On Feb. 5, community members showed up in downtown Bend to join a nationwide protest against President Donald Trump. In snow and 20-degree weather, demonstrators carried signs and waved flags in solidarity against early actions and policies being carried out by the Trump administration.
People across the nation participated in the “50 States” protest, which gained momentum on social media platforms this week. Protests in Portland and at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem brought out hundreds of Oregonians, according to OPB, opposing deportation efforts and attempts to restrict transgender rights, among other issues.
Many Bend protestors saw the demonstration as a chance to show up for their community, including Bend resident Shawn Sweetman.
“We all have, maybe, slightly different reasons, but I think they all center around the fact that our ability to represent ourselves in this country is being taken away,” Sweetman told the Source Weekly.
Mother and daughter, Dee Combs and Emily Hoy, said that participating in efforts like this are important to them, and can make a difference.
“The purpose, for me, is to let the powers that be know that they can’t stomp all over us and other people,” said Combs.
Kris Solis, a Bend community member, sees peaceful protests as a way for people to connect and know they have allies with common ground.
“The more we do these kinds of things, the more we can see that we can come together as a community, Solis told the Source Weekly. “When we come together like this, we see we have allies, we have friends, and its worth getting out here and connecting and doing this.”
At Wednesday’s Bend City Council meeting, Mayor Melanie Kebler addressed the community about actions at the federal level, and its impacts to the Bend community.
In Kebler’s statement, she emphasized that the council is committed to fostering a welcoming environmental for all individuals, while addressing attacks on the immigrant community, DEI policies and other community members.
“I firmly believe the purported values of the administration are not the values of the vast majority of the Bend community. They are not our Oregon values. They are not the values of this Council. To all those who are targeted and scapegoated right now – we see you. We support you. And we will continue to speak up for your human rights,” said Kebler on Wednesday.
“All of us up here have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution. And make no mistake – there is and will continue to be serious legal push back against orders, even those coming from the President, that are illegal and unconstitutional. We cannot accept these attacks on our federal institutions, federal funding, and federal workers as normal or obviously legal. They are not.”
This article appears in The Source Weekly February 6, 2025.
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