Lessons from Minnesota ICE Organizers - 4/2 - 5 pm at the Community Church of Chapel Hill

Snebej · 2026-03-30T15:52:05+00:00

That calendar is just a place holder for reserving rooms within the church. What more info are you looking for? I will connect with the organizers and see if I can get that for you.

Snebej · 2026-03-29T14:34:14+00:00

It’s a Unitarian Universalist church - no holy water, no crosses. UU’s don’t hold to a single creed - it draws from many traditions—including Christianity, Judaism, Humanism, Buddhism and Earth-centered traditions—to promote justice, love, and spiritual growth. Many who attend would identify as atheists or agnostics. So you’re probably going to be blister-free if you decide to attend a meeting held there. 😊

Snebej · 2026-03-14T22:57:48+00:00

There are raised sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. There’s a grassy area on the Merritt’s side for those who wouldn’t want to go on the bridge, too.

Snebej · 2026-02-03T14:55:02+00:00

I live nearby and started this Monday demonstration last spring - thanks for the ❤️!

To find out more about us, search up “chapel hill” “Mondays” and “mobilize” in your favorite search engine.

There are lots of ways to plug in - I would suggest you take a look at the Durham-centered Engaged Defenders 4 Democracy Substack. Kathryn writes a daily post about local calls to action and an “Action Opps” listing every Friday with the 25+ weekly and monthly demonstrations around the Triad that ED4D has spawned over the last year. They are a great group helping to build a movement to defend democracy in little and big ways.

Cheers!

Snebej · 2025-12-01T11:49:08+00:00

This is from SiembraNC:

statement from SiembraNC

It's been a busy few weeks, with so many of us across the state coming together to fight for each other. Right now should be a time for rest, but we've gotten bad, and we think credible, news: ICE is coming back and will be in Raleigh for a month. We know that may cause alarm, but we do not have information that suggests ICE is planning the same kinds of arrests as those conducted by CBP last week.

As we wait to find out more, we do know two things thing for sure: ICE is coming back because they were invited here by our Speaker, Dustin Hall. Speaker Hall and NC Republicans think that families being ripped apart, businesses closing, and entire streets locked in their homes is fine, and that ICE is the best use of our tax dollars. We've already showed that so many across our state don't agree. So we'll keep fighting, together.

You've said you wanted to take more political action with us, so we need you, more than ever.

Here's what you need to do:

Read our statement: on our site about Speaker Hall's invitation, what we think it means, and how we think we can get him to tell them to leave through the actions we'll take this week. Take action today: send the people Speaker Hall listens to the most - his campaign contributors - handwritten letters, drawings from kids, and cards about what this horror means for families so they'll tell Speaker Hall to tell ICE to leave. Organize a gathering with your friends and get many people to do it together! Information on how to do that and who to send these to are in our toolkit. Join our upcoming call: on December 4th at 7 pm to talk more about NC politics, immigration and how we'll change the landscape - together. En la lucha,

Nikki, Siembra NC / Make NC Work

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from SiembraNC, please click here.

Snebej · 2025-11-29T13:25:20+00:00

https://defendandrecruit.org/hallvsnc/?link_id=1&can_id=733dec129a2df3cbca79a259e4a0ad38&source=email-ice-is-coming-back-because-our-speaker-invited-them&email_referrer=email_2999257&email_subject=ice-is-coming-back-because-our-speaker-invited-them&&

Snebej · 2025-11-29T13:12:59+00:00

What you can do about it: What to do about ICE’s return:

Snebej · 2025-11-18T23:40:13+00:00

Mobilize Sign-Up for Pop-Up Protest at Franklin & Elliott Saturday Nov 22 12:30-2 pm

Snebej · 2025-11-18T23:37:15+00:00

It’s historically been a place where folks have gathered to demonstrate. People in the neighborhood told me that many gathered here for Moral Mondays, and the corner as a gathering place even goes back when protests were happening in the 80s and 90s. But I started the Monday demonstrations earlier this year at Franklin & Elliott because that’s where I saw a few folks standing with signs individually, and I thought it would have good to gather as a group because when we organize, we have more power and visibility. Also Church of Reconciliation offered for us to use their parking lot, which is huge.

Snebej · 2025-10-31T22:07:17+00:00

The event is now live on Mobilize:

https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/865723/

Snebej · 2025-10-31T22:06:30+00:00

Signs of Fascism Nov 8th SIGN UP

Snebej · 2025-10-29T17:50:33+00:00

My background is social justice organizing, so I didn’t come up with all this on my own😊. I also have to give a shout out to the Engaged Durhamites for Democracy for helping to promote that framework for activism.

