After the recent strikes on Jan 30th in protest of ICE raids within our community, people are organizing a walkout on Feb 6th across all schools in the valley. Over forty schools are attending this protest including Van Nuys High School, Magnolia Science Academy, and High Tech LA. Currently, the plan is for HTLA students and teachers to walk out in the morning to meet at Stop In Donuts, afterwards, they will walk to Van Nuys City Hall.
Last week on Friday, there were protests all over LA including Van Nuys City Hall, LA City Hall, and Studio City. These protests started at noon and continued until seven pm with marches across the city. On Jan 30th, schools were empty, as Izzy, a student at Cleveland Highschool says, “there were only six people in my first period that day”. Schools like GALA Charter organize protests within their own schools with a majority of the staff striking with the students.
ICE has been terrorizing our neighborhoods, and tearing families apart. They have been sighted nationwide, including the notable news from Portland, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. Thus far, two Minneapolis residents have died from federal bullets, and several others have died across the nation. Renee Good and Alex Pretti were both US citizens that were shot by ICE agents. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, called both Renee Good and Alex Pretti “domestic terrorists” and claimed that they attempted to kill the ICE agents. However, video evidence proves the opposite; Noem and Bovino are lying to our faces, and there are still people who believe it. Noem claimed this killing was in self defense, however, bystanders and footage claim the opposite.
In response to these horrific acts of violence, people are organizing protests to make their voices heard. Acting in large numbers makes a difference, it shows that we are still a community that will stand up for what we believe in. It goes beyond personal beliefs about immigration, we are witnessing a nation’s descent to authoritarianism, a nation that kills without reason, deports without due process, harms its residents and citizens alike, and lies about doing so.
On February 6th, students of High Tech LA are planning on walking out of first period to meet at Stop In Donuts. Members of he HTLA Journalism team plan to attend the walkout in order to report on the event. Stay tuned for another related article.