By Caroline Hansen
Protestors Michele Anderson and Molly McKasson alongside fellow Lamplighters. Photo by Caroline Hansen.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, a group of about 60 people took positions at the corners of the busy Tucson intersection at Alvernon Road and Broadway Boulevard. They held up signs and waved at passing cars. Most of the people in cars waved back and honked in support. Every other Saturday, usually beginning at 8:30 a.m., the Lamplighters and others occupy this intersection for a couple of hours.
One of the protesters last Saturday was local journalist, politician and activist Molly McKasson. She held a sign that read, “Release All the Epstein Files,” and said she was demonstrating because it seemed to her that not enough people were concerned about the issue.
Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who was already a convicted sex offender when he was charged with child sex trafficking in 2019. He died in his jail cell while awaiting trial on federal charges. In 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner, was found guilty of “conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor,” according to an official press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
A man stands with the upside down American flag, signaling dire stress. Photo by Caroline Hansen.
There remains a shroud of mystery as to what is in the Department of Justice’s files on his case. The FBI had investigated Epstein for years, and hundreds of victims gave statements. Many wealthy and powerful individuals were tied to Epstein and Maxwell, their names allegedly in the case files.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance called for the public release of the Epstein files as part of the “drain the swamp” message. Now that the Trump administration is in office, many Republican, independent and Democratic voters are confused as to why the files are not being released.
“It’s a big deal because it gets right to the heart of the administration’s deepest hypocrisy.
Women make up half of the population and the absolute lack of respect for our young women… it’s heartbreaking, and I will not sit down for it,” McKasson said.
“I will stand and fight against it. And I hope that young women and young men will do the same, because it’s their future. And it really is changing the tone, the action, the ethos of America. This is a critical time. We can do this.”
Lindsay Heimm, one of the founders of the Lamplighters. Photo by Caroline Hansen.
Standing beside McKasson was Michele Anderson, an organizer of Democracy Unites Us. She and her husband, Phineas Anderson, organized the Tucson Tesla Takedown actions that brought thousands of people to picket in front of the Tesla dealership on North Oracle Road. Her sign read, “It’s all about Epstein and health care, not the Democrats.”
“I don’t know how to explain how enraging all this is, and the problem is, not enough people care, not enough people understand because the Republicans are making it so confusing for people to be able to sort out the truth. The shutdown right now is a key example. They’re saying it’s the Democrats’ fault when it’s definitely not the Democrats’ fault. It’s so overwhelming that people are staying home, and we need everyone to get out because only in the strength of numbers will we be able to conquer this,” Anderson said.
“I also would like to comment on the hypocrisy of Republicans certifying election winners the next day, which now they have canceled. They’re sending everybody out of D.C., and Adelita Grijalva, who won handily, can’t be certified because, guess why? Epstein’s vote is coming up.”
Anderson believes Arizona’s newly elected congresswoman Grijalva is the key to unlocking and releasing the Epstein vote. Her vote is critical to passing the bipartisan petition to release the Epstein files.
A couple with their umbrella of resistance. Photo by Caroline Hansen.
On the northwest corner stood a young woman and man. Elizabeth is a civil servant who just moved to Tucson to start a new job only to find her agency is closed and her housing inaccessible. Dakota told me he was there to support Elizabeth.
“There are real consequences when they tell you you can’t go to your housing that you paid for at the service and your paycheck is going to be a month late,” Elizabeth said.
“I’m afraid for the life of our government. Our democracy, our health care and our jobs are all at risk from a corrupt and unconstitutional government,” said another protester, who wished to remain anonymous.
“No military on the streets. That’s what Nazis do,” said Pam Malouf. “I really hope people get their heads out of the sand and start waking up and saying, ‘I know I might lose friends over this, but what’s worse, losing a democracy and our liberties?’”
A man held a sign likening Trump to a darker version of the nude emperor in the Hans Christian Andersen fable. The man’s name is Cliff, and he said he would like to make a statement. He had a lot of theories as to why the president would not want to release the Epstein files, and it came down to one thing for Cliff.
“Anyone acting with that much depravity should not be in power,” he said.
Over by the park, a group of several protesters was lined up along Broadway Boulevard, waving at cars. A young woman spoke into a bullhorn and demanded release of the Epstein files, certification of Grijalva, and a repeal of the Big Beautiful Bill. Her name is Lindsay Heimm, and she’s one of the Lamplighters’ founders.
“Our slogan is ‘To illuminate injustice,’ and that is what we do. We are a local activist group that is arranging protests, rallies, pickets and marches throughout the city. We work in coalition with other organizers and groups, too,” Heim said.
A grandmother/granddaughter activist team! Photo by Caroline Hansen.
She said people from all demographics come to participate in the biweekly protests to demand Majority Leader Mike Johnson swear in Grijalva and to release the Epstein files.
“When you engage in peaceful protest, you build community. It’s an empowering and comforting activity, and we just want people to have a peaceful place to assemble and, you know, to come out and express their anger, their fear, their frustration in a peaceful and lawful way, and get their voices heard, exercising their First Amendment rights.”