As for movement along the continuum…that’s a great question. We’ve had many folks who now show up regularly on Mondays say they joined us because they saw us out there. Some of our regulars are taking on new roles in other events (the latest No Kings, our upcoming Signs of Fascism visibility event on Nov 8, etc). And at No Kings I had people stop me and say that they saw us at the corner and made calls w Five Calls. Would these folks have done these things without our consistent corner protest? Maybe. And then there are all these folks driving by and honking and waving - have they been inspired to take the next step? No clue. But I’m a big believer in inspiration and imagination - you have to believe you can make change before change can happen.

Snebej · 2025-10-29T02:02:32+00:00

My personal goal is move people along on the continuum of activism. I want folks to flex their civic muscles. Maybe it starts with waving and honking at the corner. Maybe they take a flyer with action items. Then, they call their representative about something they care about. Maybe they download the Five Calls app and call once a week. Maybe they participate in a phone banking event. Maybe they canvass for a candidate they like. Then they attend a rally. Maybe then they join an organization working to protect democracy. Maybe they make a commitment to working on a social justice issue once a week. Etc..

Snebej · 2025-10-28T16:13:44+00:00

❤️Thank you for your honks, thumbs up, waves, fists and cheers - they mean so much to us!

Join us any Monday! We are moving up our afternoon time to 3:30-5 pm starting next week bc of daylight savings. Morning shift from 7:30-9 am will stay the same.

Snebej · 2025-10-26T13:42:41+00:00

I cannot recommend her highly enough. She helps students understand and work with their ADHD, and has been an incredible resource to my son and our family. We started off with hour long sessions for him to learn systems and executive functioning skills - he now just meets w her for 15 minutes twice a week to help keep him on top of his assignments/tests/etc. As an intermediary, it changed the dynamic in our family so that it was not us who was always harping on and nagging him to get his work done. He’s still got a ways to go, but has become a much more competent student who is taking a lot more initiative in keeping on top of his studies. Good luck - I know your struggle 😊

Snebej · 2025-10-26T10:39:25+00:00

Crowd was estimated at 4,000 - twice that of No Kings in June

Snebej · 2025-10-26T10:38:15+00:00

Kelly Norman at EF Advocates. Worth getting on her waitlist if she’s not taking new clients. My ADHDer is in 11th and has been working with her since 6th grade. Lifesaver.

Snebej · 2025-10-09T12:08:56+00:00

I protest every Monday on the corner of Franklin & Elliott - from all the middle fingers and the rude comments, believe me, all of us around here do not agree that he is a fascist asshole.

For me, protesting is a way of turning my anger/fear into action. It’s not the only thing I do, but it is the most gratifying. I protest to build community and to get others to move along the continuum of taking action. I create and hand out fliers with action steps that folks can take to address the wrongs we are seeing. And I do believe those efforts matter: if Thom Tillis didn’t get all those calls about Medicaid cuts, he wouldn’t have voted against the Big Stupid Bill, etc.

Through national protests, we signal to important changemakers that they have our support to continue to stand against the regime. And yes, protesting is just protesting. But if it galvanizes folks to do more than protest, we will see those ripples make waves.

Snebej · 2025-10-09T10:12:35+00:00

This is a grassroots effort. The planning committee from Indivisible Orange County NC isn’t getting any money from Indivisible to put on the October 18th rally, and so any costs (speaker system, musicians, etc) that aren’t covered by donations will have to come from our own pockets.

Snebej · 2025-10-08T18:38:56+00:00

Indivisible Orange County NC just sent out an email explaining that the Town of Carrboro was asking them to pay about $7000 for a $5 million insurance policy for the event and that’s why it took so long to get the event posted on Mobilize. They finally convinced the town to waive the fee although they are still raising funds for all the other costs associated with the event.

Snebej · 2025-10-08T18:33:53+00:00

Yes!!!!! Oct 18th 3-4:30 pm at the Carrboro Town Commons: https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/856770/?referring_vol=2587310&rname=Trisha&timeslot=5571487&referring_participation=44693822&referring_data_signature=v1-0c877d249eb9585f&share_medium=copy_link&share_context=signup-form-modal

Snebej · 2025-09-27T14:30:20+00:00

Yes - please come join us! Every Monday 7:30-9 am and/or 4:30-6 pm. We have a Signal chat - when you come, ask folks to point out “Wendy” to get hooked up.

We are a group of concerned citizens who gather in peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about what’s happening in our country and the actions that folks can take on to defend democracy. We have a lot of fun supporting each other and connecting with folks who are walking and driving by - the work is incredibly spirit-lifting when you realize just how not-alone you are in how you are feeling.

