If you attend Southern Oregon University, you’ve probably seen the Salt Shakers. The far-right group isn’t welcome in most of Ashland, but they show up regularly anyway, including in front of SOU’s Stevenson Union. The Stevenson Union is a public space and therefore demonstrating there is protected by the First Amendment. Usually, they’re protesting legal abortion in Oregon or loudly telling LGBT students they are going to hell. The group was founded by out-of-towners and perhaps should be interpreted as a grim reminder: sapphire blue, hippie haven Ashland isn’t necessarily representative of the surrounding region.
The Salt Shakers are a known nuisance on Southern Oregon premises, and students I’ve talked to generally treat them like internet trolls: feeding them only gives them what they want, and the most surefire remedy is to ignore them. “They want to be martyrs,” one senior warned me during orientation. “So if you mess with them, they’re just gonna post that to their website.” Something of an exception, however, are the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers, a group created to nonviolently disrupt the Salt Shakers’ activities. The contrast isn’t just names and ideology– the Pepper Shakers were founded by Ashland High School students and are composed overwhelmingly of young people from the high school and University.
Monday of 2025 was a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and it coincided with Donald Trump’s second inauguration as President of the United States. On that day, the Pepper Shakers hung a ‘bloody’ U.S. flag in Ashland and uploaded the picture to their Instagram, with the caption “Submitted anonymously this morning: “Today in Ashland Oregon, to mark the beginning of Trump’s second term, we remind the people of america of its history of bloody genocide. We hung a bloody american flag with the words “US funds genocide” Fuck fascism, fuck ICE, free Palestine.”
Trump’s second term has already dramatically changed U.S. policy in ways relevant to the group’s mission. On the first day, the administration released an executive order unilaterally declaring there to only be two genders. Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, are championing a bill that would place federal restrictions on some abortions. It is widely expected to fail thanks to Democrats’ use of the Senate filibuster.
In local social media, the flag-hanging incident became a fast point of controversy. The picture was crossposted to Reddit’s Medford subreddit, and sparked a vitriolic argument in the comments. A majority of commenters in that specific thread felt the incident was disrespectful showboating that was, at best, unlikely to accomplish meaningful change. The community’s divisions are on full display. The most upvoted comment reads, “I support the installation of the broken flag as a metaphor for our broken country.” The many comments criticizing the post and the Pepper Shakers, were downvoted.
Students I spoke to broadly sided with the Pepper Shakers. “I think they provide good services,” said one. “Lots of people benefit from what they do.” Many students didn’t think the fuss was warranted. “How is messing up a piece of fabric worse than this guy [Trump] trying to ruin my life?” One student told me. “I just don’t really care about some micro social media stunt, to be honest,” said another.
As of publication time, the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers have not responded for comment.