Hundreds of Evanston Township High School students walked out of class on Friday to protest recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. ETHS sophomore Karlos Ruiz was part of the crowd marching to Fountain Square.
“It was empowering, honestly, to just see so many people,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz and others displayed signs and chanted phrases like “No one is illegal on stolen land” and “F–k ICE.”
The demonstration was part of a larger nationwide general strike, during which activists called for an economic blackout to protest ICE activity. Community members were encouraged to avoid shopping, stop work and not attend school for the day.
Students who participated in the walkout were given an unexcused absence for missed classes, according to a district email to ETHS families. Still, District 202 Superintendent Marcus Campbell, who attended the protest, told Evanston Now the protest was “one of the best educations they can get in letting their voices be heard.”
While students gathered at Fountain Square, Ruiz said one counterprotester shouted at the students, yelling, “What about America?”
Ruiz said he was “annoyed” that “this type of bigotry” exists in Evanston.
“He’s threatening kids,” Ruiz said. “It just kind of made me mad, so I had to get some of the people to just stop giving him the light of day and just move on.”
Still, Ruiz said he was hopeful that the walkout proved students could “actually make a change.”
Some students who did not participate in Friday’s walkout engaged in alternate forms of activism. During their lunch period, ETHS senior Nicole Saenz said she and other students gathered at the school’s community service office to send emails to elected representatives voicing their concerns.
“We all recognize that something is wrong with the country,” Saenz said. “We’re all trying to show that we’re in this together and that we’re not okay with what we’re seeing with the whole ICE situation.”
The walkout was just one part of ongoing student activism at ETHS amid increased federal immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
Saenz is a member of ETHS’ Students Without Borders, “a coalition of students and staff who advocate for immigrant rights.” SWB holds weekly meetings to organize fundraisers and speaker events, as well as educates students on their rights when interacting with immigration enforcement officers.
The club has held bake sales and sold merchandise, raising around $5,000 since “toward the end of the year,” Saenz said. Ruiz, who is also a member of the club, added that the money will fund a scholarship for ETHS seniors who have been impacted by ICE activity and are looking to attend college.
There are several other groups through which students promote immigrant rights, including Students Organized Against Racism at ETHS and the immigration committee at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.
ETHS senior Emerson Singer, a student liaison for JCUA’s immigration committee, did not participate in the walkout but said she was “in awe” of the protest and has been involved in other forms of activism.
“I love community organizing and activism,” Singer said. “I really love being able to see something that’s going wrong in the world and make an active effort to change it and bring other people along with me.”
Singer said she has been busy working on an infographic to promote the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ upcoming Springfield Advocacy Day, where members will fight for immigration justice.
Many students, including Singer, spoke to the importance of youth activism as an investment in the community’s future.
“ETHS students will continue to use our collective power to fight against ICE and to fight for our peers and our neighbors,” Singer said. “By encouraging students and youth-led activism — it’s telling people that no matter how old they are, they have a voice and it matters.”
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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