December 2025
Dear Friends,
As we close out Hanukkah and move toward Christmas and Kwanzaa, we want to take a moment to pause and to reflect on a year none of us could have predicted.
What began as a conversation in December 2024 turned into one of the most unexpected and powerful years of organizing Rockland has seen in decades.
Our kickoff event in January 2025 was a snowy, icy, freezing success. We hoped a handful of people might brave the storm for an MLK march through Nyack. Instead, more than 40 showed up, and we announced our first meeting.
In February, we learned just how much help we were going to need. That first meeting drew over 400 people, created traffic jams in Valley Cottage, and spilled into additional rooms in the library with people watching from Zoom. From there, momentum never slowed.
March brought the Selma Anniversary Bridge March over the Tappan Zee, with more than 400 in attendance and our first real press coverage. Weekly protests began. Events stacked back-to-back including the Lawler on the Run rally and a town hall with Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado.
It was also our first run-in with our congressman, who took a swing at critics instead of listening. At the time, we didn’t realize it, but it was clear he was paying attention.
April left no room to lay low. With the help of good friends, we pulled off a fundraiser with Michael Ian Black, hosted by Pete Dominick, with a surprise intro from Adam Goldberg. Days later, Hands Off brought over 1,200 people to the Four Corners, numbers that the intersection had never seen – even with a history dating back to the Vietnam war.
The month ended with Lawler’s first town hall, where nearly 400 people protested peacefully outside before the theatrics began.
By June, No Kings drew 3,500 people, and an increasingly fixated congressman drove by to film. Around the same time, IROC established itself as one of the few groups producing consistent, original accountability content and people were paying attention. We proved that Lawler’s moderate cosplay only works if no one’s watching.
In July, we took the next step, bringing NY-17 candidates together for a mixer so our community could engage directly with those seeking our votes.
And then October happened.
We didn’t think the June No Kings could be topped. You proved us wrong. 4,500 people. Peaceful. Determined. Unignorable. Rockland made it clear: enough is enough.
In November, with the power of our movement impossible to dismiss, members of the Clarkstown Town Board tried to silence us. Instead, they saw the real power of the people. Hundreds of you showed up to make it clear: free speech at the Four Corners is non-negotiable. We will not be contained, and we will never be silenced.
Now, as the year closes, one thing is undeniable: this work matters, and it’s working. But it’s also exhausting. We know the news cycle is relentless. We know people are juggling jobs, families, bills, and fear about what comes next. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has shown up, answered calls to action, and stayed engaged.
2026 will demand more of us, emotionally and physically. We won’t pretend otherwise. But we also cannot afford to stop. Protecting our neighbors, pushing back on authoritarianism, and holding power accountable takes sustained pressure, that means calls, emails, boycotts, media accountability, and showing up even when it’s inconvenient.
Protest without action is a dead end. And no one is coming to save us, but what we do have is each other.
We may not agree on everything, but we can agree on the basics: the right to live safely, authentically, and freely. The right to health care, food on the table, and a living wage.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness aren’t radical demands, they’re foundational.
As you spend time with loved ones this season, we encourage you to rest, reconnect, and re-energize. We’ll need every one of you in the year ahead.
Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you for your time, and thank you for trusting us!
Stay safe and happy holidays.
