by Jess B.
With great success, Indivisible East Bay launched our Overpass Visibility Brigade during the afternoon commute on April 30. About 20 people showed up to display the message STOP ICE ABDUCTIONS, plus an American flag in the upside-down SOS position, on the Chetworth Street overpass on Eastbound 580 in Oakland. Even though traffic was lighter than usual, we estimate that the message reached about 10,000 cars!
Letters for the message had been painted ahead of time on large pieces of cardboard by a group of IEB artivists. Some of the letters made their debut at the Tesla Takedown following IEB’s March All-Members Meeting — and at our April 5 rally in downtown Oakland — spelling out HANDS OFF and FREE AMERICA.
Since this was our first overpass action, we struggled a bit to attach the letters to the fence; the wind howling down the freeway certainly didn’t help. (Thankfully one member had the foresight to bring duct tape!) Once we had the letters secured, the overpass posse enjoyed dancing to a playlist of resistance favorites, waving to cars passing below, and getting to know each other. Several members of the group commented that it was an especially enjoyable way to protest.
Drivers honked in support pretty much continuously, buoying our spirits. A major purpose of visibility actions is to provide social proof – that is, to assure passersby that they are not alone in feeling concerned about what’s happening — and to show that resisting is a normal thing to do. We meant to send this message to drivers, but hearing the horns from below, we realized they were doing the same for us: reassuring us that we were not alone in caring!
This action reminded us that a small group of people can make a big impact, and also that resistance can and should be fun. If this is inspiring to you, consider getting involved! Our hope is that these overpass actions on 580 will happen more or less weekly. Come join one! Or, if you’d rather wield a paintbrush than stand on an overpass, come to a letter-building party. Or suggest messages. Or borrow letters and plan an action to put up your own message at another time or location. Whatever your role, you’ll be helping to build social proof and bring more people into our movement.
To learn more, join the #overpass-visibility-brigade channel in IEB’s Slack workspace (if you aren’t already a member, click here to join). And you can sign up for the May 8 overpass action here!
