(Photos by Paloma Donohue)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Students left the building during their lunch hour in accordance with school policies, which Superintendent Lou Moore said allows for such action so long as classes and study are not disrupted. The rally in the frigid temperatures lasted about 25 minutes, he said.
Both the Red Bank Public School District and Red Bank Regional have students whose families have been directly affected by the detention and deportation dragnets.
“Many of our students are confronting hardships but are facing these challenges with courage and tenacity,” Moore said in an email to redbankgreen. “Many of us are deeply concerned to see innocent people and members of our school community contending with separation from loved ones and abuse by federal officials.”
In an email to parents, Moore wrote:
“As planned, the event took place during the second lunch period outside the main entrance pavilion. Student speakers highlighted the positive role that immigrants play in our society, the hardships many families currently face—including separation and detention—and the need for constructive reform. At the conclusion of the event, participants returned to the building in an orderly manner, and classes resumed on time.
I want to commend the student leaders and participants for the mature and respectful manner in which they conducted themselves. We witnessed young people expressing their concerns in a peaceful and responsible way, reflective of the best traditions of American democracy.
Videos and photos show students chanting slogans like “No hate no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
In statements sent to redbankgreen, four student organizers, who identified themselves by their initials due to their status as minors, thanked their schoolmates for their support, saying many students from immigrant families had been directly affected either by the dragnets or the fear and anxiety that has gripped the community.
“Those emotions carry with us in our classrooms and our daily lives,” one wrote.
Nationwide organizers have been planning a series of rallies and boycotts Friday and Saturday in response to the chaotic and controversial crackdown.
The dragnets have included numerous streetcorner arrests in Red Bank by masked agents with ICE publicly divulging few to no details about who was arrested or why.
The statements by the four students stand out at a time when many in Red Bank’s vibrant immigrant and second-generation community are afraid to share their stories with the media. They provide a rare glimpse into the thoughts of students directly affected. As such, we present them below in their entirety.
” I was very happy to see the turnout from my fellow students today. It’s nice to know that students at RBR care and are willing to participate in events such as today’s walkout in order to support other students who have been affected by the increased ICE presence in our communities. Not only that— we each braved the cold, made our voices heard, and listened to what our peers had to say. Each student that showed up today did so out of compassion and selflessness, something I commend each one of my peers for, especially those that helped in organizing the event. After the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good sparked outrage both nationally and locally, students really took notice and initiative. It warmed my heart to see so many of my classmates care about the same issues that I do— which is why we ultimately encouraged our audience to push Congress to prohibit additional funding for DHS, to push Congress to stop funding the wrongful detainings of people around the country and in our communities.” – V.A.
“After the increase in ICE activity throughout our community and the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, me and my fellow organizers knew something needed to be done. As young adults and teens, many of our calls to action are disregarded and ignored because of our “lack of understanding”. However, we as students understand the importance of supporting and standing up for our community in times of great uncertainty. After bringing this national awareness event to staff and teachers, we gained the momentum and support needed to organize a successful walkout. The majority of the students at RBR come from immigrant families and have witnessed the increase in anxiety and fear caused by the increasing number of detainments occurring within our community. Those emotions carry with us in our classrooms and our daily lives. As 1st generation Americans, we carry both the nationalities of our parents and our identities as American citizens. If not for our parents who left their lives back home in their home country, we wouldn’t have been blessed with the opportunity to be born here and use our voices to stand up for those who can’t. As the future of America, we let it be known where we stand in this ongoing moral crisis plaguing our nation. ” S.B.
“I want to thank everyone who took the time to be at the walkout. Despite the freezing cold or the fact that most people missed their lunch period, it showed me that we are part of a community that truly cares. Your presence proved that compassion isn’t passive, it’s a choice. It’s showing up when it’s uncomfortable, standing together when it’s inconvenient, and choosing people over silence. By choosing to stand together, you reminded everyone watching that our school is strongest when we show up for one another. The organizers and I knew that we can not stay silent on something that we feel so strongly about. We could not stay silent while funding for raids, detention and deportation continues to grow and cuts to our education is happening as well. What we accomplished today is something that normally takes weeks of planning. Yet despite it being midterms we were still able to organize this in just 3 days. That alone shows the strength in our voices. Now more than ever, it is important that we stand alongside each other and continue to speak up on behalf of those who cannot. I hope that after today, this encourages you to speak up and know that your voice does matter. We are here to show that our generation refuses to accept injustice as normal. If we want change, we must be brave enough to defend what is right, right here, right now. – A.C.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
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