“This is not only hopeful, but it’s the only way people are able to make a change,” said Susan Uballe, a local organizer of the national grassroots effort Indivisible. “We’re defending human rights, and we’re defending democracy.”

Indivisible, Uballe said, is based on “some of the successful techniques of the Tea Party, but without the hatred and discrimination.”

Uballe said following the Women’s March on Washington last month, a large number of area residents have come together to resist the Trump administration.

“It was definitely the birth of something (at the Women’s March),” Uballe said. “Something greater than all of us.”

Shailah Bunce, of Marquette, holds a sign at a rally outside of the U.S. Post Office Tuesday. Bunce, a member of a local Indivisible group, said she was protesting the “lack of thought being put into executive orders,” among other things. (Journal photo by Kelsie Thompson)

On Sunday, more than 100 people gathered at the Blackrocks Brewery production facility on West Washington Street to merge the various local groups that have since formed, including Indivisible, MoveOn and the Working Families Party.

Now, participants are busy taking action.

“We’re communicating through social media, we’re writing post cards, we’re writing letters, we’re making calls and we’re sending out advisories on a lot of different things,” Uballe said, adding that several rallies are also in the works.

“We’ll march on President’s Day, because we believe Donald Trump is an illegitimate president,” she said.

Uballe said she and others have also recently visited the offices of U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing.

On Tuesday, march participants called on newly elected Congressman Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet.

“We’d like for (Bergman) to come here and hear what we have to say,” Uballe said. “We feel that there should not be a representative without representation. He has yet to have an office up here. We’re sending the message, ‘We are here. We are not going away. We will defend democracy every day.”

Attempts to reach Bergman for comment Wednesday morning were unsuccessful.

There was also a focus on Trump’s executive order to ban immigration from seven countries at the rally, as well as the recent appointment of Steve Bannon to the National Security Council.

Kathy Davis, a Marquette resident who is active in the Marquette County Democratic Party, said it’s important for citizens to be involved in the political process.

“We just want to make people aware of the problems in D.C.,” she said. “I went to D.C. and marched with Susan and it was delightful to see that big of a crowd. We’ve got to keep that momentum going.”

To get involved in the local efforts, which Uballe said will soon have an official name, reach out to her on Facebook.

Kelsie Thompson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is kthompson@miningjournal.net.