It's a known fact that since November 8th, thousands of people have banded together to participate in Trump protests. Trump's election has undoubtedly sparked anger and fear across the country of those less privileged and these protests are some of the first ways they have shown it. We have seen it time after time— the power of the people when they accumulate together to march down the streets and chant their ideals.
Protests have been happening for as long as history can recall for all sorts of reasons, and there’s beauty in the people uniting for what they believe in to make a change. The art of a protest is spectacular as thousands march side-to-side, not knowing one another, due to the fact that they have the same ideology about a subject. There have definitely been protests all around California since the election, happening at SFSU, Berkeley, Davis, and other colleges are they are seen as important, but when it comes to high school protests why do people see it as unnecessary?
My high school alma mater had a protest during the day, as I'm sure other high schools had had too, and controversy arose as to whether it was a waste of time or not. My friends that attend their informed me that their absence would be seen as ‘cutting,’ which can result in detention, and that it’s inexcusable.
It’s understandable that they don’t want students leaving class, but to try to force them to stay in class by adding consequences is extreme. Many of the students are going to be affected by the outcome of the election and they have the right to speak their mind and take a stand. It wasn't as if they were skipping class to go to the movies or make out, but to try to make a change.
Of course having a high school protest isn't going to change all that’s happened, but it will make their peers more politically aware. Throughout my time in high school, the only time that I had known what was happening in politics was my senior year when I took a government class. Other than that, I just went with the flow because in my mind, if I wasn't 18 years old then it didn't matter.
But it does matter and I wish I had seen that sooner.
Just because I wasn't able to vote doesn't mean I was off the hook from being aware of what was happening in my country. But these students were making a change through each other. If there had been protests during my time at high school, I would have been more politically aware since most of my information about politics came from my friends.
When knowing that your peers are involved in such a movement, it prompts you into wanting to join or learn more about it, and that's what these high school students were doing. People can argue that they shouldn't have left class to go protest and that they're throwing away their education, but in reality, they are being educated. Maybe not in a classroom setting but through each other. Their one small movement is sure to ripple effect their future as they are the ones that are going to have to strongly deal with what the older generation is leaving behind.
