Anti-mask, anti-vaccine mandate rally gathers in Orange Plaza Paseo

Hundreds of people protesting masks and vaccine mandates gathered down the street from Chapman University last week. Photo by CADEN MCQUEEN, Opinions Editor

Kevin Brewer, an Orange County resident, was leaving the Orange Public Library Oct. 30 when he saw a rally gathering in the Orange Plaza Paseo. At first, he wasn’t sure what the group was protesting, but then he noticed the colorful posters supporting former President Donald Trump, opposing masks and speaking out against COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“This seems to me like death cults,” Brewer said, looking out on the sea of protesters. “I’m trying to be happy this is a free country and they have the freedom to demonstrate, so that’s a plus there … (But) I don’t know why you’d pick this hill to die on.”

Last weekend, hundreds of people flooded the Orange Circle to protest mask and vaccine mandates. However, the signage was varying, as some participants seemed to be protesting issues other than vaccine mandates.

Orange County residents Ashly Stages and Evan Alexander were eating at local restaurants when the rally started around noon. The two described the mixed messaging they witnessed from the crowd: a “Trump won” sign, a poster emblazoned with the words, “ditch Biden and Jesus should be president” and one protestor urging men to “rule the household” because “every troubled child was raised by a single mother.”

Kent Toca, a dentist based in Garden Grove, told The Panther two of his family members in Cuba died from COVID-19 just a few weeks prior because of a lack of healthcare accessibility. Nevertheless, Toca — who remains firm in the belief individuals should have a choice in whether or not they receive the vaccine —  participated in the Oct. 30 rally, holding up a sign that read, “COVID-19 has a survival rate of 99.997%, so why are we having mandates?” 

“The rally, to me, is to have a choice in life not to have something injected in you that you don't want,” Toca said. “In my opinion, most people here don't want to be forced to do something that’s mandated.”

Toca also described how his family in the U.S., including himself, had contracted COVID-19 and survived. He said he fought the virus by taking hydroxychloroquine, an immunosuppressive and anti-parasitic drug. Though Toca reported no negative effects occurred as a result of taking the drug, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disapproves of its use to treat the coronavirus. 

“Why would you inject yourself with something that could possibly kill you if you’ll survive the infection?” Toca questioned the COVID-19 vaccines.

Toca also claimed he knows people who have gotten incredibly sick after receiving the vaccine, such as one young girl who developed hemophilia, and others who died after receiving the vaccine.

Sherri Martin, a Huntington Beach resident protesting that day, said she lost her job as an optician because she refused to get a vaccine or get tested weekly for COVID-19. Martin told The Panther the vaccine, which she claims includes foreign entities like metals, aborted baby cells and HIV, is killing people more than the virus itself.

Martin also said Anthony Fauci — President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor — wants to “demolish 5 billion people off the planet” by killing them with the vaccine, and the government is paying off doctors to say people died of COVID-19 instead of cancer or other illness.

“My father fought for our country in the Korean War,” Martin said. “He fought for our freedoms so we can be free. They're telling us that we have to wear a mask, we have to get a shot (and) we have to carry a card that says we’ve had a vaccine? Do you know what that is? That’s the same thing Hitler did to the Nazis.”

Anti-masking sentiments have also appeared on campus at Chapman. A petition, which has gathered more than 600 signatures, calling to end the mask mandate on campus.

Additionally, the words “Make Masks Optional” were inscribed in chalk on the ground in front of Memorial 

Hall Oct. 12, and shortly after, unknown figures began tearing down and covering Chapman's CU Safely Back posters across campus.

The anti-masking group on campus created an Instagram account promoting the petition, which has since been deleted.

For more information regarding COVID-19 on campus at Chapman, check out The Panther Pod: Episode 39 | COVID-19 on Campus: Where are we now? Part 1.