On November 11th hundreds of students from Hunter High School, Kearns High School, and Taylorsville High School walked out in protest of Donald Trump winning the presidential election. It was one of many protests going on in the US. The walk out started at Hunter High before walking to Kearns High to gather more students, and then students walked to Taylorsville High. They rallied in the Walmart across from Taylorsville High, but eventually a Trump supporter showed up and the tension quickly escalated. The protest was a peaceful one and to keep it that way, they lead the group of teens to rally in the football field at Taylorsville High. The protest was then continued to Murray High and eventually to the Salt Lake City Capital building.
The protest argued for the rights of the Latino, Black, LBGT, and female communities in representation of unity. The protesters made the point that everyone is equal no matter their race, gender, or sexuality. Although the walk was long, spirits were held high. As the student’s walked they yelled things such as ‘United we stand’ and ‘We are one.’ An anonymous protester stated, “There is only one race; the human race.”
Each school had representatives who put the walk out together. Even Copper Hills had a reprehensive there. Jacklyn, the LIA president from Copper Hills, was there to reinforce the idea of raising their voices and standing together.
Mr. Hanson had a few of his own thoughts about the protest. He was ok with it, but his main concern was safety and that the students who wanted to stay in class could continue working without interruption. He tells the Cougar Claw, “I believe the protest would have been more effective if they had more specific reasons, instead of these huge general ideas.”
Aileen Gomez, one of Kearns’ representatives who helped set up the protest, states, “I am doing this to make a difference and to show people that they should not be scared to speak up.”
Miss Loo explained that she knew the protest was going to happen from social media. She let it happen, although students would still be marked absent for missing class. She was also very worried about safety and liability during the protest. She felt that the protest was not very productive and there are more effective ways to handle situations like this. In fact, she and Mr. Garcia had organized for the students who helped set up the protest to be able to meet up with history teachers and politicians to discuss their worries.
Miss Loo states, “We want to teach kids how to educationally handle a political concern.”