{"id":219773,"date":"2026-03-14T17:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219773\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:37:11","slug":"la-mesa-social-security-protest-brings-seniors-together-for-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219773\/","title":{"rendered":"La Mesa Social Security protest brings seniors together, for a year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Protesters first began to show up at a La Mesa intersection nearly a year ago to protest President Trump\u2019s policies. Now it\u2019s a weekly date every Tuesday. (Photo by Drew Sitton\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a> to receive their benefits.<\/p>\n

But the protest has expanded to cover much more as the Trump administration moved on to new targets. Now various signs condemn ICE<\/a>, fascism, pedophilia and, most recently, the war in Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>Lawn chairs, hats, sunglasses and sunscreen are encouraged due to the sunny location of the weekly protest. (Photo by Drew Sitton\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re coming out here because we want change,\u201d said Randy James, adding \u201ccan you imagine where we would be if we did nothing since January 20, 2025? Where would we be now? God only knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost a duty to show up because others can\u2019t,\u201d said Eileen Schmitz, 76.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several attendees said they were motivated to protest for the sake of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried about them. We\u2019re concerned about their future,\u201d said Sharon Smith, 77.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Protest co-founders Dave Willner, second from right, and Leslie Fadem, far right, in front of the Social Security Administration sign at the end of the rally on Tuesday, March 10. (Photo by Drew Sitton\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf in Nazi Germany, the everyday citizens had gotten up and protested, 6 million of my people,\u201d Willner said, before repeating, \u201c6 million of my people, would not have been exterminated.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

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 \u201clibtards\u201d and \u201ccommunists.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community, unlike El Cajon<\/a>, is so supportive,\u201d said Leslie Fadem, a co-founder of the protest. \u201cThe amount of honking, thumbs up. We\u2019ve had people come and join us, because we\u2019re here every single Tuesday, so people come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also found community with each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sharon Smith, left, and Eileen Schmitz on University Avenue on March 10, 2026. (Photo by Drew Sitton\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Smith and Schmitz were acquaintances while protesting the Vietnam war together on San Diego State University\u2019s campus before falling out of touch. The two La Mesans developed a friendship when they started seeing each other on Tuesdays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people here, we\u2019re becoming a community,\u201d Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finding things in common with others is especially important to Smith and Schmitz as Trump\u2019s base remains incomprehensible to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels so concerning that at least a third of the country supports evildoing,\u201d said Schmitz, who moved to La Mesa in 1961. \u201cI have trouble thinking that people in the town I live with don\u2019t care, don\u2019t see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She does not believe the country has been this polarized since the Vietnam War.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of the protesters are Vietnam War vets \u2013 not actually former military, but the activists and agitators who cut their teeth advocating for peace in the \u201860s. Protesting is their life blood. And they\u2019ve seen its effectiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what protesting is about,\u201d Willner said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not true for all of them. At age 82, photographer Jennifer Spencer shared that this is her first protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure at first what I could do,\u201d Spencer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She described feeling despair in the early days of Trump\u2019s second administration. Attending helped her find hope.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt made a big difference because I felt kind of alone and very frustrated and nervous about what was going to happen,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cI really needed to feel that positive energy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now she faithfully participates every week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And they aren\u2019t done. Protesters plan to continue showing up every Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jennifer Spencer stands with other rallygoers along University Avenue on Tuesday, March 10. (Photo by Drew Sitton\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters first began to show up at a La Mesa intersection nearly a year ago to protest President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[14189,2575,2871,19378,6572,7361,74,76,75,386],"class_list":["post-219773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-benefits","tag-democracy","tag-ice","tag-iran","tag-la-mesa","tag-protests","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-seniors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}