A growing resistance movement is developing along American roads and highways, where citizens are using bridges and overpasses to display signs with political messages. Across the country, informally organized groups such as the Visibility Brigades are transforming viaducts, bridges, and overpasses into political billboards.
What makes these protests different from traditional forms is not only the format, but also the audience. A demonstration often targets people who are already convinced, while signs on overpasses attract the attention of everyone: commuters, truck drivers, parents picking up their children from school, people who would never participate in a demonstration, but who still have to drive home.
Since Trump returned to office, these actions have spread rapidly. In the days following the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, protest signs appeared within hours on overpasses in Montana, New Jersey, California, Minnesota, and Kentucky.
Protests on overpasses are often joyful, strange, and creative. Costumes. Music. Symbols instead of slogans. They reject the idea that resistance must be grim to be taken seriously. Organizers say the goal is not only to express outrage, but also to remind people that they are not alone and isolated, that opposition exists in places the media ignores.
Overpass protests are proof that Americans continue to invent ways to be seen, even when the system would prefer them to remain invisible.
And perhaps this is the most powerful part: no big leaders, no permits, no waiting for the next election. Just people standing above the traffic, declaring what millions of people think and making sure it is seen.
Sources:
The Other 98% Facebook page
