This summer, the streets of Rancho Santa Fe have played host to both a pop-up kiosk selling merchandise for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign as well as local youth protesting racism and police brutality.
“There has been lots of activity in our sleepy little village over the last month,” said Rancho Santa Fe Association Manager Christy Whalen, providing an update at the board’s Aug. 6 meeting.
Whalen said they have received a lot of calls with questions about both the Trump stand and the protests—whether the stand is allowed, whether the gatherings should be allowed and whether the people involved should be wearing masks.
“Our concern is always the safety and wellbeing of our members,” Whalen said. “However the roads in the village, as well as the sidewalks, are county property.”
While the Association can enforce rules on the over 50 properties they own in the Covenant, when it comes to comes to county property, it is the purview of the County of San Diego and the sheriff’s department. Whalen said the Association has been coordinating closely with the sheriff’s department regarding the recent activities but it is not their call to enforce any sorts of rules on the sidewalk, “From what we understand no one has been breaking any county rules,” Whalen said.
Rancho Santa Fe Patrol Chief Matt Wellhouser confirmed that the patrol has also received complaints about both the Trump stand and protestors from people upset by their presence. He said that there has been no reported violence or property damage, just verbal arguments.
Since early July, the Trump merchandise pop-up stand has been set up in the village, at various locations. Their spot, now located away from most business storefronts at the intersection in front of the Inn, is designated by the sheriff and they have a permit from the county. The stand is there nearly every afternoon and the workers say their interactions with the community have been 90% positive. The workers said the negative interactions have included shouted obscenities and middle fingers from people as they drive by—they said they do not call out to people walking or driving by.
”There’s so much hatred attached to this election, that’s shocking to me,” said the worker, who said last week a group of teenage boys came up to the stand and began throwing the stand’s t-shirts onto the ground.
Rancho Santa Fe saw its first protest activity over the death of George Floyd on June 2, a peaceful drive-through protest organized by a R. Roger Rowe School student and her mother—there was also a peaceful protest on June 19 for Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the day that slaves were emancipated in the U.S. in 1865.
The most recent protest activity in the Ranch occurred over the July 24-26 weekend, set in motion by local minors who asked not to be named.
It started on July 22 when a pair of high school age Rancho Santa Fe sisters and their teenage friend were posting signs on the lawn in front of the Inn, near the Trump stand. The signs read: “Black Lives Matter” “Abolish the Police” and “Justice for Breonna Taylor.”
In an audio recording of the July 22 interaction, the girls were putting up their posters when a woman confronted them about Black Lives Matter, calling them “uneducated little girls trying to make a nuisance.” According to the girls, the woman threatened that she would get someone to come and rape and stab them to see what they would do without cops.
The girls shouted at her as she got into her car to leave, saying they would report her for threatening minors. In a video, a security officer then approached and asked the girls to leave immediately as he said they were harassing people.
The 17-year-old high school student posted the incident to her Instagram page, asking people to support her and join them in a peaceful protest over the weekend.
“The word got out to people we didn’t know…I didn’t think anyone would actually come to the protest,” she said. To her surprise, groups from Encinitas and Oceanside and San Diego shared her message to their larger audiences and adult supporters came to the village on Saturday and Sunday—the protests were still relatively small with about 30 people. The girls said admittedly some of the adults’ messages were more anti-Trump than their message of Black Lives Matter and justice for Taylor. They said they felt intimated to tell them to stop some of the obscenities they were shouting, “We didn’t want to come off in that way,” one of the girls said.
On that Friday afternoon, some adults and teenagers set up in protest right in front of the Trump stand. One adult was playing the “F***k Donald Trump” song on a stereo. One sign read: “We don’t need this here. Please shop online.” The Trump stand then moved to a different location in the village during the weekend protests.
Three 14-year-old Rancho Santa Fe girls and recent graduates of R. Roger Rowe School were among some the younger kids who showed up to support the older high school student over the course of the three-day protest. None of the girls knew the older girl. There was a stand to sell homemade cookies and bracelets to support Black Lives Matter and many parents accompanied their children to make sure they were safe.
The girls said they received some positive support from the community but also witnessed a lot of negativity from people driving through the intersection. The kids, including one who was a fifth-grader, were on the receiving end of some middle fingers. Most people who spoke to them said they disagreed with the Black Lives Matter movement and just went away however there was one recorded incident of a verbal argument escalating between an adult and teenager.
The weekend’s protests also included signs that read “Honk if you’re not racist” and protestors yelled “You’re a racist!” at people who did not honk. There were complaints about some protestors using bullhorns to harass people. One parent of a conservative teen later asked for an apology after their child was called a racist for having different political views. On Twitter, one person characterized the protest as “a number of hysterical, rich white kids and their parents yelling at me their version of reality.”
The girls said their intent was always a peaceful protest: “We never approached anyone in a violent matter or even approached anyone,” the 17-year-old RSF resident said.
The younger group of girls said they were disappointed and saddened by the way some adults treated the minors. In the aftermath, the girls said they were belittled online and that there were misconceptions that the event was orchestrated by adults, that their parents should be ashamed of their behavior, even a rumor that the protestors were paid child actors.
“A lot of people are really looking for an excuse. They don’t want to believe that there are actually people in this community that believe in the movement,” said one of the girls, noting even though they are young, they have educated themselves and they do have a voice and a right to protest. “We want equal rights and opportunities for all people no matter their skin tone.”
So far the older high school girls have collected $700 in support of their cause. The older girls said if they returned to the village streets, their new approach would be having a stand selling merchandise and collecting donations for Black Lives Matter, similar to the Trump shop.
On Aug. 1, there was a drive-through “I Can’t Breathe” Car Caravan in the Ranch that was held by an outside organizer. None of the Rancho Santa Fe girls interviewed for this story participated.
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Political activity and protests come to the Rancho Santa Fe village - Rancho Santa Fe Review
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