Vaca rally draws diverse voices

The "Workers not Billionaires" rally outside Vacaville City Hall on Friday brought community members together to mark May Day and voice frustration with the Trump administration, drawing a diverse crowd of local residents, students and organizers.

Participants said the event was both a demonstration and a space for connection, as people from different political backgrounds gathered to express concerns about national policies and their local impact. Organizers and attendees emphasized themes of workers' rights, immigration, and civil liberties, with many describing the rally as part of a broader wave of similar protests happening in communities across the country.

Steve Davis, a volunteer Media Liaison with Indivisible, the group that helped to organize the rally, said he and his wife became aware of the national organization in Donald Trump's first term, but became more involved at the local level during his second term.

"We started in Fairfield, where we live," he said. "Couldn't quite get that off the ground and came over here about seven or eight months ago and realized that Vacaville already had a well-established group - very well organized and well run."

Davis, who previously registered as a Republican and voted for George W. Bush, said a strong, ideologically diverse core of Indivisibles members, including some independents and Republicans, have joined Vacaville's chapter to protest the Trump administration. He said there are "thoughtful people of all persuasions" across the country.

"We are finding a surprising number of people who have long identified with the Republican Party who have found the policies and practices of the current regime to be abhorrent and unacceptable," he said.

Davis said participating in the protests gives him an outlet for his political frustration and a like-minded community of people both at home and nationwide.

"It is, for many of us, a real place of community, of comfort, where we are with people who share our values, our core values," he said. "We come from all walks of life and different life experiences, but when it comes down to what we value for America and American ideals, we really are of like-minded orientations with that. So it's very reassuring. It gives me hope. I think it gives all of us hope that you take this activity here and you multiply it thousands of times in communities across America, and now you have a critical mass."

A former superintendent and college professor who taught courses in leadership to graduate students, Davis said his years of research and writing on leadership led him to believe Trump is unfit for the role.

"Donald Trump has none of the attributes and characteristics of a good, competent, effective leader," he said. "Not one. He is a self-serving megalomaniac who cares very little about public policy, if anything, and more about personal aggrandizement. He is all about Donald Trump. He is a selfish, self-serving con man."

Destin Mink and Josiah Wall, both juniors at Vacaville High School, skateboarded over to City Hall after school to join the protest. Wall said he was inspired to attend by Mink's post online.

"I am not really too into politics," Wall admitted, "but I do enjoy coming to these protests to see everyone doing their thing."

Mink said he is unhappy with the current administration, particularly with detentions and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"I think it is important to speak up for what you believe in, so that's why I go out," he said. "That's always something my mom has been very vocal about: if something doesn't sit right with you, you should speak up about it."

Mink said he thinks protests of ICE and discussions about immigration enforcement in classes have started to shift the student body's opinions on the issue.

"Someone who believes the complete opposite of what I believe - and I - we'll just have a civil discussion and talk about it, and at the end of the day, we will still be friends and we will kind of just understand each other's side of it better," he said.

Audra Orr, a Vacaville Unified School District Board of Trustees member, said she came to the event to defend democracy and civil rights. She said she attended the event and spoke to The Reporter in her personal capacity, not as an elected official.

"I don't like the direction our administration has gone in with removing civil rights, so therefore I am out here to express my opinion about that," she said.

Orr said the Vacaville immigrant population - including some who have obtained lawful permanent status or citizenship - is afraid and seeing their rights violated.

"That's not the way that we do things in the United States," she said. "That's not the way that we treat people."

Orr said she finds the protests energizing, and said they are intended to be positive rather than tearing other community members down.

"There is no negativity," she said. "There is no anger felt, other than that we are standing here and trying to move our country in a positive direction. We are standing for what we believe in and what our country is based on, which is individual rights and being able to express your opinion via the First Amendment."

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