50501 Jay Obernolte’s Protest
April 5th, 2025. Susan M Lovell, Ph.D.
In spite of the “reason for” the event, there was an excited, hopeful, even joyous energy in the air, as a large crowd of citizens gathered, with persons of all ages, some bringing their kids and pups, whose laughter and happy barks added to the cheerful melee…
We had all gathered on this comfortable, sunny Spring day in the front plaza of Jay Obernolte’s office in Hesperia, joining together in concert with similar “ 50501” Protests all over our nation scheduled for this day. As our Congressman for District 23, Mr. Obernolte was not present for this non-violent Protest. With chants of “Shame on Jay”, “Si se puedes, “Change it or Lose it” and “Resist,Reform,RECLAIM”, many political organizers and federal workers spoke to us about the various ways the Executive branch, led by Trump, Elon Musk, and their minions, have attempted to “dismantle the administrative state”, words they spoke years ago. Through destructive, cruel, illegal and self aggrandizing “executive orders”, our country has been thrown into economic, societal, and political chaos, with ramifications resounding throughout the world.
Derek Marshall, one of the first speakers, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the last two elections, lost by a much narrow margin in his second run. He is now running for one of two City Council seats for the city of Victorville, and his words focused on the meaning and value of citizens protests.
He described three ways in which protests are important. First, enabling citizens to build community with each other in efforts and actions to save our democracy. Secondly, he emphasized the necessity of saving the economy of our nation before it becomes ruined and pulled into recession or even a fiscal depression. The third value of protests he asserted, is to protect, maintain, and rescue our many federal institutions we depend on and which provide critical services for us. The destruction, downsizing or elimination of these agencies, which is happening now, could be the downfall of our society as we know it, and move us toward authoritarianism. All of these reasons depend on Action!
Protest members spoke about the danger to our national forests, parks, and public land such as the B.L.M., U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as moving Wild-lands Fire Fighting Force to another agency. Reggie Cervantes addressed the cuts to Social Security and our Veterans’ benefits, and quoted the need to stop the 22 Veterans per day who commit suicide with more, not less, mental health care. Manny Gonzales, an Agent Orange poisoned and disabled Vet, spoke of his father, grandfather, and his Native American great-grandfather, and their trials through the years, and why Veterans support is so essential.
One teacher for 30 years, Sherry Walsh, mourned the potential loss of the Department of Education, how 2 MAGA persons joined the Redlands school board and are busy banning books on Gay Pride and preventing students who wish to “come out” privately cannot do so without parental notification. She also shared the story of her son-in-law, working for USAID, who was put on “administrative leave” recently, in the Dominican Republic and cannot leave until this June!
And another speaker, Sue Ferguson, whose daughter, working for USAID was also the object of a “RIF” order, talked about how that agency costs taxpayers only about $36.00 a year, and the loss of valuable help to our international families all over the globe whom we support with food and medical care through this agency, by its diminishment.
A gentleman, Evan Alonzo, spoke as a Teamsters steward for the importance of unions, and as a Public Works Environmental Inspector in Lake Arrowhead, addressed the simple yet essential desire of all workers: fairness in pay, healthcare, respect for their work, and good working conditions.
Many other speakers such as “Ruth”emphasized issues such as the horror in Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli government and U.S. armament support, after the Hamas attack, and the 63,000 Palestinian orphans whose parents were killed in the conflict and the 232 journalists she said had also been killed.
A strong Protest, we came away with ideas for action, new information, increased personal empathy for our federal workers, and re-ignited for Action! Call Obernolte and Complain!!
