All of U.S. 250 Gathering in Oxford

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Small group gathers in Oxford to protest Trump administration ahead of semiquincentennial By Andrea Tinker-June 29, 2026 5:01 am

OXFORD — A group of around 25 people gathered on Saturday for the All of U.S. 250 gathering in Oxford Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s actions on voting rights, affordable housing and immigration.

Carsie Evans, one of the organizers for the protest, said the protest was planned to show that they care about the issues even when there isn’t a No Kings protest happening.

“What we’re trying to do is be seen frequently to show that we’re not just coming out once every six months, that we want people to see that we haven’t forgotten that we are still out here, still standing,” she said.

One issue that Dwayne Frederick, another organizer, has with the current administration is how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been treating people.

“What America has become or is turning into rapidly, it’s just not the America we grew up in. I spent 20 years in the military, and I didn’t join the military for this America,” he said. “It’s wrong to just take somebody off the street and stick them in whatever you want to call it, holding pin, detention center, whatever your terminology is. It’s just wrong to do that, just to do that to somebody.”

Protester Lucile Bodenheimer called the Trump administration corrupt and took issue with the president refusing to sign a bipartisan bill for affordable housing, instead pushing Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require voters to show documents like a birth certificate or passport to register to vote.

“If you read the SAVE Act, it’s to keep women from voting,” Bodenheimer said. “It doesn’t suppress men’s votes because most men have the name they were born with. But there’s an awful lot of women who change their name.”

If passed, the SAVE Act would require voters to register to vote by using their birth certificate or a passport. The legislation would make it harder for married people who have changed their name by requiring them to produce further documentation such as marriage certificates or a divorce decree to prove their identity.

Marion Box, 96, said she came out Saturday because she’s never seen the country more divided than it is now.

“I’ve seen a number of presidents, and I have never in my life seen such divisiveness among our people,” she said. “We are people of all denominations, all races, can’t we be more friendly?”

Throughout the protest, several vehicles honked their horns in support or gave a thumbs up to the protesters. Jim Baker, another organizer of the protest, said the support wasn’t always there.

“Last year, when we were doing this, we got more on the middle finger than we did the wave and the horn and the ‘thank yous,’” he said.

Evans stressed the importance of voting. “Everybody needs to vote, that’s how we’re gonna get out of this,” she said.

According to the All of U.S. website, the organization’s goal is to “repair our full history rather than erase it,” “celebrate the progress we have made through struggle” and “commit to the work to ensure liberty and equality for all of U.S.”

Last year, an Oxford No Kings protest drew over 200 people. Evans said she wasn’t discouraged by the drastic decrease in numbers this time around.

“When we’re associated with something like No Kings, that gets national attention, that gets a lot more interest, and people recognize that name and that brand, so they come out, but when we put something out on our Facebook page, or whatever. It’s more limited, so it’s a more limited crowd, but we’re just glad for everybody that comes out,” she said.

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