Nearly every week, Ellensburg Indivisible meets to protest the current administration and share their message with the town. The political protest group holds these weekly “vigil” protests on the corner of Main St. and Fifth Ave.
Professor of Accessibility Studies at CWU and member of the protest group Dr. Naomi Jeffery Peterson, talked about why the group protests every week. “We’re by the courthouse. We stand to express our concerns about issues that are going on politically,” Peterson said.
According to Peterson, Ellensburg Indivisible had a wide range of issues that they were trying to bring awareness to. “The people who started this … are the Justice for our Neighbors group and they are advocates for people who are caught up in immigration raids,” Peterson said. “They provide a lot of support for people who can’t speak english or don’t know how to navigate the system and that was before this latest ramp up. And so what they do is they watch ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and tell people.”
Brian Ray, an aircraft maintenance engineer who is also a part of the protest group, discussed why he joined the Indivisible. “Fascism and tyranny are the norm today, and I think far too many citizens don’t acknowledge that, don’t understand it, don’t want to understand it, maybe don’t realize it. ” Ray said. “Whatever the case may be, we’re simply out here trying to raise awareness, whether it’s for the homeless, for the disenfranchised LGBTQ, for people that are going to be losing their benefits. Whether it’s Medicaid or Medicare, but right now, we’re focused on the fascist regime that is trampling all over the Constitution.”
Even though Ellensburg Indivisible protests for many different reasons, specific events have specific goals, Peterson stated. “Sometimes there is a definite focus,” Peterson said. “For instance, on John Lewis’s birthday, it was ‘make good trouble.’ (So) sometimes there’s a particular focus if an event comes up, but events have been happening so quickly and broadly, I have one that I feel strongly about, that government is for the people not profits. For a time there was a lot of focus on Elon Musk and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and then it shifted, so it’s a moving target.”
Although peaceful, the protests are not always without resistance. “Lots of times people will do the ‘carbon stomp’ so that we can get blown with gas and fumes and the ‘middle finger salute,’” Peterson said. “But the biggest concern we have is that there’s a lot of money in the people who are resisting and you can see that in the signs. They’ve invested a lot in the political signs supporting their candidates.”
Ellensburg Indivisible mainly operates out of a members only facebook page, and hold various public meetings for those interested in the organization. They plan to participate in the upcoming “No Kings” protest on Oct 18.