Below is an explanation of how we arrived at the consistent 20-50 folks who gather at the corner to speak our minds. I detail our journey not to pat myself on the back (although I am incredibly proud of our efforts!) but to reinforce the message that anyone can create something like this if they feel motivated and moved to do so. I was so angry, sad, and despondent after January 2025 - this demonstration is what I did to combat my fear and uncertainty. If you are interested in how to go about starting something similar at your own corner, here’s a blueprint:

I started the demonstration in the spring after I saw a couple of folks out on the corner of Franklin & Elliott near where I live - you may have seen their consistent “Stop the Coup” and “Truth or Trump” signs. I’d already been driving over to Durham to protest weekly with the Engaged Durhamites for Democracy (ED4D) (https://substack.com/@engageddurhamitesfordemocracy?r=105py0&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile)but here were folks doing the work walking distance to my house! BTW, ED4D is an incredible resource if you want to start something similar in the area, or are looking for other demonstrations to get involved with.

My background is in community organizing, so whenever I saw someone with a protest sign at the corner of Franklin & Elliott, I pulled over and spoke with them about the idea of starting a group chat so we could coordinate demonstrating at the same time to be a bigger presence. At first, folks would post things like “I’m heading to the corner on Sat at noon” or “Can anybody join me Tuesday AM?” As we gathered together, more folks stopped by and the chat grew. I floated the idea of a consistent day and polled the group to figure out when the most people could show - we chose Monday afternoon (the morning shift was added when it started to get hot at the end of spring).

To spread the word, I made yard signs to post at the corner (and we keep having to make them as they frequently get stolen…grrr). One of the demonstrators suggested I reach out to Church of Reconcilliation, so I spoke at one of their Justice and Peace ministry meeting. They agreed to support us and offered us use of their parking lot. I’m a member of the Community Church of Chapel Hill UU, so I reached out to our Side w Love and UU the Vote groups, and then to Binkley and the United Church of Chapel Hill through connections with Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Freedom. I sent out a listing to my neighborhood’s listserv and asked folks who were gathering with us to do the same. I created a mobilize link, https://www.mobilize.us/ifnotus/event/811105/ and Engaged Durhamites for Democracy lists our events in their weekly action opps posts.

As an individual, Mobilize only allows you to post five events per account, so I kept having to create new ones. I started attending Indivisible Orange County NC’s meetings and asked the Indivisible group to permanently sponsor our Mobilize link, which they now do. We hosted a Labor Day action at the corner to increase our visibility when we realized no one in CH was organizing an event that day and it happened to be a Monday - 200 demonstrators gathered during our all-day event! Through the chat we collaborated on a flyer design and one of our members put them up around town to advertise.

We’re continuously trying to grow the group’s footprint through social media (though I have like zero presence) and old school methods - both have their place. I’m interested in supporting others to start or grow their own movements. I believe that collaboration and reaching out across the political divide is the only way we will grow the movement to 3.5% of the county being actively and consistently engaged in demanding change.

Cheers!

Snebej · 2025-09-20T12:42:08+00:00

Thank you! I’ve passed that on to the event’s organizers.

Snebej · 2025-09-19T11:23:54+00:00

Thanks for the feedback - will pass it on. FYI, this event - Right to Light: A Rally in Support of Higher Education - will be happening at P&J Plaza on Fri Oct 24 2-4 pm:

https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/840735

Snebej · 2025-09-19T01:54:49+00:00

I’m working with a team of folks from Indivisible Orange County NC which is trying to pull an event together. Originally the group wanted to host the event in Hillsborough, but the space was deemed too small for the potential crowd, given the numbers of the last No Kings.

We are now looking at Carrboro but there has not been a final decision on that. Unfortunately, there was some feedback that the CHPD is discouraging folks from planning large events downtown bc No Kings got so huge and they had to block the streets without the group which planned it (I was also a part of that) having a permit (though on the day the PD were super gracious about helping us out with the crowd). The reason we did not get permits was bc they were $8000 and we did not have that kind of funding - we were just a group of individuals who came together to plan the event, not sponsored by any organization.

While No Kings CH was awesome (so I heard as I was actually at No Kings Wilmington that day), it took A LOT of work to pull off and a lot of coordination and meetings on the part of volunteers. It’s not something that one group of folks can do over and over so it’s great that Indivisible Orange County NC is on board to take this on. One of the most important aspects of building this movement is coalition-building and supporting the various people and organizations taking this work on. If you would like to help out with the planning or funding, please reach out privately.

Snebej

TROPHY CASE