright, so I'm a reporter for Southern Oregon, which is a largely rural part of the state.

Jackson County, which is home to the Rogue Valley metro area, including Medford, Ashland, and a number of other lovely little towns, is a largely Republican leaning area like most of the rural counties in oregon I'm christian, but also a Trump supporter.

Support your president, He's your president.

While Oregon still overall leans blue, due to the overwhelmingly left leaning shadow Portland and and surrounding areas cast on the state, it was counties like Jackson that collectively propelled Donald Trump to win the popular vote and secured him a congress that would support his agenda.

Welcome to today's telephone town hall with congressman Cliff Bentz.

So it might be a surprise to know that the 2025 has featured some of the largest protest activity seen in this region since the cataclysmic events of 2020.

[The Star Spangled Banner] In this episode, we're going to take a closer look at protesters, activists, people who have found themselves the underdogs of recent political wins as they oppose the policies of the Trump administration.

This is so un American.

It's totally obscene.

We don't support fascism.

We're here to counter fascism.

Through this exploration, we'll see two major groups within regional political organizing.

First, you have folks associated with the indivisible movement, generally older folks who value protests with central organization, safety precautions, and collaboration with local law enforcement.

Everyone is coming together to make a peaceful protest.

We have a good relationship with the police.

We consult them before all of our events and make a plan together.

There's no need for violence.

That's not necessary.

Then you have people like the Rogue Valley pepper shakers.

But, like, we're facing fascism.

More interested in what some considered to be radical left wing ideology.

I am an anarchist and a communist, and I believe in the abolition of borders and capitalism and the government.

Typically younger, more anarchistic, and who value demonstrations with an edge of civil disobedience.

I got pulled around by people that were at the protest trying to tell me how I should protest, and that's not right.

It raises some important questions, like, what does it look like to protest effectively?

Are there wrong ways to protest?

And can people with different opinions about these questions work together?

Protests are important, but what's really important is the community that comes out of it.

As we these questions, we'll also be afforded an opportunity to dive into the meat and potatoes of why so many people are suddenly taking to the streets.

In a red voting county, what has inspired the outrage of so many local residents that a crowd like this would form.

Everything that the social system is under attack.

Health care is going to be more expensive.

Insurance is going to go up.

The reason that we're here is to stop the ICE raids, to stop blatant discrimination people of color.

There's genocides happening all over the world that are being funded by our tax dollars.

This is going to be a dense episode.

Strap in folks.

I'm Keegan Van Hook and this is Us As We Are.

Us As We Are is made possible in part by The Roundhouse Foundation, a private family foundation that supports creative solutions to the unique challenges associated with rural culture and the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.

Additional funding by the Elizabeth C.Peace Memorial Fund for Education and Social Welfare and by the Members of Southern Oregon PBS.

Thank you.

I'd like to welcome,and thank you, all of you for, for coming today for Senator Wyden's annual Jackson County Town Hall.

Senator Wyden's Jackson County Town Hall last year was disrupted briefly by protesters.

Aiming to shut down those rights.

I have faith that Jackson County can hold a successful town hall today.

I said I would throw open the doors of government, and we'd have an open to everybody town hall in every county every year.

I think people are particularly concerned about their liberty.

Many of us feel like we are witnessing the collapse of our democratic system.

The potential infiltration of the MAGA republicans on the school boards... I have recently started rereading 1984 Trump is trying to throw big chunks of the constitution in the garbage can.

The freedom, the rule of law.

Donald Trump is an authoritarian.

He's somebody who's trying to increase his power at the expense of you.

Is it the is that legal?

Isn't there some way to stop him from doing that?

That's why what I was trying to do is give as many examples taking on these rip off tax breaks, the health care cuts.

In Washington DC, the House of Representatives passed a budget that's turning back the clock.

How will you, Senator Wyden, help kick health care insurance companies to the curb.

I'm about to move into retirement age, and I feel terrified.

This is one of the worst bills in American history, and as a senior democrat in charge of taxes, you'll see me on the floor of the senate leading the opposition against it because it's contributing to the debt.

It's gonna bankrupt our future.

We've gotta stand up.

We've gotta block it and I'm gonna fight it in every way that I can.

If you were really here for our veterans, you would immediately stop funding money and sending more money onto the ongoing genocide in Gaza right now, completely funded by The United States.

Many of us are here today because of a tax and lack of access to health care, rent, and social security.

The DNC doesn't even have universal health care on their platform.

Some veterans have an even harder time accessing these things.

All of that money you are agreeing to send over, that is being sent to genocide.

You keep voting to send them money.

You keep taking money.

What's your red line?

Is there a red line?

I will tell you and everyone here that I support Israelis and Palestinians who are against killing innocents.

But I am opposed to Hamas that hides in schools and hospitals so that innocents get hurt.

Sir, sir, sir.

Folks, we have a reasonable question.

You can see the amount of young people here Because we can see, everything is controled by money.

And you refuse to answer the question You know what?

You had an excellent question.

We got 351 right here.

This town hall with senator Wyden in some ways previewed what the next several months of protests and and political actions would entail here in Southern Oregon.

Do you see what happened?

The dynamic that formed?

The average age of the room skewed towards older people, and their dominant concern was health care.

