- April 24, 2024
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At a recent progressive protest outside Rep. Ron DeSantis’ office in Port Orange, Palm Coast resident Diana Becker — a 64-year-old local organizer who’s volunteered for Democratic campaigns — walked across the partisan line to speak to a counter-protestor who was part of a group clad in paramilitary fatigues.
“I started asking him what he was all about, and we started having a political conversation about (President Donald Trump’s) tax returns,” Becker said. “But we did agree that we needed to know (Trump’s) conflicts of interest, so we did find some common ground. I asked him, ‘If someone would hurt me or someone on the (progressive) side, would you help us?’ and he said ‘Absolutely,’ so we ended up taking pictures together.”
That’s the kind of conversation that Becker, the organizer of the Indivisble Flagler Facebook page, would like to see more of.
Michael Gussman, a 51-year-old Palm Coast resident and Indivisible Flagler member, said he’s shaken hands with people on the other side of the line at recent protests, trying to find common ground to have a civil discussion.
Doing that, he said, shows people on the other side of the political divide that progressive protestors are real people with genuine concerns — not paid shills, as some conservative figures have alleged.
Indivisible Flagler is one of a number of local organizations campaigning for progressive causes and pushing lawmakers to oppose Trump’s initiatives.
Indivisible Flagler and Indivisible Palm Coast, Hammock Beach Florida 6th District have been organizing daily political actions in coordination with the larger, grass roots Indivisible movement, is inspired by a document called the “Indivisible Guide," written by former congressional staffers.
The document lays out strategies local activists opposed to the Trump administration can take to push their government to listen to their demands — like calling senators and congressmen, holding marches and appearing at town halls with coordinated sets of questions.
Becker formed Indivisible Flagler in January.
“I read the ‘Indivisible Guide, ‘and I kept thinking, “This is all about local, and if I don’t do it, who’s going to?’” she said. “So I decided to start a Facebook group called Indivisible Flagler, and here we are.”
The group started with about 20 people. Now it has 350. Indivisible Palm Coast has 150 members.
Becker is familiar with local organizing. She canvassed for Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign in 2007, then on Barack Obama’s campaign after he won the primary, then on Clinton’s campaign again for this past Democratic primary and general presidential election.
Indivisible Flagler quickly linked up with other other groups such as Indivisible Palm Coast, Hammock Beach, Florida 6th District and Indivisible Floridian Unity (based in Ormond Beach) to hold joint events.
Locally, Indivisible Flagler and Indivisible Palm Coast held a rally for press freedom March 2, holding up signs supporting press freedom outside local newspaper offices. Members joined up with members of other Indivisible groups for press freedom rallies in Daytona Beach, and for protests against Trump’s travel ban.
Indivisible Floridian Unity organizers Dr. Jessica Owens, 33, and Dr. Brian Coleman, 34, joined up with Becker and a group from Indivisible Flagler and Indivisible Palm Coast to take part in a beach cleanup event in Flagler Beach March 4; Indivisible Flagler members also protested in front of Palm Coast City Hall March 7 to oppose recent remarks by City Manager Jim Landon denigrating FlaglerLive.com
The Saturday, March 4 beach cleanup, undertaken in concert with the nonpartisan Flagler Beach All-Stars volunteer group, was social, not political — at least, until the Indivisible group chalked the words “Indivisible Flagler rocks” on the chalkboard at the Funky Pelican.
But consistent, small-scale, events like that that keep Indivisible Palm Coast and Indivisible Flagler cohesive.
Aside from actions Indivisible members can take on individually — such as calling members of Congress — the local Indivisible groups provide regular ways for members to get together, socialize and feel like they’re doing something to support their political ideals.
Every week, the events page of the Indivisible groups’ Facebook pages offer a number of events that members can take part in in Flagler County or the greater northeast Florida area.
Owens and Coleman, who recently moved to the area, said Indivisible helped them find a community of like-minded people.
But the groups are not homogenous. Indivisible does not have a single, set platform, although local groups’ actions have tended to oppose Trump’s actions and support progressive causes such as immigrant rights, funding for public education, LGBT rights and separation of church and state.
“You wont find two group that are the same,” Owens said.
The local groups are trying to focus on policy, Becker said, and people can take part in an Indivisible action on one policy even if they disagree with the group about a different policy. Or, she said, they can focus on the interest that are closest to them.
For Becker, that may be the Affordable Care Act: She found herself designated as having a pre-existing condition after she donated a kidney to a stranger many years ago, and the ACA, she said, made it possible for people in her position to access decent insurance coverage.
Owens said that some of her priorities are women’s rights and the Black Lives Matter movement, while Coleman, a medical doctor, is a supporter of Medicare for all.
“The national Indivisible group sends down the issue that were supposed to focus on, but the local groups all have pet issues and we decide,” Owens said. “If a rogue tweet goes out, or if an executive order comes out, we jump on that.”
And although members of the local Indivisible groups’ Facebook pages sometimes post political cartoons and memes that take jabs at Trump, Becker and Owens said that people who voted for him would be welcome to take part in individual Indivisible actions that align with their values — opposing an individual nominee, for instance, or pushing for an inquiry into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Party affiliation doesn’t matter, either.
“We’re actually nonpartisan; we don’t even ask,” Becker said.
Gussman said the group doesn’t want to base itself solely in opposition to the administration.
“We’re trying to stay positive and focused on a more progressive-type movement,” he said.
Becker said that means knowing how to reach out — “how to talk to people that disagree with you” — and how to come together as progressives.
“A few years ago, we were not connected,” she said. “We may have been doing things apart. We’re more direct-action now.”
