CONCORD, CA (Apr. 23, 2025) — Concord’s Pam Campbell is not a community activist. The recent retiree enjoys working out, binge watching cable TV shows with her husband and reading.

She likes reading so much she joined a book club of about a dozen Concord and Walnut Creek women who also appreciate the written word.

But it was a different type of written word that Campbell and others in her book club were sharing when they held signs and marched along with the Indivisible ReSisters Contra Costa (IRCC) in front of Walnut Creek’s Tesla store in the Hands Off! Contra Costa Fights Back rally on April 5.

The event drew about 5,000 protesters rallying against President Donald Trump and his right-hand man, Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

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A growing movement

The new president’s actions and Musk’s scorched earth dismantling of many government agencies has angered Democrats and other liberals, and Indivisible ReSisters steering committee member Kathryn Durham-Hammer says the movement is just getting bigger.

“Our membership has grown dramatically every week since mid-February,” Durham Hammer says. “From a five-person steering committee and a 200-person Facebook group, we now have over 1,500 members, and we are growing every day – sometimes by 100 new members in a single day.”

Campbell recently joined the Indivisible ReSisters after hearing about it from a friend at another grassroots organization where she volunteers, Concord-based GROW. She convinced most of her book club – many of them Democrats – to join the protest and the organization.

“I was thrilled by all the support from my friends,” she says. “Even one of the Republican members of the club who is anti-Trump participated.”

From coffee to community activism

The ReSisters themselves started in school – their children’s school.

“I became a ReSister after the 2016 election,” Durham-Hammer says. “An acquaintance from my daughter’s preschool contacted me and all of the like-minded women she knew and invited us to coffee to brainstorm and write postcards to Congress. She was inspired by the Women’s March.”
She said she was also influenced by Project Impact, an organization started by another group member, while others were active with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

She remembers the first Facebook messenger thread, where she posted “I don’t think (Trump’s first administration) realized they’ve poked a bunch of sleeping mama bears!”

“These women were so knowledgeable, insightful and passionate,” Durham-Hammer says. “I wanted and needed to keep meeting with them to share ideas, inspiration and plans. So in February 2017, I created the ReSisters Facebook group and invited these women to share their knowledge, ideas and plans. We would discuss the week’s developments and plan action for the upcoming week. And that’s what we have done every week since then for over eight years now.”

After each protest and march, the Indivisible Resisters add a little levity to their protests with a “Flash Mob Dance Party.”

Looking forward

Campbell says she hopes to participate more in the group, including joining the Stop Trump Rally and March scheduled for April 19 as part of a national day of protest. The camaraderie she feels as a Democrat and a woman has been inspiring.

“I don’t feel powerless anymore,” she says. “I was too young to protest for the civil rights movement and Vietnam, but this is a very scary time for women. I want to do what I can, even if it’s just holding a sign.”

For more information on the Indivisible ReSisters of Contra Costa, visit its Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/indivisibleresisterscc.

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