Acalanes Students Plan a Walkout to Protest I.C.E.

Lily Foster, Fed Fregola, Avila Payne/Staff Writers

Acalanes students Miles DeBoy, Aryansh Deepak, Jayden DiPrisco, and Evelyn Hollenberg are promoting a school walkout in protest of I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) through Instagram, on their account dons.against.ice (DAI). The walkout is scheduled for February 4th from 2:30 to 3:30 pm, when DAI encourages students to leave their 6th period classes to peacefully protest the recent actions of I.C.E.

“We began to organize the peaceful walkout following the shooting of Renee Nicole Good, and just the day after we really started planning was the shooting of Alex Pretti, which served to solidify our resolve to make our voices heard and increase the range of the protest,” Acalanes sophomore and DAI co-founder Evelyn Hollenberg said.

Their posts quickly gained social media traction, with over 700 followers as of Feb. 1. Student leaders have also joined in on planning the protest at many other schools nearby with accounts including loslomas.against.ice, campoagainstice, abolish.ice.mhs, and auhsd.against.ice. These schools are also using Instagram to measure their audience. None of these accounts are affiliated with Acalanes High School.

“We are seeing people repost [our posts] to their stories, to their friends, which means that more people from our school are becoming aware of this plan,” College Park High School freshman Reid Mallon said.

Posts on dons.against.ice consist of daily countdowns with information on how students can join in Wednesday's protest.

“We first got in contact with school administration and established an organized plan for a safe and effective walkout,” Acalanes sophomore and DAI co-founder Miles DeBoy said.

Organizers of the event hung up copies of an informational poster around campus. The poster provides information on the time, place, nature, purpose, and walking path of the event. The poster reads “Stay on the sidewalk and do not inhibit the movement of non-protestors. Keep all messaging non-explicit and non-violent. Please comply with these guidelines or you will be asked to leave” and “Bring a sign, poster, or flag if you can.” It also lists various slogans to decorate these items with.

“We discussed how to best leave class without being disrespectful or unnecessarily disruptive to teachers. Furthermore, we are still trying to spread the word and encourage more students to leave,” Miramonte junior and class leader Serena Scheiner said.

On Jan. 31, students from schools all across the East Bay gathered at the Lafayette Library to make signs for Wednesday’s walkout. The meeting allowed students who joined the cause to be creative in their protests, as well as to create a consistent plan throughout the participating schools.

“We wanted to host the sign making event for several reasons, first, we thought it was important to garner support through social events like these,” Miramonte junior Elina Soong said. “Social media only connects people so much but having in-person events like this provides a community, a chance for other people to know just how many are with them in the movement.”

The poster making event was also used to make students feel more comfortable in the protest, as they know other students will be aware of the event, as well as participating in it. At most participating schools, one volunteer student leader per class will leave and announce that they are walking out in protest of I.C.E..

“The hardest part of the walkout [will be] getting the first person in each class to stand up, because after one person stands up, we know many more will follow,” Miramonte junior Sean Gupta said. “By spreading the word to everyone we possibly can via posters, word of mouth, and social media, we generate discussion, and discussion makes it a lot less scary to be the first person to stand up.”

Inspired students at schools throughout the East Bay joined in to organize a walkout at their schools as well.

“Dons.against.ice [instagram account] reached out to us and that was our first connection,” De La Salle High School senior Joey Mucha said. “And then there are a ton of schools around that are all joining in to plan this [walkout].”

The protestors hope to gain greater attention from the media by participating in the walkout as a collective of schools.

“It is great to see all these schools work together towards a common goal,” Mallon said. “It is important to spread the message because if one school does it, it is not very powerful, but if it is ten, eleven schools, it sends a bigger and greater message.”

People are speaking out all over the world regarding the recent actions of I.C.E., and DAI is hoping to demonstrate that young people, especially highschoolers, are aware of political news and are not afraid to speak up about their opinions.

“We are the ones who will be living in the America that we make today. We are the Americans of the future, and we must make our voices heard now in order to ensure that our America continues to be a democracy,” Hollenberg said. “There is a perception that young people do not care, that we are out of the loop when it comes to politics, simply because we cannot vote. But I want you to know that I care. We care. We see what is happening in Minnesota and across the United States and we are not going to sit back as they take our rights away.”