“Healthcare Not Warfare.” “Hate Won’t Make Us Great.” “Santa Hates ICE. These are just some of the many messages that members of the Highlanders Visibility Brigade spell out from a bridge over the segment of the Mass Pike (I-90) that passes through Newton.
Since June 2025, the group, sponsored by and grown from West Newton’s Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, has held weekly standouts on the Highland Street overpass to protest the actions of the Trump Administration. This is one of three Visibility Brigades in the city.
Caroline Chauncey, one of the Brigade’s organizers, said that the group took inspiration from organizations like the Boston Bridge Brigade and the national Visibility Brigade movement, which also use large letters to spell out messages over highways.
Chauncey said that the key idea behind the demonstrations is “making dissent visible.”
“I think we’re in this place of a split consciousness, where for many of us, life seems to be going on like normal, and at the same time, we know that terrible things are happening,” she said. “Part of what a Visibility Brigade does is … make sure people feel like there are others out there who feel as they do. There’s also a piece of informing people about issues, bringing them to their attention, reminding them.”
A representative from the Boston Bridge Brigade shared a similar sentiment.
“The importance of these Visibility Brigades is in showing people that we are not being quiet, and that they are not alone in their worries about where this nation is heading,” she said. “Heather Cox Richardson and others talk about ’social proof’ in activism, which is a psychological phenomenon where individuals adopt behaviors or support causes based on the observed actions of others, which in return helps and encourages them to speak up and take action themselves.”
Rabbi Toba Spitzer of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek said that seeing the Highlanders Visibility Brigade come together has been heartening.
“It’s been wonderful to see the commitment of those doing the weekly Highlander Visibility Brigade, bringing important messages to the broader community and making visible the very real concern that so many people – here in Newton and across the Commonwealth and across the country – are feeling about so many of the Trump Administration’s policies,” she said. “There are many, many ways to be active in this moment, and making visible an alternative vision of our country is one important piece of the work.”
Chauncey said that the Brigade’s membership has expanded beyond the congregation: members of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Newton and Newton Indivisible, as well as many neighbors, have also joined the standouts.
West Newton resident Shari Tishman is one of those neighbors. Since first discovering the group on a morning walk, she has become a regular at the demonstrations. She said that the focus on visibility appeals to her.
“I was really struck by [the Brigade’s] emphasis on the importance of simply standing up and being visible,” she said. “The power of groups like these is in sharing one’s voice and building community. The purpose isn’t to be confrontational. Rather, it’s about visibly showing what democracy looks like, especially at the neighborhood level.”
Carole Slipowitz, who works on the group’s organizing team with Chauncey, said that the positive response to the Brigade has been meaningful to her. While she loves engagement from commuters, she said that direct interactions with community members hold a special place in her heart.
“I love hearing the honks and train whistles from the highway, but my favorite part is the contact we make with people who drive by on Highland Street,” she said. “I’m happy to wave and convey to hard-working landscape crews and housecleaners that we see and value them. It was very moving when one legal immigrant brought us coffee and hot chocolate, showed us pictures of his family, and said, ‘I really appreciate what you all do without expecting anything in return.’”
This Wednesday, the group will continue its work with a standout from 8AM to 9:30PM. Their message this week? “Turn The Files Into Trials.”
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a senior at Newton South High School, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
