GETTING ORGANIZED
The organizers are organizing.
Last December, the Inyo 350 activist group held a community meeting to give people a chance to ponder what might happen when Donald Trump took control of the presidency. It garnered a nice turnout, but nothing to write home about.
However, the first weeks of the Trump presidency jolted the somewhat sleepy local response to the stream of policies and pronouncements that have been pouring out of the Oval Office like lava spewing from a volcano. That has heated up the local Inyo 350 group, which is an admittedly progressive, left-of-center or, heaven forbid, liberal group.
On Sunday, Feb. 2, the contingent of Eastern Sierra residents who are markedly unhappy, upset and angry about Trump’s initial presidential moves pretty much filled the large fellowship hall at the Bishop United Methodist Church. The organizers noted lots of new faces, a good contingent of younger people and plenty of pent up “I gotta do something” energy. A solid contingent of Mammoth Lakes and Mono County folks added some regional umph. More tables and chairs were hastily brought out of storage to accommodate the nearly 90 attendees.
While there was plenty of energy and angst, at this point uncertainty about the real impact of Trump’s pronouncements on everything from immigration to federal hiring and spending freezes tempered the direct action, to-do lists generated on a variety of issues.
Nonetheless, plans were made and ideas presented on how to respond when a clear target arrived. The goal is to be like a cat hiding in the sagebrush and when a mouse appears, dash out and pounce.
Such planning will be needed, it was noted, to counter the well-organized and active conservative groups, such as Free Eastside, and right-leaning conservative residents who will undoubtedly be energized and encouraged by the right turns being taken by Trump. That is not a small group. Inyo County has, at best, a 50-50 split between democrat/republican presidential voters. In November, Inyo voters went 50-47% in favor of Trump. Mono voters were 58- 38% for Harris.
Some items presented in summary were a bit more direct then hiding in the bushes and waiting to strike.
The region’s Republican US Representative Kevin Kiley was in the crosshairs. The House has passed his Fix Our Forests Act, which was described as a way to get around national environmental laws to enable cutting timber from National Forests. His Freedom to Cooperate Act would allow local law enforcement “who wish to cooperate” to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents round up, arrest and detain immigrants. It would butt heads with the California “Sanctuary State” law that mandates local officers can’t take part in or support ICE operations.
The action called for was an old school move: Call his office. On the phone. (Of course they had his number: 202-225-2523.) Those savvy to the ways of Washington said phone calls are counted and tracked by congressional and senate staff and reported to the electeds. Email and snail mail are mostly discarded.
More old-fashioned political advice was offered to impact local politicians. Residents were urged to attend county, school board and city council meetings and visibly support the stances or policies they agree with, and oppose the moves they don’t. Bodies in the meeting room, it was noted, have more impact then emails and chats at the post office with elected officials. An example of officials deserving a pat on the back: the Bishop, Mammoth Lakes police departments and Inyo and Mono Sheriff’s offices, outlined how local LEOs will not take part in ICE operations because of the aforementioned state law.
Speaking of ICE, despite the online chatter and rumors, ICE has not arrived in the Eastern Sierra yet. If ICE arrives, people are planning to track and observe the officers and video their work. An ongoing effort to remind immigrants they have rights and particularly the right to remain silent (4th Amendment) and have a lawyer. It was noted the Trump “Border Czar” recently complained that immigrants knowing those rights had made it tougher to round them up during sweeps in Chicago.
Confusion and uncertainty are the order of the day for federal agencies. That’s a problem in the Eastern Sierra where the Forest Service, BLM, and Park Service are the largest landowners and land managers. Until there’s more clarity about the scope of announced/ threatened/proposed hiring and spending freezes, those agencies will be pausing the hiring of hundreds of summer seasonal workers and waiting for clearance before undertaking larger infrastructure or other projects.
On the medical front, the biggest threats are cuts to the Medicaid program, for low-income people, known as Medi-Cal in California, and Medicare, covering those over 65. Roughly half the patient revenue at Bishop’s Northern Inyo Hospital and Mammoth Hospital and their clinics comes from those two programs. Any cuts in reimbursement rates or services would have significant impacts locally.
The most sobering report came from the LGBTQ+ group. A noticeable increase in straight-up hate speech, name-calling and “anti-queer” rhetoric has been observed and felt locally on social media and will likely start to show up during public meetings. Simply countering such “hateful” speech and supporting LGBTQ+ community members and their supporters was seen as a necessary first step.
Jon Klusmire of Bishop is close to drowning while trying to follow Trump’s “Flood the Zone” tactics.
Meanwhile, Lunch looked at the first sentence and thought to himself, with a nod to Taylor Swift, the players gonna play and the haters gonna hate