Then one of the very few young people in the room made a disruptive grandstand about a different issue, US support for Israel while this happens in Gaza.

Senator Wyden receives money from AIPAC.

Senator Wyden has also been in government since 1996.

That's before I was born, and is 76 years old and is still intending to run for reelection in 2028.

That doesn't sit right with some younger folks.

Like this guy.

Answer the question.

Stop shouting him down.

Meanwhile, the older folks in the room didn't seem pleased with this disruptive way of calling attention to Wyden's alleged shortcomings.

Many of them remained concerned with domestic issues that impact them here at home, namely health care, which by May, was becoming a looming monster as the Big Beautiful Bill made its way through the legislative process.

It broke the budget rules, the PAYGO rules.

So $500 billion or so is gonna come out of Medicare.

How many of you know that in much of the country, there aren't any town hall meetings going on today?

You guys know why?

Because those folks can't defend the indefensible.

[Applause] They can't.

Oregon has exactly one Republican member of Congress, Cliff Bentz, and Medford falls within his massive Oregon Congressional District 2.

Cliff Bentz is criticized by his detractors for rarely doing town halls like this in the Rogue Valley.

He actually called our area the Medford Valley in his letter to me.

In that letter, he said he would be doing a telephone town hall soon.

Well, it happened.

One day before the bill was to be voted on in the house.

And within the week, protesters emerged.

So instead of sit-ins that they did in the 60's, we're doing a die in.

And so they have their tombstones, and they're trying to make a point of what is at stake in this bill because people will die.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's telephone town hall with congressman Cliff Bentz.

The Monday before the bill passed, Cliff Bentz did a virtual town hall.

I'll it over to Congressman Bentz.

Congressman, the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you so much, Dirk, and and thank everyone that's on the line for attending.

And in his virtual town hall, he promised that Medicaid and Medicare would not be touched in this bill.

And she's asking, why are you cutting Medicaid when you promised you would not?

Well, I'm keeping my promise.

We are not cutting Medicaid.

Medicaid is an indispensable lifeline for our country's most vulnerable.

What we're doing is working on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse.

We are imposing a work requirement that if people are going to be receiving these welfare benefits, they need to be working.

And we are trying to bring attention to this so people, his constituents, actually know how harmful this bill is and what is really in it.

There's much more in the bill.

The bill is over 1,100 pages long, but much of it, I worked on.

So this is the coffin we made because it kills health care and it kills supplementary food nutrition, affects Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, school lunches, meals on wheels.

I used to work as a nursing home surveyor and depending on exactly which home, the majority of people are covered by Medicaid.

So I saw how the country was before the Oregon Health Plan.

I worked in hospice.

I met people who didn't have health insurance.

They came to us because they didn't get any care and they ended up going into the ER and finding out they had stage four cancer and dying on hospice.

Our administration is trying to kill us.

The poor and middle class are suffering to the point where there is no more middle class, and they're just taking everything now.

So we want to, control the deficit.

Let's tax the rich the way they ought to be taxed.

The people of Oregon are gonna feel this, and it's actually in the rural districts where they're gonna feel it first and the most probably because all their health outlets are going to be closing down and they'll have to travel further.

Those programs are extremely important.

They've been around since 1965 because we need them.

And the question is how in the world do we make sure that we're still providing them.

We don't do it by cutting them.

What we do is we go in as we're now doing and saying, hey, you don't belong in this program.

Get off it.

Get a job because you should be working.

Why there's 21 million Americans that just sit around doing nothing and don't even go look for work is un- that are capable of working, able-bodied.

This country works because people work.

If I understood him correctly, it almost sounded like he was saying we're not cutting Medicaid.

We're cutting people from Medicaid.

But yeah, that it's just the same thing.

We are going to be removing from the Medicaid roles those who are not legally on it, such as people here that are undocumented.

They just lie.

It literally makes me sick to my stomach.

And, you know, basically, he stopped having he's having phone in ones so he can filter people in the questions because the people were so angry at him.

[Rabble from crowd] What I'm getting at here is if, if, if, I am here, if I am here to try to speak with you, then you guys in turn should try to speak with me.

I'm sure many of you are wondering why we're doing a telephone town hall and not an in person town hall.

So let me share with you my thinking on this.

I thought I would start out my presence in Congress by doing in person town halls, and I've done many of them.

One of the problems we've had over the last several years though is it became more and more difficult to go to all 20 of my counties.

And so with this approach, we can reach literally thousands of people.

We can also avoid imposing on local law and county law enforcement.

So what we've been having to do, sadly, is have law enforcement folks present.

Last year, we actually had some had to have some people removed from one of the town halls.

Go ahead with your question, please.

Yes.

I went into the hospital on the 8th of May, and I didn't get I went in there for a whole week.

I need some help to take- I can't walk.

I can't- I'm legally blind.

I can't get no money to pay people until I get a case manager from senior services, but they're so backed up.

They say it will be in like around the 17th of June before they can even begin anything.

Can you help me?

Well that's what our office is for.

If you have a way of writing down our office number, I'll give it to you right now in Medford because this is exactly what our office is designed to do.

So do you have a pencil?

Phone number is 541- we don't need to give that out.

This is public forum.

To our last caller, that, she is exactly the person that Medicaid is designed to help.

