Those driving along I-20 on Monday might catch a glimpse of one of the several banners created by local activist groups for Operation Overpass, made with the purpose of potentially inspiring political action.
“Dissent is patriotic,” “Democracy not oligarchy” and “All power to the people” are among the phrases that will be seen overhead on the road, with multiple organizations taking part in the July 6 event including 50501 Augusta, Money Out of Politics, CSRA Peace Alliance and Augusta Tenants Union.
Operation Overpass was put into motion by Dorothy Smith and Zee Cook from 50501 Augusta, but soon gained traction and morphed into a multi-state event; groups from Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey and more will also be participating on the sixth.
Banners are likely to be held on overpasses between exit 194 and 196 on I-20, between Belair Road and Walton Way Extension.
Build-a-banner
On Wednesday morning, several 50501 Augusta volunteers worked to construct banners.
Cook said that as of Wednesday morning, 10 hours had already been dedicated to making banners and creating 106 giant letters out of tarp. These 10 hours, she said, don’t account for the time it took to source the supplies and do research.
At the banner making event, Smith talked about President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, a proposed budget reconciliation bill that seeks to extend tax cuts and reduce non-military government spending, among other goals.
“Our way of life is under attack…a lot of people are still unaware of exactly what is happening with the Big Beautiful Bill that keeps being ping ponged back and forth between the house and the senate,” said Smith. “More and more people are understanding that we are about to lose a lot with this. There’s a lot of funding that is going to be cut. There are rural hospitals that are going to cease to exist, and none of that is helping the people of America.”
“It comes down to locality,” she continued. “Let’s be real about it…the red states are gonna be hit the hardest. But change comes from the bottom up. It does not come from the top down. We see what’s entrenched in this regime, and I use that word specifically, and we’re doing everything that we can locally to move the needle. But people need to get involved locally, with local elections.”
‘An actual, concrete action’
Cook added that making these banners is a way for people to get involved who can’t physically participate in sign holding or marching events.
“It is kind of enabling for people that otherwise may not be able to get as involved. It gives them a voice. It gives them an actual, concrete action that they can do,” she said.
For one volunteer, Gina, finding a community in 50501 Augusta has been like creating a second family. She said that after President Trump’s inauguration, she was seeking local groups to connect with.
“I had been looking and looking and looking…we’ve created, like, a family outside of your blood family,” she said. “It’s been nice to create the extra family. Knowing that if something should happen, we still have somebody we can connect to. We still have our community.”
