Flagstaff High School and Middle School Students Stage Walkout to Protest SB1070

by Ned

Flagstaff, AZ -- In an act of civil disobedience, 70 students from 5 Flagstaff schools walked out of their classes to protest SB1070. At approximately 12:00 p.m., students from Coconino High School, Sinagua High School, Flagstaff High School, Mount Elden Middle School, and Mountain English Spanish Academy walked from their schools to Flagstaff City Hall and rallied for migrant rights.

Prascilla Cardona, a student from Coconino High School stated, "We are doing this because we know that the law is not fair. I have a lot of family and a lot of friends and its going to affect them. We think this law is not cool."

Some students walked more than 3 miles to join the rally.

A student from Sinagua High School who gave only her first name Alexandra stated, "Were all human, we should all have the same rights. We're walking out because this law might bring many consequences. A lot of people are moving because of this law and its not fair. We should be treated equally."

The protest caught the attention of Flagstaff Mayor Sarah Presler who walked out of City Hall and addressed the crowd, "While on a short term perspective this is an important thing your'e doing, your education and being in class and being respectful of your education, maybe not a teacher, maybe not a system, but being respectful of your education is of high value to me."

Flagstaff City Council passed a resolution and voted unanimously to take legal action challenging SB1070 the previous night. 500 people showed up to the council session to voice their concerns and support the City's stand against SB1070.
Presler stated that she wasn't criticizing the students actions of civil disobedience but expressed concern for the lack of civility and ignorance that lead to SB1070. Presler then urged the students to go back to school.

Students discussed the mayors statements and then continued to rally chanting, "What do we want? Justice!" and "Si Se Puede!".

http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2010/05/76832.php

Haltom City students protest Arizona immigration law

By JESSAMY BROWN AND DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.

jessamybrown@star-telegram.com; ramirez@star-telegram.com

HALTOM CITY -- A small group of students marched through Haltom City Wednesday morning to protest the Arizona immigration law that was signed last month.

About 19 students left Haltom High School shortly before 9:30 a.m., according to a Birdville school district official. They walked for nearly three hours to their ultimate destination at the intersection of Beach and NE 28th streets.

There, passersby generally gave the teens yells of support and thumbs up signs as they drove past.

Earlier, the students said that some passersby yelled at them to go back to school.

School district spokesman Mark Thomas said that no other campus had students in the march.

Haltom City police were monitoring the protest, but the students had not disrupted traffic.

Boys and girls carried several protest signs, one of which read, "No Arizona immigration law in Texas." Others were holding Mexico, Honduran, American and Texas flags. A few carried gallon jugs of water.

A Fort Worth school district spokesman said Wednesday that the FWISD had no reports of similar protests.

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation's toughest measure on illegal immigration into law on April 23, aiming to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants.

About 25,000 people marched in Dallas last weekend to protest the new law.

Maricopa High School students protest immigration law with walkout

Hundreds of Maricopa High School students marched out of their school this morning to protest the recently approved state immigration law.

The situation began at approximately 8 a.m., said district human resources director Tom Beckett in a press release, as approximately 300 students protested Gov. Jan Brewer’s signing of Senate Bill 1070, which requires law enforcement officials to determine if a person is in the United States legally.

The students were encouraged to go back to class, but approximately 100 of the 300 students continued with the protest and left campus, said Maricopa Police Department public information officer Sgt. Stephen Judd.

A male high school student – some of the protestors referred to as their “leader” – was arrested for allegedly running into the middle of McDavid Road to stop traffic, Judd said, and was charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting the education process.

Judd said the student, who is 18, was separated and was then cited and released, and will probably have his charges rescinded.

In response to the arrest, the students then marched on city hall after one of the students was arrested, said city public information officer LaTricia Woods.

The students continued toward the Circle K near Bashas’ and proceeded to march to Maricopa Meadows along Arizona 347.

Student Jonathan Velasquez said the students were protesting the law because of how he said the bill will be enforced.

“They don’t have the right to separate families, to ruin families,” Velasquez said.

“Whites, blacks, Mexicans … everybody. We’re all people. We’re all humans. It’s not one separate race. We should all be united together.

“We finally decided to walk out today and let our voice be heard,” he added.

Other students were shouting “we’re all equal,” “land of the free,” and that the law was “against civil rights.”

During their trek up and down the sidewalk on Arizona 347, MHS sophomore Eleazar Valenzuela said reactions of passers-by were mixed.