And this is why it's so important that we protect that program from those that aren't in that kind of need.

So I just want to thank everybody so much for taking the time to be with us tonight.

We'll be doing more of these.

This is our America that we want?

No.

It's not.

Only a few days after this protest, We attended another protest centered around a different issue, immigration, and the new approach the Trump administration has taken towards immigration enforcement.

I'm a co-leader of the Community Protection Team of ORD2 Indivisible, and we work to bring resources and help to populations that now have become vulnerable, thanks to the Trump administration.

And one of them, of course, is our immigrant brothers and sisters.

So what is in this bill?

Well, let me just go through, briefly.

It finishes president Trump's border wall, stopping deadly fentanyl from flowing into our communities and securing the border from dangerous illegal immigrant.

It empowers immigration authorities to carry out their mission by hiring 10,000 new ICE personnel, 5,000 new custom officers, 3,000 new border patrol agents and gives $10,000 bonuses in each of the next four years to agents on the front line.

ICE takes people often regardless of whether their status is legal or not, gives them no opportunity to defend their status in court.

And when they fly them out of the country, even if the courts say you have to bring them back, the Trump administration said, oh, we can't do that.

It's out of our hands.

If the Trump administration defies court orders, goodbye the rule of law and hello dictatorship.

I am here in the spirit of the thousands of people that have been disappeared off our streets.

They flew to El Salvador with their locked in cages with no light, no prison term, just, just disappeared.

Explain the the garment you're wearing here.

Well this is my spirit.

This is their chains, their foot shackles.

We know we're all for democracy functioning as it should.

We have laws in place to, you know, allow people to come into the country and to also to remove them if necessary.

But when those laws aren't being followed, we have a problem.

It's good that people are building a network of resistance to them across the country.

We should not be shipping people overseas.

Borders have always been a tool of violence imposed by the state.

The actual violence that the state perpetuates against people who are just trying to live their lives and trying to, like, escape situations that are in many cases caused by The United States' imperialism in South America and across the world.

Do you think that there is a place for, for some level of border protection?

Where do you think that that actually stands?

Absolutely.

We've had that for years and years and years.

Most countries have some kind of border process.

I think our border process of being a legalized citizen is very long and very expensive.

Immigration law, well, originally, it was aimed only to support, white males in the late 18th century.

I think immigration reform should provide a vehicle where immigrants have the opportunity to come to United States because as this indicates, they they contribute hugely to the economy, to the culture, to the strengthening of US values.

You know, and especially in the Rogue Valley, we have a lot of immigrants of all kinds of different statuses that do really excellent work for us doing forestry work in Jackson County, and that's critical.

We have a lot of forestry work to do to protect ourselves from wildfire, and we also have a lot of agricultural work.

We're being fed and we're being protected by immigrants in this county.

We're on stolen lands.

Like, the people who are in power in this country are colonizers.

The borders are crossing indigenous lands and are a concept that people in power created to divide people and create economic situations that are beneficial to them.

And so I really don't support any level of deportation or immigration enforcement.

Something I think that's important to understand when talking about open borders is the idea that we have of a border in the modern day didn't exist before World War I. Passports weren't a thing before World War I. People just kinda migrated.

Human beings are like a nomadic species.

Like here in America, like people have been like moving all across the continent for like centuries and the imposition of the borders of The United States have just sort of completely destroyed a lot of that like culture and have been just used as a tool of white supremacy to keep certain people in power and perpetuate systems of violence that keep them perceived as the dominant power in the world and allow them to force their iron boot on the world as Emma Goldman would say.

Discussion of immigration policy is one issue where differences in left wing activists emerge.

On one hand, you have the Indivisible folks who largely said they support some immigration enforcement, but just want there to be legal due process behind it.

Then you have folks like Robyn who are against the very concept of borders, governments, and nation states.

A lot of people think that communism specifically goes to this, like, Marxist, Leninist school of we must build a dictatorship of the proletariat that will siphon up all of the, like, means of production and distribute them out according to this aggressive system of hierarchy.

But the reality of the history of the communist movement is it's much more diverse.

There's thinkers like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Emma Goldman, one of my favorites here, Lucy Parsons.

There's a whole history of anarchist communist movements in, like, Korea, Japan, South America.

Like, there's so much history to it.

I could go on for hours about it.

I come to these hoping that I'm going to meet like minded young people my age.

You know, we're in a system that makes us work really, really hard.

We're, you know, I have friends who work multiple jobs just to pay their rent, pay their mortgage, pay the basic bills.

They're not living an extravagant life, but they are working really hard in this country.

And I so I think that's a sign of the wealth gap that they're they're working for companies that are making a lot of money off of their labor, and they're not getting huge pay cut of that.

So I think that's part of it, that we're working a lot, we get a nice beautiful weekend, you wanna go be on the lake or you wanna go camping or whatever you do, but this is important too.

And we have to fight back and resist against those who wanna get wealthy off of our work and off of our life.

Like there's been times in my life where people thought, oh, this is just a young people issue, and it's not something that older folks are coming out for.

So for us to see that people who look like my parents or my grandparents are out here, I think that's really important.

In addition, we wanna say to our brothers and sisters in the immigrant community that we value you.

We care about you.

