Who puts up the Highway 101 political banners?

His involvement, which began last June, stemmed from a feeling of defeat and powerlessness as Trump’s second term began, as well as a desire for collective action.

“Early on, it just kind of felt like there wasn’t a lot of opposition,” Morgan said. “Congress kind of didn’t seem like they were doing anything. You didn’t see a lot of protesting, and it just kind of felt despairing.”

Since then, the group has flown banners in support of the No Kings movement, fabric that draws attention to Trump’s relationship with New York financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, slogans against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and banners questioning the motives behind the U.S. war in Iran.

Dave Clark, who began bannering last March and was one of the first to begin the effort, said he’s a retired veteran whose been previously involved in climate change advocacy and local efforts at the City Council level. A majority of the bannering group skews older, he said.

“The median age is 70 — kind of like 65 to 80,” he said.

The group works together to produce the lettering and stenciled images that can be seen from the highway, with some members creating the lettering and others taking a paint-by-numbers approach on more detailed drawings. The fabric is easily rolled up and stored when not in use, and they’ve been so prolific in creating the banners that they’ll send some off to other Visibility Brigade chapters throughout the country, Clark said.

Up on the overpass, where music plays, cars can be heard honking from the highway below and 10-plus residents are gathered to hang the banners — a number that got up into the hundreds on advocacy-heavy days like the No Kings protest — energy is high. There’s been some concern about altercations with Trump supporters, who the group calls “rippers” for their penchant for biking by and trying to take banners down, but the effort continues regardless, Clark said.

“It is really fun,” he said. “There’s a group that’s really paranoid that MAGA is going to come, and we’ve run into MAGA, and they’re really spineless. I’m willing to take that chance.”

Recently, an image of a shooting target with bullet holes and the slogan ‘Who Is Next’ was hung up on the highway, a testament to the killing of Alex Pretti during protests against ICE in Minneapolis.

“We thought it was maybe going a little too far — and then the New Yorker came out with the cover of the 10 bullet holes in the Statue of Liberty,” Clark said.

The group goes to the overpass every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-5 p.m., as well as second and fourth Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon. Some members also participate in bannering efforts on overpasses across the Bay Area.

Clark estimates that the collective efforts have reached around 7 million drivers, some who honk their horns in support.

“It’s better than doing nothing, and if the whole point of activism in general is how do you measure that effectiveness … I do think it makes a difference,” Clark said. “When you see your neighbor honking their horn, you say ‘Oh it’s OK.’ When you honk your horn, the person in your car, you probably start a conversation — ‘What did you think about that?’”

The effort can make others who are dismayed by the Trump administration’s recent actions feel as though they aren’t alone, he said.

“There’s some excitement that happens when you see that, ‘Oh, I’m not the only one,’” Clark said.

The residents have not had trouble bannering in Burlingame because it’s a public demonstration on a pedestrian overpass, however, other cities like Belmont have shut them down, Clark said. He acknowledged the work is best paired with other, larger protest movements.

Ultimately, bannering signals to like-minded community members to stay engaged and not forget what’s going on in the country, Morgan said.

“It’s hopefully a nudge to go and do something more,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who look at what’s happening and read the news and go, ‘There’s a lot of horrifying stuff going on, but I don’t know what I can do about it,’ and just kind of get fatigued paying attention.”