OCEAN CITY — “People need an outlet for their rage,” Indivisible OCNJ co-leader Lorraine Kilpatrick said Aug. 2 as a couple of dozen people, most of them well past voting age, gathered on the Ocean City side of the Route 52 causeway.
“Indivisible OCNJ will once again stand with nationwide organizations to protest ongoing threats to civil and human rights and the rule of law. We must continue to peacefully voice our concerns on what is happening in Washington, D.C., and across the country,” a flier from the groups states.
The local protest was part of the national Rage against the Regime rally organized by the 50501 Movement against the policies of the Trump administration.
According to 50501, Aug. 2 marked a National Day of Action, uniting communities across the nation in a shared purpose.
“On this day, we come together to transform anger into action, harnessing the energy of collective resistance. Our movement is rooted in non-violence, but it is far from passive,” according to the group’s website. “We stand strong, bold and unyielding, showing the world the irresistible force of communities united against injustice.”
Kilpatrick and Lou Stricoff, co-leaders of the local group Indivisible OCNJ, were handing out fliers and welcoming participants Saturday morning as the rally was about to start.
Asked what their grievances were, Kilpatrick said “the list is so long” and Stricoff added “and gets bigger every day.”
“The concentration camps, the Big Beautiful Bill that’s going to hurt our beach replenishment,” said Kilpatrick, of Sea Isle City.
“We have to be aware. Unless you’re a billionaire I don’t know why you would support that,” full-time Ocean City resident Stricoff added of the budget bill.
The group’s flier state objections to the Trump administration such as unconstitutional power grabs, deportations without due process, inhumane detention centers like “Alligator Alcatraz,” cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and attacks on civil rights, bodily autonomy and programs families rely on to live.
Kilpatrick also cited “the lies, saying that the economy is great,” referencing the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after she released a jobs report that showed poor July employment growth and lower rates of hiring in May and June.
“We’re just angry. Everybody who comes here just says ‘thank you so much, you’re giving us hope,’” Kilpatrick said. “They can’t stay home and watch the news; this at least gets them out.”
“We’re against MAGA (Make America Great Again) policies. After the election, I was in shock, depressed and then I decided I’m going to do something about it,” said Stricoff, 75, referencing President Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in November 2024.
Kilpatrick, 76, is chair of the Democratic Party in Sea Isle.
Hailing from the Flower Power generation, Stricoff agreed today’s leaders grew up in a time of great change.
“It is disappointing,” he said. “We were going to change the world and it’s gotten worse.”
“Women’s right, which was a big hallmark of the ’70s, that’s been taking a hit,” Stricoff said.
“Nobody has the right to tell me what to do with my body,” Kilpatrick added.
She said she is disappointed to learn of plans to put a detention camp at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
“I’m going to try to start something like a car caravan or bus to get up there and protest,” Kilpatrick said.
Janet Yunghans, 65, president of the Upper Township Democratic Club.
“We are very involved in the resistance movement. We are doing all we can to get Democratic candidates elected while supporting groups like Indivisible and 50501 in their effort to get the word out,” she said.
“I would like to help save democracy. We are now ruled by an authoritarian, or wannabe authoritarian, and we are losing many, many of our democratic institutions and a lot of people are losing their rights,” Yunghans said. “There are now concentration camps on American soil, they’ve cut funding to NPR and there are news organizations that are just toeing the line, and when you lose your news you lost the fourth estate and that’s essential to a thriving democracy.”
Fran McCann said she felt obligated to show up.
“For me, this is like a moral imperative. I have to do it for all the people who served our country in the past,” the Galloway Township resident said.
Retired Ocean City Primary School teachers Teresita Doebley of Somers Point and Janet Romano of Egg Harbor Township were among those protesting.
“I really don’t like what’s going on in our country,” Doebley, 73, said. “People are losing their rights — women, immigrants. My dad was an immigrant.”
“We cannot stand idly by as American ideals continue to be threatened. We must fight for all Americans and the country we love,” according to Indivisible OCNJ. “This isn’t just about politics as usual, this is about the moral and ethical foundation our forefathers outlined in the Constitution. We will not and cannot stay silent, we must peacefully Rage against this Regime.”