“Maricopa is very small, so I think we could have a big impact,” he said.“We’re getting a lot of negative and positive feedback. People are flipping us off, but there are a lot of supportive people too.”

Neither the district nor the police department condemned or condoned the students’ actions, although the department did follow the students during the march.

“Our job here is to make sure they (students) stay safe and the impact for businesses and traffic is as minimal as possible,” Judd said.

He added the protest was peaceful, and that, besides the one student, no laws had been broken during the protest.

“It is absolutely their right to do that (march),” Judd said.

Multiple news outlets have reported that the bill was amended yesterday, with additions to avoid using race or ethnicity as reasons to question suspects and to include potential civil ordinance violations, such as noise, as reasons to question immigration status.

http://www.trivalleycentral.com/breaking_news/doc4bdb49b17798f457964535.txt

Denver: Students walk out of class in immigration protest

DENVER - Hundreds of students walked out of high schools and colleges around Denver Friday in protest of Arizona's tough new immigration.

"We all need to stand united because it might happen here too," said Francisco Estrada, a student at West High School.

Estrada was one of about 100 students who left class at West High School for a rally in Sunken Gardens Park adjacent to the school.

Some students made signs that read "Don't divide us, unite us" and "equal rights." Other students used bullhorns to call other students out of class to join the rally.

"I hope that our voices are heard," said Jose Cansino, also a West High School student who walked out.

Many of the students say though Arizona's law does not affect them, they feel connected to the issue.

"We need to show support, stand up for what we believe in," said Estrada, who said he felt attending the rally outweighed the risk of getting in trouble at school.

Around noon, about 100 to 150 Lincoln High School students took to the streets lead by police escort urging them to stay safely on the sidewalks.

Organizers with Padres & Jovenes Unidos, who said they staged the walkout as a show of support for "brothers and sisters in Arizona," are demanding immediate action to reform immigration.

Other students marched into downtown to the Capitol at about 2:30 p.m. Speeches begin at 3:30 p.m.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=137937&catid=339

High school students protest immigration law

Joy Slagowski
Today staff

More than 200 Surprise and El Mirage students from three high schools took their education from the classroom into the streets on Monday by protesting Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070.

The bill, which Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Friday, requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents with them at all times and requires police to question the residency status of those they suspect may be in the United States illegally.

Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling.

André Rodriguez, 15, of Surprise, a student at Valley Vista High School, said he organized the event that morning at school in reaction to student dissatisfaction about the immigration bill.

"I was born in Phoenix, and my parents are U.S. citizens," Rodriguez said. "But I’m angry because I feel they are racially profiling and it’s not right."

The group marched in Surprise and El Mirage, carrying American flags and handmade signs, starting from Valley Vista, near Surprise Stadium, stopping at Walgreen’s at Dysart and Greenway roads in El Mirage to connect with students from Arizona Charter Academy who joined the march, and then proceeded to Dysart High School, where students filed off the campus to join the march.

Passing cars honked in support, and El Mirage police officers watched to make sure protesters stayed out of the street.

Jim Dean, Dysart Unified School District spokesman, said the district does not condone missing school for a protest march, but acknowledges it is their right to exercise free speech.

"We like to have the kids in school," Dean said. "But people do have the right to gather and peacefully protest."

"Education comes in many forms, and we understand and appreciate and try to incorporate real life applications," Dean said. "And this certainly can be viewed as a type of education, but we prefer to educate them during school hours."

Rodriguez said missing school because of the protest was a concern, but felt the students were getting a different type of education today through using their rights to free speech.

"We’re still getting an education," Rodriguez said. "And if what we do can help change a law, that would be great. This feels good, like we are making a difference."

"This is our America," he said. "This is less about us, but about the future with our kids and grandkids, the future of our citizens."

http://www.yourwestvalley.com/news/school-15382-students-protest.html

Tucson: Wandering rally continues downtown

Several hundred people protesting the state's immigration law are moving from the state building downtown to Armory Park and apparently back again.

Most of the crowd, estimated to be about 400 people, are young adults and teens. Many gathered at the state building after walkouts earlier in the day at schools that include Pueblo, Cholla, Catalina and Rincon.

TUSD officials said today they estimate some 200 students from those school took part in the walkouts. The size of the crowd has fluctuated and may grow at a separate protest is planned this afternoon.

