FORT BRAGG, CA., 12/1/25 — As the busiest shopping season of the year kicks off, controversy is swirling around two planned days of action by Indivisible Mendocino Coast, a grassroots pro-democracy group. The so-called “Solidarity Crawls” are scheduled for Dec. 6 and 20 to encourage people to shop at locally owned businesses, specifically those displaying a message of support for immigrants.
In a letter sent Nov. 18, the Indivisible team asked business owners to put a sticker in their windows that says, “We Stand With Immigrant Families.” The request also asks businesses to designate a private space where law enforcement will not be allowed access without a warrant.
“When others are being attacked, the simple act of bystanders saying, ‘I don’t like this; it should stop,’ makes all the difference,” said Christie Olson Day, speaking for Indivisible Mendocino Coast. “That’s what this project encourages. The city government has issued resolutions in support of immigrants, though it has not declared Fort Bragg a sanctuary city. More voices of support only strengthen both the message and the community’s resolve.”
While many Fort Bragg businesses are taking part, at least one longtime resident is expressing concern that the signage and messaging may do more harm than good.
“The reason why I got involved is that I was approached by several business people who were nervous about this letter and were afraid to get involved themselves,” said entrepreneur and longtime Fort Bragg resident Marc Tager. “Fort Bragg is a tiny town. Our local business district needs all the help from everyone. They don’t need to be singled out for not complying to someone’s rules, but that’s basically what this does.”
Tager said now is the time to support all locally owned businesses, whether they have the sticker up or not. “We need our local dollars to stay here and support everybody — not just people who think like us,” he said. “It’s still America, and I believe we can have differences of opinion.”
Olson Day disagrees with the idea that the effort is divisive. “Support for immigration is at a record high,” she said, citing recent Gallup polling showing 79 percent of Americans view immigration as good for the country and 78 percent support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “There’s also growing concern about protecting due process rights. You might not know it from online discourse, but these are not divisive issues in real life.”
She emphasized that participation is optional. “There’s no pressure,” she said. “We have no way of knowing if a business chooses not to participate unless they make that public.”
Tager said Indivisible Mendocino Coast’s heart is in the right place but believes they should just encourage people to shop local without any signage needed because of the already existing support for immigrants in Fort Bragg. “I think these folks are great people and Indivisible [Mendocino Coast] is a great organization,” he said. “But this isn’t the right move.”
Immigration is like salt on food.
The right amount makes the meal better.
Too much destroys it.
The question is how much immigration, at what rate per year and what percentage influx (on average) per area (county, city, state, country.)
Nonsense kneejerk hyperultraliberals who are IN FAVOR OF IMMIGRATION PERIOD BECAUSE ORANGE MAN EVIL are childish, shortsighted, and even quite possibly self-hating in the long run.
Unchecked, arms-open immigration policy, left in place for years to decades, can eventually result in the gradual destruction of the host country’s culture and institutions.
I think we can agree that legal immigrants are a boon to the county.
Is there a big law enforcement presence in these quaint little shops that needs addressing?? That part seems odd and a bit unnecessarily provocative. These days virtue is the commodity.. im glad shops are finding new marketing techniques. Black Friday is dead 😅. Shop local 🤗🌈
“It’s not divisive” she says as she goes about dividing the shops into those who think enforcing immigration laws is morally repugnant and those cruel, heartless people who think it necessary. Despite such protestations, it purposely seeks to punish those who don’t post their allegiance to Indivisible, the organization funded by billionaires. And note that you can’t trust their intentions when they conflate legal immigration and illegal immigration into simply immigrants. This is not a good faith effort.
John R. Redding is one of the most toxic and divisive people in the Mendocino / Fort Bragg area. It is staggeringly hypocritical and ironic he would harp on divisiveness. Don’t take my word for it, just do some research on this guy…add the word “extortion” to your research.
As an example, if he doesn’t agree with your political position, even if he doesn’t know you, he will target and insult you on his Facebook page and make gross assumptions about what type of person you are. He did it to me and other neighbors where he lives as a “guest” in someone’s home.
Let’s examine his post critically – because it is peppered with fabrications and fiction:
– Calling a voluntary event “punishment” is false when the article makes clear no boycott, pressure, or consequences exist.
– Inventing “division” despite the organizer explicitly stating it’s not a protest or a political loyalty test.
– Claiming businesses must show “allegiance” — pure fiction, not supported anywhere in the article. Redding makes things up to sow division.
– Pushing the false trope that Indivisible is “billionaire-funded,” a claim with zero evidence. This is a fabrication – plain and simple.
– Accusing organizers of conflating legal/illegal immigration even though the article does no such thing.
– Declaring it a “bad faith effort” without a single fact to support the accusation.
– Asserting moral judgment (“cruel, heartless people”) that appears nowhere in the event description or quotes — he made that up too.
We stand with immigrant families but we do not stand with or for illegal Invaders into our country! There’s a big difference and when you people will get that through your head is beyond me. Learn the difference it’s really simple, look it up, Google it, ask a librarian! Quit being stupid and actually learn the definition of things! These people are not undocumented immigrants they are illegal Invaders into our country and there’s a big difference. Just stop lying to people and putting this crap on our news!
Nothing like the comments section to destroy nuance in America. It’s unlikely that ICE is getting ready to pounce in Fort Bragg and so the request to bar law enforcement sans warrant might be a bit heavy at the moment. FBPD is probably too busy looking up license plates on Flock to see what the cute cowgirls in the lifted trucks are doing down in the harbor anyway. Shop local and avoid Amazon whenever possible is the way we keep any shops open. The DA is going to be a grumpy loser and sheriff Kendall will continue to be a bigot regardless of the signs up in our businesses. Keep it weird forever, Fort Bragg.
We already have too much division in our society. We don’t need to add to it by putting signs in our windows, saying who we like or who we don’t like. Everyone Should be treated equally. Let’s quit giving people, places, and things labels – it only brings along division.
I’m curious. How is this divisive, but pressuring businesses into posting Fort Bragg Forever signs unifying?
Talk about pressuring, let’s see if you don’t put up the signs provided by indivisible, the members of indivisible will not shop there, they will go to the bussinesses that display your signs. Most bussinesses asked for a Fort Bragg Forever sign, and no bussinesses were pressured into displaying them. We don’t decide where to shop by looking to see if our sign is posted, but you guys do. If your sign isn’t posted, you don’t shop there. Division at its finest.