Brandie and her sign

That’s Brandie with her sign. She has been carrying it around with her since 2017. It started as her objection to Trump’s policies, and now it is her objection to Biden’s policies and to any policies that result in putting babies in cages.

Brandie is one of my personal heroes. She stands alone with her sign at noon in a downtown square five days a week—and has done this one-woman protest for the past five years. She also takes her sign to various protests, and I photographed her at this one in 2019 and this one in early 2020 before the lockdowns. 

I have seen her many times, photographed her many times. But today’s is my favorite of my Brandie photographs because she doesn’t just stand in a public place with her sign. She keeps up with the issues. She remembers how many children have still not been reunited with their parents. She talks to people. She does her best to change hearts and minds. She never stops. She says she never will stop until every child imprisoned at the border has been freed.

Update: contacted Brandie, and she says she is now standing in the square on weekends at noon, as she was transferred to a different workplace, and she can't get from her job to the square on her lunch hour. Since that change, on weekdays she walks three miles a day, carrying her sign, in a personal one-person march to create opportunities for conversations. Most people, she says, think that Biden has returned the children to their parents. Brandie says over 1000 children are still incarcerated. The number Biden's administration has reconnected with their families: 52. That is 52 better than none, but not good enough for Brandie.