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"I swear I heard this 50 times from other people before I let these words come out of my mouth: people have called us the face of the resistance." — Brad Newsham
"Given this country we all love, who gets an excused absence?... I feel so much better being engaged than I did in the brief times that I've sat on the sidelines and just wished this would all go away." — Brad Newsham
Brad Newsham has no nonprofit status, no institutional backing, no paid staff. He is a travel writer who in 2006 was sitting at a kitchen table with his daughter, saw Google Earth for the first time, and was literally lifted out of his chair by a vision: big letters on Ocean Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, a thousand people lying in the sand. He spent 10 weeks working out the logistics, paid the first $3,500 out of his savings, and 20 years later has staged 37 banners with as many as 7,000 people each time. The lesson is that you could be Brad.
In 1994, when a union board voted down a proposal he believed in, Brad vowed that if he ever cared that much about something again, he would design it so he didn't need anyone's permission. Now he inspires thousands of people to lie in the sand to spell out a political message, photographed from above, with music instead of speeches and dancing instead of marching. No permission required.
The "no speeches" rule is not an aesthetic preference. It is a theory of change. Brad designed events he would personally want to attend, with music, costumes, and families welcome. The result: people don't want to leave. They come back year after year. 20 years on, participants keep aerial postcards from early events on their walls.
"Your energy is gone in five minutes... I call it 'trudge your grudge.' But this is so much fun. People don't want to go home. The music is basically a demand from our participants now." — Brad Newsham
Brad received a death threat that kept him off the beach for six months. Two banners during the Biden years got zero media coverage. He went three and a half years without a single event and believed the chapter was over. Then his co-organizer Travis texted him one word: "Beachable?" 14 banners later, 9,000 are on his email list. Lesson: it is okay to pause.
A San Diego organizer saw a photo of a 2017 RESIST! banner, cold-emailed Brad, and got grid instructions in return. 500 people showed up in San Diego. Santa Cruz organized their own after April 2026. Walnut Creek. Washington D.C. His ‘Backyard Banner’ concept brings the model down to 10 people in a backyard with a selfie stick. Brad actively helps people start their own wherever they are - this could be you!
"Given this country we all love, who gets an excused absence?... I feel so much better being engaged than I did in the brief times that I've sat on the sidelines and just wished this would all go away." — Brad Newsham
Connectivity is the point. Standing in a letter with strangers, passing a message down the line, waiting for a drone, laughing while lying flat on cold sand. Brad walked hand in hand with a man dressed as Mr. Rogers through a crowd of 5,000 people. He describes standing on the seawall watching 40 or 50 volunteers running the event without him needing to direct any of it, and feeling something he didn't have words for. That is what collective action can do that a social media post cannot.
"I swear I heard this 50 times from other people before I let these words come out of my mouth: people have called us the face of the resistance." — Brad Newsham
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Brad Newsham is a travel writer and founder of Human Banner-SF. Since 2006, he has staged 37 human banner events at Ocean Beach, where participants use their bodies to spell out political messages photographed from above. With no staff, no budget, and no formal credentials, Brad has drawn as many as 7,000 people to a single event and grown his community from 600 to nearly 10,000 in a year. His organizing philosophy: no speeches, make it joyful, and design it so you don't need anyone's permission. Learn more and start your own at humanbanner-sf.com.