We appreciate the contributions you're making to this country and this economy.

But that's what people with pretensions to absolute power do.

They find some kind of scapegoat.

Hitler did it with Jews.

It's a tried and true tactic, but we have to counter that.

[Ominous music] Something's on fire over in Phoenix.

We got a little bit of wind as you can tell.

It's hot.

It feels hot and it feels dry.

Spring was over.

The summer was here.

This is the fighting spirit and unyielding force of the US army.

June 14 was a big day, and with it came a huge protest in Medford.

4,000 people, according to police estimates, attended the No Kings protest.

I would describe this as an everything protest, and the conversations were starkly relevant to the themes and issues we're exploring in this episode.

Are you recording Tripp?

Look at this, We ran into Jane Vaughan.

We got public radio here.

Public TV's here.

Collaborating.

A little bit.

We're looking for the organizer together right now.

ORD2 and the Women's March and 50501 have organized this event as part of a nationwide effort happening in every state in thousands of cities.

We're here because Donald Trump and the GOP and white Christian nationalists are flooding the zone with their illegal acts and immoral acts in an effort to distract us from the fact that they're trying to take away the power from We The People.

I feel like we're here because we should not be afraid of our government.

We should not be afraid of our military.

We should not be afraid of our police.

They're supposed to be protecting and defending us.

Instead, we are afraid that they're going to snatch us, detain us, deport us, throw us down and put handcuffs on us like they did the US senator this week, and somehow make it a crime to speak out against your government, which is guaranteed by the constitution.

I'm not agreeing with the what ICE is doing now, and they are hard workers.

That's the reason that I'm here for.

Fighting for their rights, fighting for my rights.

This is America.

We immigrate to work.

Coming out here is technically my first protest.

Super excited because F*** Donald Trump and everything that he's done to this country.

I'm here because I hate fascism, and we're kinda living in a fascist dictatorship right now, which is, like, not chill.

[Chanting] "No Kings in USA" It is Donald Trump's birthday.

He's holding a massive military parade.

I got out of the army in 1970 because I served a year in Vietnam, and that's why I'm wearing what I'm wearing today as a counter protest to the charade military parade that we've got going on in Washington DC.

This is what America really is, and and this is us.

This is the people uprising and letting their voices be heard.

[Banging on drum] It's scary as a queer person.

Like, I had I walked out of my house this morning, and my kid said, be careful.

Don't get shot today.

And, like, that's the world that we're living in right now.

And so think showing up in community and joy is an act of resistance in this time.

And I'm from New Jersey, and I grew up with Trump.

So I knew what a piece of s*** he was.

Can I say that?

Yes, you can.

I worked for the government, and this is not the government I worked for.

What I'm witnessing in our country is just the saddest thing I've ever witnessed.

So we're here today to say that we don't support fascism.

We're here to counter fascism because currently Trump is, you know, instilling himself as a dictator in our in our country, deporting people, kidnapping people, furthering the genocide in Gaza, sending more money, more weapons into Palestine, giving Israel more money.

Here at home, they're kidnapping family members.

They're kidnapping our neighbors.

One of the reasons that we come out to these things so often is because we all have to start somewhere.

Right?

I've said this before.

A lot of people start with holding signs.

They start with, you know, seeing this for the first time.

And we try to come out and and be the conversation that starts something more.

Obviously we have a large Hispanic community here in Southern Oregon, all over the West Coast, and it's important now more than ever to talk to your community members and build relationships that everyone is safe.

Border walls have got to go!

Now!

You know, pretty soon I'm gonna be an American citizen.

I immigrate here to make my dream to come true, and this country supporting me a lot.

That's why.

And I know a lot of people is gonna fight for that because all my people has a right to have a better life.

Electing the bad guys make a big- there must say consequences.

The economy is based on immigrants, especially in agriculture, construction, and now he's taken away those people, the- the labor force.

It's going to devastate the economy.

This is the reason I'm here.

Our organization is Unete.

We work a lot with farm workers and immigrants and supporting farm workers and immigrants in the valley.

The reason that we're here is to stop the ICE raids, to stop blatant discrimination against people of color.

At one point, I was an illegal alien.

I was brought into this country as a child.

I had not, I did not have a choice, but I have become a person that has been successful, that has been able to really, embrace the American dream.

I'm here to say f*** ICE and f*** Donald Trump.

This is bulls***.

We gotta stand up for our rights.

ICE has been here all has always been here.

They have a local office here in Medford as well.

So what we're seeing is in the courts, the people leave the courtroom, then they're detaining him.

So ICE is detaining them in the courtroom.

There's an office in Eugene as well, and they've been picking up quite a few people out of the Eugene office too.

My parents came here as, proud, hardworking immigrants with nothing to their name.

Came here for a better life for me and family, and so I'm just forever grateful for that, I'm here representing that.

I'm a big believer in Christ, and, you know, we're taught to love one another.

And so seeing this is kinda heartbreaking, but seeing all these people out here speaking for people that are not able to speak today has been really, really good to see.

Even though they're legal, they're in fear to go to the store, to go anywhere because at this point, it feels like anyone can be taken away.

President Ronald Reagan opened the door for my family to be able to become legal status.

You know, there's been a lot of really great presidents out there that are Republicans that have done so much great for this country.

