Photo: On a sidewalk adjacent between a six-lane trafficway and some utility work cluttered with bright orange plastic fencing and a yellow fire hydrant rests: A partially folded grey portable chair with its legs gathered and its side pockets stuffed with reading materials and a closed rainbow umbrella. There may also be some snacks in there, as well. Leaning against the opposite side of the chair is a fairly large black sign with large white markings: the word "NO" and a swastika. Beyond the chair and protest paraphenalia, an orange barricade crosses the sidewalk. Just a corner of its signage is visible, with the letters, "LK," but American pedstrians will recognize that the complete message would be "Sidewalk Closed." Beyond the barricade, a half dozen protesters beyond the photograph's depth of field raise signs towards an intersection's traffic where a large steel post lifts traffic signals over the cross street. The sky is, well, blue.

The photographer at a #PopUpDemoInMerriam indulges himself with a "Still Life with Anti-fascist Signage: A Pretty Good Kit"
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 7
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: Mixed B&W and color. In color: Mission Mamie, wearing a white t-shirt, blue cargo style pants, and a "fanny" pack shifted around to the front, holds a sign mounted on a crutch. The sign is on white poster board, with a thick pink wash. Drawn across the pink background is a brown hand reaching downward diagonally to grip a white hand. The black text reads in lower case text, "we rise by lifting others / love is louder than fear." In B&W behind Mission Mamie there is a bank and its parking lot in a typical midwestern suburban architectural style. To either side of Mission Mamie are the shoulders of other demonstrators. All three rest their derrières on a limestone wall. Elle a l'air en forme. "But," says Misison Mamie, "the crutch is for real."

Photo: Mixed B&W and color. In color: A white poster board sign topped with the flags of Lebanon & Palestine. Its text is in all caps and reads: "HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NOT UP FOR DEBATE / FREE PALESTINE / ABOLISH ICE" and in smaller letters, "86/47." In B&W: Olive holds the sign. Olive wears a fatigue jacket and a knitted scarf invocative of a keffiyeh. Olive grips the wooden stick that holds the sign tightly in a slight, thin hand. Behind Olive and the sign there is a bank and its parking lot in a typical midwestern suburban architectural style.

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 6
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025
#LiftOneAnother #FreePalestine

Photo: Lucky, in a broad-brimmed, dark blue-grey hat and sunglasses, holds a cardboard sign (with clever hand holds cut into it on either side) that is topped with two American flags. The sign's text reads, "with LIBERTY and JUSTICE* for ALL / *includes DUE PROCESS."

Photo: Kevin, bearded, wearing a red shirt, sunglasses, and navy-blue bush hat, holds a carefully lettered sign that reads in all cap letters of alternating colors, "We care about America," and in black letters, "Trump cares about Trump."

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 5
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: Jim, in a red Chief's t-shirt, holds a printed sign mounted on foam core (one of four similary constructed signs in his personal arsenal of signage) that depicts the top third of the Statue of Liberty with the text, "WE ARE A NATION OF PROUD IMMIGRANTS." Behind Jim is a telephone pole and a line of vehicles, led by a utility truck, waits to cross the intersection. Jim says, "The others, I loaded from the Internet. But this one I made myself. I'm kind of proud of it."

Photo: Andy -- in a long-sleeve black t, sunglasses, and a broadbrimmed hat -- looks over a light green posterboar sign edged with red tape. Its text reads, "Gender Affirming Care SAVES LIVES." Other protesters and the infrastructure typical of a busy intersection are visible behind Andy, beyond the photo's depth of field.

Photo: Viewed from behind, This Fokn Joe Guy (the name he gave was just Joe, but Joe, too, thought it would be funny to go with "This Fokn Joe," instead) lifts a cardboard sign toward traffic on a broad & busy street over his head. The revers side of the sign, facing the camera, reads, "I've HAD it with these motha fokn FASCISTS in my motha fokn country." All of the text is in carefully rendered black text and mixed case, except "HAD" & "FASCISTS," which are all caps and red (but still carefully rendered). A lot of vehicles are visible on the street, all of them nondescript grey or white SUVs or sedans, except one moving van and a motorcycle with ape-hanger handle bars with a rider in a bright orange t-shirt riding two-up with a woman in a black sleeveless top.

