Pushes to organize peaceful protests, one of the cornerstones to American democracy, have increased as opposition rises across the nation over U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement’s recent apprehensions.
“The right to assembly is incredibly important because it gives you an opportunity inside of democracy to come together and have your voice heard collectively,” American Government teacher Alexander Edwards said. “So you can go out and you can protest government action. You can show the government you’re upset by something. You can collect together for a shared issue,”
Edwards said that student walkouts are one of those gray areas where it is a form of participation, but it can be restricted if it’s seen as materially disruptive to the educational process of the school day.
“I haven’t seen the school really punish student behavior or participation before,” Edwards said. “You know, it’s something that pops up occasionally, but for the most part, when students do protest, they seem to stay within the boundaries of the school rules.”
Glendale High School sophomore Samuel Biakthawnglian, with the help of three students at GHS, organized a walkout on Jan. 30 in response to the deployment of ICE nationwide.
Biakthawnglian said that although for the most part conversations at the walkout were relatively productive, there were some conflicts.
“I didn’t see much of it, but I heard it was a little crazy,” Biakthawnglian said. “They did get into a bit of a physical [disagreement], but it got separated. And after that, they just kind of, like, minded their own business. That’s what I saw.”
Pedro Rodriguez was one of roughly 150 protesters in attendance of a march on Jan. 8 following the death of Minnesota resident Renee Nicole Good.
“Today was my first opportunity that was actually free, where I was, like, ‘I want to come and support and speak my mind about things,’ ” he said.
Rodriguez said he encourages people to go out and speak their mind even if they feel like their voice is being overshadowed.
“Overall, a lot of people lately have been a little disheartened because of the amount of protests going on, and the fact that some of us see that there hasn’t been much change,” Rodriguez said. “I think that the lesson we learned from these protests isn’t that we’re not getting anything done, but it’s the fact that we’re joined together and fighting for a cause that we all believe in, and that’s the real beauty of protest here. So I’m really proud of everyone that’s shown up today.”
Edwards said the right to protest isn’t necessarily explicitly protected, except that freedom of assembly is all encompassing.
“It includes protests, freedom to gather together and protest government action,” Edwards said. “Now, there are certain limits that there are certain jurisdictional requirements, but in general protests have kinda been the bedrock of [the] American government, even back to the colonial times.”
With the rise of student protests, understanding civic engagement can be important.
“I honestly think it’s good for our generation to be more aware and talk about it, but I think it can get to an extent if people are getting hurt and stuff,” Biakthawnglian said.