[Drumming] [Trumpet plays "Star Spangled Banner"] But I'm here to show solidarity.

It's wonderful to see all these folks out here.

I think it's gonna make a difference.

Mhmm.

I I I really believe it's gonna make a difference.

So what is your goal?

Like, what do you hope happens as a result of this protest?

We want Donald Trump and the GOP and white Christian nationalists to stop using executive orders to bypass the will of the people and bypass the democratic process.

Yeah.

We also believe that it's important for people to have a space to come out and safely say that this is not okay, that we do not support what they are doing, and they need to hear that there is a percentage of people, a very large percentage of people that disagree with what's happening in Washington DC right now.

Well, number one, it really has to stay peaceful.

The the people that get violent don't do us any good at all, and and this is obviously very peaceful.

But it's also part of the first amendment, and anything we can do to secure that in a peaceful way is a is a is a good thing.

If we can get this many people and this many numbers in a pretty red conservative area in the Rogue Valley, I think that speaks a lot to how many people are fed up and sick and tired of seeing what's been happening in this country.

Protests are the only way we're gonna change anything and making sure that we're not complicit in all of the violence that's happening around the world and sharing that, like, we're not going to be quiet about it and we're gonna keep showing up and doing all of these things and then some to make sure it ends.

Our democracy is at risk.

We all know that.

When people get out and get together like this all over the country, we're gonna see some action by the Republicans in our congress because they need to know that this is going on, and we don't agree with them.

It's honestly inspiring to see so many different people, different ages, different races.

Everybody's out here to show their support, and that's what's important.

I feel like we have more in common than not with those in in other parties and with other political beliefs, and we need to have deep conversations with the people around us.

Yeah.

I think it's great for people to come out here and use their voice and speak speak on what they believe in.

That's obviously a part of our First Amendment right, and so I think it's really great that people are out here exercising that and, yeah just being peace peaceful protesters.

Demonstrations in LA were largely peaceful with a few incidents and they have used that as an excuse to try and bring in the military and to escalate things.

We were confident that we have a good relationship with the police.

We consult them before all of our events and make a plan together for how things are gonna happen, how they're gonna respond, how we're gonna contact them if something comes up.

So we weren't nervous at all.

And and you'll see there, you know, there aren't a bunch of police walking around trying to push anybody around like the the military is doing in LA.

We're not gonna have any problems.

And if we do, we can call the police in to to take care of it.

Out at these protests, people have an opportunity to meet other people to create connections.

Like Sam said, build community.

There is a lot of incidents at these protests of people policing others behavior, people being like, you're being too disruptive, you're being too loud, you shouldn't be aggressive, but like, we're facing fascism.

We need to keep showing up and taking direct action.

We need to use a diversity of tactics including blocking streets, creating barricades, stopping ICE from doing the s*** they're doing because like that is fascism.

We are seeing it take place in front of our eyes, on our phones.

We cannot rest until we have the abolition of oppression.

An abolition of cops, of ICE, of the US government, of capitalism.

We cannot stop until we get that.

None of us can be free until then.

One of the things that I do have an ethical dilemma about is signing people up with a list of their names and personal information knowing fully well that they're already a target.

If you come to one of these, you're going to be a target whether it's a high risk, whether it's a low risk, whatever.

I don't agree with that.

This protest was huge, massive.

Probably a couple thousand people here, a perfect opportunity for community, but also just in our little area where we were at most of the time.

I got pulled around by people that were at the protest trying to tell me how I should protest.

The entire point of doing a protest is to be disruptive.

If you're just holding signs, being peaceful on the sidewalk, that's great for like building community, for meeting new people, but it's not actually affecting anything in disrupting the systems of oppression and disrupting the status quo of the US government, of ICE, of the police.

Just being a peaceful protester and condemning any other actions that aren't quote unquote peaceful is working with the oppressor.

It's doing the cops jobs for them.

It's doing ICE's job for them.

It's doing the government's job for them.

Eventually, we have to be loud.

We have to be disruptive because no one listens if you're standing on the sidewalks letting them go about their day.

You know, there there there's a reason that all of these other, like, Republican or, like, you know far right organizations and states talk about Portland burning down in 2020.

The reason that they talk about that is because people were in the streets blocking the roads.

They were taking over downtown because they were experiencing oppression and and showing up for it.

And then of it gets, like, spun in the media that they're just, like, rioting and destroying businesses.

But, like, it doesn't matter if buildings are being burned when people are dying in the street.

Yeah.

[Conflict brewing] There's a little bit of an encounter happening between some Trump supporters who have come in to the zone here, and it's getting kinda heated between Robyn, who we met at the Avello protest, and these folks with the Trump sign, if you can see them.

The guy with the these these two folks who have the American flag overalls.

Robyn: Move on over.

Overalls: We're not moving anything Robyn: MOVE ON OVER!

Overalls: Do it.

Do it.

Overalls 2: Have em follow you!

Robyn: The truth keeps marching on!

Keegan: We're following.

And I've just been peaceful just trying to show my support for my president.

He supports everybody, and they should support him.

Why do you think think the turnout today was so big?

Usually, we don't see this in Medford, but today, very different.

I don't quite know.

I tried to get some friends together to to meet out here.