Photo: A tan Walter in a lightweight green & white plaid shirt holds a cardboard sign facing traffic on a broad & busy street. The side of the sign facing the camera reads, in borad strokes of white paint, "VIETNAM / AFGHANISTAN / IRAQ (actually hidden by Walter's arm) / WHEN WILL WE LEARN?"

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 4
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: Kevin, bearded, wearing a red shirt, sunglasses, and navy-blue bush hat, holds a sign reading in its middle, "CUTS HURT PEOPLE," and, around that central message: (clockwise from top left) "VA" & "FEMA" & "MEDICAID" & "USA" & "SNAP" & "NOAA" & "CDC" & "FDA."

Photo: Facing away from the camera, Lucky, in a broad-brimmed, dark blue-grey hat and sunglasses, lifts a cardboard sign (with clever hand holds cut into it on either side) that is topped with two American flags. The sign's text reads, "NO KINGS / Defend the Constitution."

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 3
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: Paisley, in a pink top and khaki shorts, peers around the edge of a large white posterboard sign that reads, "MAGA YOU VOTED For A CREEPY MAN Who RAPED 13 Yr. OLD Girls." The words "MAGA" & "RAPED." Other protesters are visible behind Paisley. Paisley is an organizer of these pop up protesters and other actions. Paisley is about the same height as the sign. "The thing about big signs is," Paisley says, "they catch a lot of wind." A gust of wind pushes her towards the curb and she steps back to where she was. "I'm havin' a hard time here."

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 2
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: On a busy street corner in Kansas: Al, in black shorts and t with a white ball cap, holds a cardboard sign reading "Fascist in the White House!" Lil, in a colorful straw hat, lifts her head over a cardboard sign with pieces of paper in the colors of a Ukranian flag glued to it. Text on those blue and yellow patches reads, "Keep Making Good Trouble." Angie sits in a lawn chair next to Lil with a pink purse in her lap. Her white posterboard sign reads: "[I]ncredibly [C]RUEL [E]verytime! / NO ICE." Lynne, with red hair and in a red top, stands next to Angie and closest to the camera, holds a sign with a picture of Mary Poppins holding an umbrella and leather grip and the words "Super Callous Fragile Racist Sexist Lying POTUS."

Photo: Linda, in a wide-brimmed straw "Suffragette's Hat," holds a white posterboard sign with red, blue, yellow, black & green text, that reads, "WHO WILL They Come for Next??" A comic panel is taped to the sign's bottom. In the comic, a young boy a dining room table asks an ICE agent (presumably his father) sitting at the table with him, "What would you have done during the rise of the Nazis?" And his father, from behind a meck-gaiter mask and sunglasses, responds, "I'd have told the Gestapo to hide their faces and name tags to avoid trouble after the War!" The ICE agent has a "Punisher" tattoo, popular with 3-percenters and other far-right militias.

Photo: George -- in black t, sunglasses and blue ballcap, (acey doucey, bill to the back) -- holds a hand-lettered sign, reading. "Stop The Coup | Gov't Agencies/Services Gutted | Political Enemies List | Health Agencies Destroyed | Immigrants Abused | Constitution Ignored | Say 'NO' To Trump!!! | Speak Out!!!"

Photo: Lenny, in jeans and a black, holds a two-piece sign, yellow poster board on the left and white on the right. On the yellow: "Trump mimics dictator Orban," on the white "Senato's silence Screams, 'Right On!'" Next to Lenny, Shelly, in khaki cargo pants and tan t, holds a cardboard sign reading, "Calling Out: KU, Marshall, Moran, weak-kneed, sycophants -- Mothers, Brothers & Others."

#PopUpDemoInMerriam
#LocalResistance #Signs No. 1
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025

Photo: Mixed B&W and color. In B&W, Bob's Mom, wearing a bush hat and sleeveless paisley top holds a sign (shown in color) with two gender inclusive hearts and large balck letters reading, "DISRUPT THE HATE." Also in B&W, the protester has lifted their left hand to shield their eyes from the glare of the sun. A wide intersection stretches across the middle ground beyond the sign, and numerous vehicles are poised on the opposite side of the street to cross the intersection when the light changes.

#LocalResistance continues in Kansas, this time in a pop-up demonstration at Shawnee Mission Parkway & Antioch, where 40-50 protesters gathered to bring their messages to drivers & their passengers.
#Merriam, #Kansas
7 August 2025
#PopUpDemoInMerriam