Every Tuesday morning for almost a year, around 70 protesters have waved signs and garnered honks at the intersection adjacent to the Social Security Administration office in La Mesa.
The crowd of mostly gray and white heads first rallied to protect Social Security. In March 2025, President Donald Trump added new requirements for recipients to verify their identity, with online or in-person visits. Simultaneously, many field offices and phone services were closed as a cost-cutting measure, making it more difficult for vulnerable rural Americans to receive their benefits.
But the protest has expanded to cover much more as the Trump administration moved on to new targets. Now various signs condemn ICE, fascism, pedophilia and, most recently, the war in Iran.
“We’re coming out here because we want change,” said Randy James, adding “can you imagine where we would be if we did nothing since January 20, 2025? Where would we be now? God only knows.”
Occasionally young people attend, but since the protest takes place between 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. on a weekday, many are working. So instead, retirees up to age 94 stand, sit or march on the corner of University Avenue and La Mesa Boulevard.
“It’s almost a duty to show up because others can’t,” said Eileen Schmitz, 76.
Several attendees said they were motivated to protest for the sake of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I’m worried about them. We’re concerned about their future,” said Sharon Smith, 77.
Co-founder Dave Willner said he does not want his 1-year-old grandchild to grow up in an authoritarian dictatorship. He wants her to grow up in a democracy like he has. So, he protests.
“If in Nazi Germany, the everyday citizens had gotten up and protested, 6 million of my people,” Willner said, before repeating, “6 million of my people, would not have been exterminated.”
A rallygoer shows off a new sign to protest co-founder Leslie Fadem. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
Dee Randolph, right, protests for the sake of a nephew adopted from Colombia. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
Tuesday, March 10 in La Mesa. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
Many rallygoers are friends with each other. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
Protesters on University Avenue in front of the Social Security Administration office on Tuesday, March 10 in La Mesa. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
The crowd garners honks on University Avenue on Tuesday, March 10 in La Mesa. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego) 
Bryan Kelly urges 3.5% of the population to peacefully protest on Tuesday, March 10 in La Mesa. (Photo by Drew Sitton/Times of San Diego)
The protest, of course, has its detractors. A man in a black truck regularly passes by yelling obscenities. On March 10, he shouted that rallygoers were “libtards” and “communists.”
But the affirmative responses far outweigh that. Barbara Heilcheck kept track of all positive honks with a clicker on the same day, reaching over 200 within an hour.
“This community, unlike El Cajon, is so supportive,” said Leslie Fadem, a co-founder of the protest. “The amount of honking, thumbs up. We’ve had people come and join us, because we’re here every single Tuesday, so people come.”
Their advocacy goes beyond protesting, Fadem said. During the government shutdown, the group started a collection and donated thousands of dollars worth of food to the SSA staff in La Mesa and El Cajon.
They’ve also found community with each other.
Smith and Schmitz were acquaintances while protesting the Vietnam war together on San Diego State University’s campus before falling out of touch. The two La Mesans developed a friendship when they started seeing each other on Tuesdays.
“The people here, we’re becoming a community,” Smith said.
Finding things in common with others is especially important to Smith and Schmitz as Trump’s base remains incomprehensible to them.
“It feels so concerning that at least a third of the country supports evildoing,” said Schmitz, who moved to La Mesa in 1961. “I have trouble thinking that people in the town I live with don’t care, don’t see.”
She does not believe the country has been this polarized since the Vietnam War.
Many of the protesters are Vietnam War vets – not actually former military, but the activists and agitators who cut their teeth advocating for peace in the ‘60s. Protesting is their life blood. And they’ve seen its effectiveness.
“We know what protesting is about,” Willner said.
That’s not true for all of them. At age 82, photographer Jennifer Spencer shared that this is her first protest.
“I wasn’t sure at first what I could do,” Spencer said.
She described feeling despair in the early days of Trump’s second administration. Attending helped her find hope.
“It made a big difference because I felt kind of alone and very frustrated and nervous about what was going to happen,” Spencer said. “I really needed to feel that positive energy.”
Now she faithfully participates every week.
And they aren’t done. Protesters plan to continue showing up every Tuesday.