It's just me and my dad.

My little brother was out here earlier.

But yeah.

I don't know.

Trying to stand up in America.

You know, we gotta show our faces more and show that Oregon's not all all blue.

We're here we're actually just to support the blue.

It's my birthday too.

Happy birthday, Donald Trump.

Oh, it's your birthday as well.

It's not very many, like, of the Trump supporting people.

Even though this is a primarily red county, there's more people who voted for Trump here.

Sir, no disrespect.

This is my son.

Mhmm.

And like I said, we're just asleep, guys.

We already won.

We're just here to let you guys know that we are here.

We are here.

You're really standing up for your rights.

I already got my rights.

Your right to be a fascist?

I'm not a fascist.

Yeah.

You are.

But I'm glad you're out here sending it.

Look at You're showing your fascism to the world.

Build the wall around your mind, son.

My intention, which I've done a little bit of, is to talk to people about the issues at hand in addition to my faith.

You know, I watch Fox News, and I also look at X and I look at I I the compare and contrast, there was a lot of comments made by some of the national networks that was actually lies.

It's like, oh, yeah.

It's mostly peaceful protest.

When you have individuals' footage of, like, bricks and broken up cinder blocks and damaged police vehicles, there was, glass being broken, criminals taking advantage of the chaos, which what is what they did in Minneapolis during the 2020 riots.

At least what we've observed in our walking around, it's been pretty like chill, pretty peaceful.

Do you concur?

What do you think of what you've seen?

Absolutely.

I was very impressed.

For example, I was easily able to walk from seven eleven across the street, go along the sidewalk with minimal interruptions.

Nobody was pushing and shoving each other.

I like that.

It was very well done.

I saw people with water.

I saw people with snacks.

It's nice.

You know, very civil.

So I I very much appreciate that.

All these conversations are deeply interesting, but a question remains about what actually works.

In some ways, the idea of respectability politics is a proven one, having helped secure victories during the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, and other social movements.

But these tactics didn't succeed on their own and were accented by radical disruption.

There was MLK, but also Malcolm X. There was the Mattachine Society, but also the Gay Liberation Front.

Is waving a sign going to do anything to change the political landscape of today?

Do the disruptive tactics of groups like the Pepper Shakers actually achieve the goals they pursue?

Well, the Pepper Shakers came together as a group in 2020, the same year I started the Us As We Are project, and they've become acquaintances of mine through those years of reporting on life and politics in Southern Oregon.

In that time, among all the issues they work on, the most consistent has been their social combat against anti LGBTQ and anti abortion activists, the Rogue Valley Salt Shakers.

We preach the gospel at pride events, at abortion mills, festivals, wherever we go, we want to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified so people are saved from their sins.

They don't end up in hell.

That's why the Pepper Shakers are the Pepper Shakers.

Get it?

Salt vs.

pepper?

The Pepper Shakers have spent 5 years refining their tactics for counter protesting the Salt Shakers, and these tactics are indeed quite disruptive.

[Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham!

on speaker] Medford Pride celebration has been happening since 2022 and at all the events before this year, Salt Shaker presence with offensive signs and messaging bigoted against the LGBTQ community has been a problem for attendees with the Pepper Shakers attempting their counter protesting tactics.

This year, some things changed.

We are at Rogue X today for the 4th annual Medford Pride event.

We are so grateful.

We have AC this year indoors, same energy and excitement as ever.

All the same stuff that you could have expected at Pear Blossom, just with more AC.

I have not heard a single complaint.

Looks like it's been only love here today.

I know that a lot of folks this year especially were concerned about security risks, which we took very seriously.

We have a de-escalation team.

We have private security, all of that, and none of it has been needed, which has been so lovely.

We have the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers.

We have the RAC de-escalation team, and they're just all kind of having a good time, and we're happy about it.

Yeah.

It's been really chill.

The Salt Shakers or any, religious extremist protesters haven't showed up.

Our friends at the Salt Shakers are deeply afraid of us and our tactics now.

They didn't show up here, but they showed up at a lot of other places today, which is deeply funny to me.

Three times in the last week, we we have showed up counter them at various things, and they have left within 10 minutes each time.

I think it it really goes to show that direct action gets the goods.

Countering fascist people on the street actually has an effect.

People should do that.

If you see someone acting in a way that is harmful, that is bigoted, you should say something about that.

You should do something about that because it it has an impact.

The fact that we have had a full day of Medford Pride with over 1,000 people here who now haven't had any exposure to that religious bigotry really goes to show how effective it is.

We loved being at Pear Blossom, but unfortunately it comes with the elements and it was a little hot over there.

The venue change I would imagine had an effect on it as well.

We have nice air inside and much more protected from people that want to do our community harm.

Today actually is the anniversary of the Stonewall riots June 28, 1969.

We really are trying to honor that spirit and recognize the first pride was a riot.

And so we get to be here and celebrating and have all this beautiful energy because of what came before us.

And we're recognizing we still have so much left to do.

We have so much farther to go, but to show up and be joyful and in community is an act of resistance in this time.

By July 4, big things were happening.

President Trump was ready to sign the Big Beautiful Bill that had just one day earlier made its way through final congressional passage after a strung out edge of your seat process.

Meanwhile, in Ashland.