The protest has been peacefu. Several police officers gathered near the Tucson Convention Center, out of view from the protest. Granada Avenue was closed for much of the day, causing traffic to back up on West Congress Street. It reopened this afternoon.

This is the second large protest young people have held this week at the state building. A handful of counter protesters were also there.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_24e40bd0-4f09-11df-a9e3-001cc4c002e0.html

Arizona immigration bill: H.S. students leave school to join Capitol protest

Crowds began to dwindle at the Capitol Thursday evening after upwards of 2,000 students from high schools across Phoenix walked out of school to protest with other activists, all urging Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the immigration bill.

Protesters swelled in front of the Capitol as people converged to rally against Senate Bill 1070 during the day. Some came from as far away as California.

The size of the crowd grew over the course of the afternoon, and estimates by Phoenix police and media varied between 1,500 and about 2,000. By about 5 p.m., most of the crowd had dispersed, but a new wave of about 50 to 100 protesters arrived from Carl Hayden Community High School.

During the day, some of the protesters marched around the building, chanting, "Si se puede," or "We can do it." They were joined by 56 members of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, who arrived by bus.

The gathering was at times boisterous and for the most part civil. One of about a dozen counterprotesters got into a minor scuffle with the crowd.

More than a dozen media outlets covered the event, including CNN and a TV station from Southern California, and the estimated 20 news vans and trucks parked along a cordoned-off area of 17th Avenue.

"We're U.S. citizens; we were born here," said Jessica Perez, a Tolleson High School student. "It's not right that they separate us from our parents."

Many students heard about the protest by word of mouth.

"I was about to go to my next class, and everyone started going out," said Junior Reyes, a Metro Tech High School student. "So we got together and came."

The students said their voices need to be heard, even if they aren't old enough to vote. They said their goal was to protect their family and friends from possible racial profiling.

The Reform Immigration for America campaign leaders have been outside the Capitol since Monday morning. They've slept outdoors and spent hours praying.

"We feel that we're definitely here for the community," said Alicia Contreras, a volunteer leader for the group. "We're meeting here in prayer and peaceful action."

Though the group was organized, Contreras says people have been coming just by word of mouth. "We've been talking to individuals, and if you tell one person, they tell 10. This is their way of showing what they feel. The reason the students are here is they will inherit the future that comes with this bill."

One teen arrived wearing a sombrero and carrying a Mexican flag. A crowd of 15 to 20 people, led by Alfredo Aparicio, approached him and persuaded the youth to put away the items.

Said Aparicio, "We're all here for the American dream. That's what we're following. They should be wearing the American flag."

Students came from Tolleson High School, Phoenix Trevor Browne High School, Cesar Chavez High School, Carl Hayden High School, Metro Tech High School, North High School and possibly more.

Most of the students were in the Phoenix Union High School District. District officials said they did not encourage the walkout.

"Walking away from the very institute that accepts all students regardless of race or national origin is not wise," said Craig Pletenik, the community relations manager. "It is this type of behavior that sends a negative message."

Apparently, the faculty had received word about the march through text messages and Facebook.

"We have informed the students and their parents that there will be consequences," Pletenik said. "Phoenix Union High School District does not condone this.

"It's personal and emotional for a lot of our kids. But it's sometimes it also becomes an excuse to ditch school," Pletenik said.

About 260 students from Tolleson Union High School District participated in the walk-out, which is about 3 percent of the district's student, district spokesperson Karyn Morse Eubanks said.

"The students, they get wrapped up in a cause and the emotions are high," she said. "We don't want to discourage students from experiencing those types of emotions and participating in the government process but you know it's not a school issues and they shouldn't make it one."

Eubanks said some campuses had no students leave school and most of the participating students were from Tolleson Union High School, the district's oldest campus.

At mid-afternoon, members of the LA-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights arrived by bus. They said they came to lend solidarity to what they see as a human-rights fight.

"It's beyond an immigration issue. It's beyond a color issue. It's a human issue for us," Jhon Tesoro, 25, Hollywood. "We would do it for any group of people under attack."

Tesoro said the group plans to leave for California around midnight.

Republic reporters Sadie Jo Smokey, Emily Gersema, Mary Beth Faller, Jeffrey Javier, Megan Gordon, Kerry Fehr Snyder, Ofelia Madrid and staff assistant Taulleto Rodriguez contributed to the report.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/04/22/20100422arizona-immigration-bill-students-march-abrk.html