In light of recent events regarding ICE, like the murders of Reneé Good and Alex Pretti, OH students planned a walkout to show their frustration and anger against ICE.
On Friday, Feb. 6, observers saw around 700 OH students who left the school building after fifth period and met outside Ken Pickerill Stadium. According to the @oswegostoool, student planners arranged to walk from OH to Hudson Crossing Park in downtown Oswego, bringing awareness to what is currently going on with immigration enforcement.
“[The protest] was very comforting, knowing that so many people care, and that so many people are on your side,” said OH sophomore, Josselyn Rusell, “and knowing that everyone has their own stories of who has been affected in their family, or if they’ve even been affected, it’s so comforting, and it feels like the biggest community.”
The goal of the protest was to ‘skip their lessons to teach one,’ with other protests from schools such as Plainfield East High School and Oswego East having theirs planned. A couple of students thought organizing one was the best solution.
Hassan Lawal, an Orange Crew member, helped plan the protest. He said, “My thought process was to organize a safe, peaceful walkout, so that the students of Oswego can make sure our voices are heard and that our voices are powerful.”
Once at Hudson Crossing, there were some planned speakers, including OH senior and Muslim Student Association Co-President Abdullah Abouhaiba, who is known for speaking out about important topics such as Palestine, Gaza, and ICE.
The organizers of the walkout sought Abouhaiba out to speak as he has attended previous protests. He provided a heartfelt speech to start the protest and motivated attendees that what they were doing something powerful.
“I wrote my speech to be an inspiration to us, the student body,” Abouhaiba said. “In my speech I said, ‘We are the future, we decide how we want our future, our reality to be,’ and if we don’t speak up for what is right, then nothing’s ever going to get changed.”
The protest organizers then opened the floor to anyone who wanted to speak, and if there was any other important information or motivation anyone would like to spread.
Mariela Sanchez, an OH sophomore, took to the crowd and loudly said all 32 documented names of those who have died due to ICE. She spoke with pride and confidence, cheers mounting as she continued to read off the list.
“I wanted to [give] my speech because I’m a first-generation immigrant, and I know the impact of seeing those 32 people who have passed away at the hands of ICE agents,” Sanchez said. “As well as that’s not even all the people who haven’t been reported as deceased, and that makes me really upset because I believe everyone deserves a life and it shouldn’t be taken away from them.”
On the walk to Hudson Crossing, there were plenty of bystanders in vehicles, honking their horns in support, and people walking by cheered the students on.
The consensus is that the protest was a major success for all. The protest gathered so many people that they were walking in the streets, with the OPD assisting in escorting and making sure no students were harmed by any people or vehicles.
“I believe the protest was a big success because we got a lot of people to walk out with us,” said Lawal. “It was safe, it was peaceful, there were no incidents such as in Aurora and Plainfield, we’re very lucky and grateful that nothing happened.”
Observers commented on how OH students were respectful, using hashtags on social media like #thekidsarealright.
“If we don’t speak up now, when will we ever have the courage to speak up?” said Abouhaiba.
I love to read and write poetry, I'm a first year reporter in 11th grade. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
Hi, I'm Nadirah. This is my first year in 42Fifty and I'm currently a Sophomore. I do color guard after school and I really like reading! You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
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