[Cheers] [Jet engines roar] The annual 4th of July parade is one of Ashland's most well attended events of the year, and this year would feature ORD2 Indivisible along with several other local political organizations, nonprofits, and community groups.

But before the parade even officially started, this happened.

They got something big.

[Through megaphone] From Palestine to Mexico!

These border walls have got to go [Protesters repeat chant] [Music on speaker] [Chanting continues] Palestine will be free!

There's no pride in genocide!

[Protesters repeat chant] There's no pride in genocide!

[Protesters repeat chant] [Ashlanders cheer] [Police sirens] [Ashlanders cheer] [Chanting continues] F*** YOU!

F*** YOU!

Put it in the paper, please.

[Police sirens] [Chanting continues] There's no pride in genocide!

[Protesters repeat] And of course, the Big Beautiful Bill was signed.

Oregon is now projected to lose something like $15 billion in federal funding for health care, food assistance and other social programs.

With the introduction of new work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP, many Oregonians now face losing their benefits.

The bill also included a massive addition of over $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement through agencies like ICE.

The bill also tied key transportation funding to immigration enforcement compliance.

Transit districts can lose access to certain funds if they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The Rogue Valley Transit District, under Oregon's sanctuary state status, cannot comply with this provision, and as a result, $7 million in federal transit reimbursements was withheld, directly forcing RVTD into a 60% service reduction with 82 layoffs and 10 of 16 bus lines cut.

Despite how hard we saw regional groups protest prior to July 4, many of their worst fears came to pass.

The Trump administration has advanced its agenda despite opposition.

No kings.

No kings.

No.

I mean, it's like every day there's a whole new outrage, and I think that's part of the strategy is to hit us with everything all at once, and so we don't know which way to go.

Donald Trump is an authoritarian.

Dictatorship.

We're kinda living in a fascist dictatorship right now.

And to stand up against fascism.

Fighting fascism, imperialism, colonialism.

Something can be bad, unjust, racist, sexist, violent, cruel, or evil without being literally the political phenomenon known as fascism.

Weird little Nazi cults.

I hate fascism.

But now here we are in 2025.

We're we're facing fascism.

You know, calling a fascist a fascist.

Their fascist plan.

Autocracy, Economic regimentation.

Suppression of opposition.

Militarism.

That is fascism.

That is fascism.

So if this is indeed fascism.

It'll be one group today.

Tomorrow, it'll be a religious group.

Next month, it could be a sexual orientation group.

Then these disruptive anarchist protesters really do have a point.

A lot of people have this image of, like, what an anarchist communist is of, like, people who just think, oh, we're all at our core really decent people who will just get along and be totally fine.

No.

We don't think that.

Obviously, if we were decent people, then all of these systems of power wouldn't be broken.

For the union makes us strong.

Because the pressure of the public isn't guaranteed to outweigh the pressure of the White House when boots hit the cement.

Everything we were taught up to this point teaches us to rise against this.

This is what America is about.

It's what it's always been about, and we're representing here today.

I think if you walk down the sidewalk, you're gonna see a lot of families pushing strollers.

You're gonna see grandparents with grandchildren.

You're gonna see people just out trying to make their voice heard.

And I I think that's what it's all about today.

Nobody wants to follow that up with action of any kind unless it's calling your congressman and calling the White House and, making sure that your voice is heard in other ways.

It may take a little more direct action to change things.

It's funny to me because we see all this media, like, of movies about rebellions of, like, like, Star Wars, The Hunger Games, and everyone's always on the side of the rebellion.

But then when the rebellion actually happens, a bunch of liberals are like, well, that's too far.

That's violent.

Don't fight back.

Like we see that people doing that towards people in Gaza that are defending their homeland from invaders, from colonizers.

We see that with people peace policing people in LA telling them not to be violent, to fight back against the people occupying their city.

We see we see that all over, and that's part of occupation.

That's part of colonialism.

And we we cannot have freedom until we kill the empire.

Death to the empire.

But equally important to keep in mind is that the on average older protesters you find through organizations like Indivisible are still playing an important role in the protest ecosystem.

While tactics like peace policing or collaborating with the actual police might strike some as being almost negligent, you can't ignore that these are the protests that get the numbers.

Street presence is powerful as it does show those in power that the population may not be as on their side as they like to think.

At the No Kings protest, we met a handful of people who said this was their first protest ever.

Anyways, I'm here.

My first protest ever.

And that prior to coming, they were scared.

Well, I've been reading on YouTube different clips and things, I started getting a little bit intimidated about the danger.

But then people kept saying, we can't let fear rule us.

We gotta push forward.

And so I thought I'm gonna do this.

I came around the corner this morning and the minute I saw people carrying signs, I thought, okay.

I can do this.

I feel scared and angry and powerless all at the same Go****n time.

So what better way to come out and flex my first amendment rights right here in my country than I live God D****t. If activist groups want to reach new people and expand the numbers of folks who come out, they have to consider tactics that make these events feel safe and approachable for those who are otherwise intimidated.

We were so happy that we have a safe environment here to have protests and that we don't have people like the governor and sheriff of Florida who are talking about killing protesters and and again escalating it and trying to make protesters afraid to come out because nobody should be afraid to come out.

We should all have the right to come out and protest.

I think this is an amazing day today.

In fact, a lot of people were posting on social media like can we do dances like line dances and chicken dances and conga lines and things like that.

And so, I mean, this is should be fun.

If if it isn't fun, I don't know why we're out here.

It's a very serious cause, but at the same time, we wanna make it so that everybody's having a good time and that they feel heard and that, this this could becomes a celebration of democracy.

You have such a huge opportunity to bring thousands of people together for a common cause that can actually do something.

The first step in fighting fascism, imperialism, colonialism is making community.

Build a community garden with your neighborhood.

Go talk to your neighbor.

Ask them to teach you their language.

Like, there's that is how we fight this.

It's not, you know, standing on the sidewalks and holding signs.

It has there has to be more.

So to the organizers of things like this, I would say do better and do more.

Maybe protesting is a two sided coin.

On one side, you have these big, organized, very lawful protests.

And on the other side, you have the kind of direct action that really gets under the skin of people who just want things to go back to how they were before Trump.

You know, when health care was already unaffordable for many Americans, when immigration was already a humanitarian disaster, and when Israel was already bombing Gaza.

Remember how senator Ron Wyden was saying he would fight to stop all this stuff Trump was doing?

We've got to stand up.

We've got to block it.

And I'm gonna fight it in every way that I can.

I wasn't able to make it to his recent town hall in Grants Pass.

I wonder how that went.

I am so proud to be looking out at exactly what the founding fathers wanted.

[Protester] Excuse me!

Wyden: The faces of democracy!

Protesters: You don't want peace if you send bombs!

Protesters: You don't want peace if you send bombs!

Wyden: The 1st amendment belongs to everybody!

Moderator: Please do not confront the protesters.

Citizen: You're taking my time.

Protester: I don't care.

Protester: You're supporting this.

Citizen: No we're not!

Protester: Don't touch her!

Protesters:[in song] Which side are you on?

[confusion and rabble] Moderator: Alright folks.

Where gunna call it a day.

Moderator: Sorry for the inconvenience.

Citizens: We want Wyden!

Protesters: Free, free, free Palestine!

Citizens: Wyden!

Wyden!

He didn't get to hear what I had to say!

You didn't let me speak.

I had something to say.

You outshouted me.

You and your provocateurs You stupid f***!

Oh well.

Oh well.

Free, free, free Palestine!

I need some help.

Can you help me?

And I know it often looks like, oh, another protest.

Oh, a bunch of people holding signs.

Oh, a bunch of retirees are mad about something.

But this affects all of us.

This is really important for all of us.

Karen, really good talking to you.

Good to meet you.

Appreciate it.

Kathleen,really good to meet you.

Good job on the makeup.

Alright.

Well, thank you so much for talking to me.

Thank you so much once again.

It was really good to meet you and talk to you.

Appreciate the conversation.

I'm sure you go home disagreeing with me about one subject or two subjects, Or maybe you say Ron doesn't know much about anything at all, which is you're right.

But I hope you'll say, this is the way.

We've got to do it.

We've got to win.

We can win these fights I'm talking about today.

It won't be easy.

We can do it if we do it together.

God bless.

Thanks everybody.

Organize in your communities.

Do not be afraid for so long as you work together with the people around you and your friends and you take action to make the world you want to make, then the powers of the state and of capitalism cannot defeat you.

The people united will never be defeated.

That was a good way to bring it back to center.

I'm sure we'll talk again, Alan.

Always a pleasure, my friend.

No, No.

Avelo F*** ICE, and let's shut them down.

Herbert.

Thank you.

Really good talking to Good to meet you.

Thanks for talking to me.

You're welcome.

Really good to meet you and talk to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thanks for showing up.

Because we are the people, and this is America, not only Mexico.

This is America.

This is everybody.

We have the right.

We are here to fight.

Thanks, guys.

Really appreciate it.

I'm happy that everybody's out here.

I'm happy that it's happening nationwide, And I'm hoping that it will make a difference.

Really good to talk to you.

Viva Mexico.

Really good to meet you.

Nice to meet you guys.

F*** Donald Trump.

F*** Donald Trump.

F*** Donald Trump.

Can we get a picture of you guys together?

Sick.

Alright.

It's so good to you again.

Absolutely.

Good to see you.

Awesome.

Good to talk to you.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate the conversation.

Victor, good to see you.

Thank you both.

It was really good to talk to you.

We don't have to shake hands.

We can do the elbow.

Hey.

Really good to talk to you.

Appreciate it, man.

Really good to talk to you both.

Always appreciated and always a pleasure.

It's really good to talk to you, Eric.

Thanks.

Terry, always good to see you.

I'm Sean once again, thank you.

You're welcome.

Good luck to you guys.

Thank you.

Thanks for talking.

Ronald Regan: You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman.

You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German or a Turk or Japanese.

Yeah.

That's Us As We Are.

Ronald Regan: But anyone from any corner of the earth can come to live in America and become an American.

Us As We Are is made possible in part by, The Roundhouse Foundation, a private family foundation that supports creative solutions to the unique challenges associated with rural culture and the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.

Additional funding by, The Elizabeth C.Peace Memorial Fund for Education and Social Welfare and by the members of Southern Oregon PBS.

Thank you.