"If Trump does what he said he's gonna do during his campaign, we'll be set back 50 years for civil rights," said "Eric," an eight grader from Hosford Middle School, who said he ducked out of his otherwise locked-down school through a "secret exit" of his to join students from other schools in the streets. His elderly grandmother is an undocumented immigrant from Chile, he said, "so If [Trump] actually does deport everyone that's not here legally, I'll never see her again. She's almost 90."
Ethan was one of a few hundred middle and high school students to skip class on Monday to protest President-elect Donald Trump. They gathered yesterday morning at Pioneer Courthouse Square, marched across the Hawthorne Bridge, made stops at Benson High School, Holladay Park, the Lloyd Center, the Moda Center, Jefferson High School, and Peninsula Park. The school district announced yesterday that those protesting would be given unexcused absences.
Between stops, they marched through the streets, waving anti-Trump signs, belting anti-Trump chants, mimicking the "adult" protests seen throughout the city over the previous five days but without the vandalism and threat of violence from anarchists. A few School Resource Officers tagged along. Patrol officers on motorcycles and in cop cars blocked traffic.
"I've been with the (other) Portland protests for the last few days—I protested Wednesday, Thursday, Friday," said Cleveland High School junior Abbey Wilusz, one of the more vocal students helping lead the march from the front. "Today was the first high school protest we had."
"I think that the youth in Portland and the United States deserve a stronger voice than we have been given in the past, and I'm really extremely proud of my peers and what they have to say," said Cleveland High School student Phoebe Levine. "I want to make adults hear us, and I want adults to realize that our voices matter. It's our future so it should be our voice, and we deserve more than what we are given."
Cleveland High School sophomore Abby Watson held aloft a sign reading "WE WANT OUR VOICE HEARD" on one side and "#MRSPRESIDENT" with a drawing of Hillary Clinton on the other.
"The point [of the protest] is to show support for the people that Trump is against," Watson said. "That's what we all want. We want people in our country to be accepting, for everybody to be equal, and we want it to be a nice place to live. We have to do what can to show love."
Anna Jackson, a parent of an eight grader at da Vinci Arts Middle School who joined the protest, was one of a handful of adults there. She decided to come along to be a "buffer" between the kids and police or the kids and angry bystanders, should an incident pop up.
"My daughter asked me if she could go because she didn't want to get in trouble for skipping school," Jackson said. "I said 'yeah, go fight for your rights, you guys are the next voting generation.' Nearly every one of theses kids will be voting for the next president and they have the right to be heard and they have the right to be mad."
Right after speaking to the Mercury, Jackson spotted an angry woman yelling at the students, waiving a "thumbs down." A few students went up to her and yelled back. Jackson hopped in between the woman and students and calmed the situation down.
After marching to Jefferson High School, urging students there to join them (several did, but more watched the scene from classroom windows), they marched to Peninsula Park. The protest ended at about 3 p.m.
I arrived to cover the protest at about 12:30 when the students got to Holladay Park. Here are my photos and video.
They then decided to "run through" the nearby Lloyd Center. I know it looks like a bunch vandals ready to pillage and riot, but it wasn't that. They were just running...
High school students running to Lloyd Center pic.twitter.com/HCqR7k1UBZ
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
Inside the Lloyd Center pic.twitter.com/bnPPA4Rjot
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
More: pic.twitter.com/7WOFuhJeVz
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
They then marched past the Moda Center
Portland high school students marching through the streets pic.twitter.com/BpXb56svhh
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
They then marched on N Interstate.
On N. Interstate, protesters did 4.5 minutes of silence, in rememberance of Ferguson's Michael Brown, like a protest group in Portland often does.
Now doing 4.5 minutes of silence in remembrance of Michael Brown, like other protest groups in Portland do pic.twitter.com/cEXylBqcdO
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
Marching, chanting. Corner of Mississippi and Skidmore pic.twitter.com/T9akgvY8gn
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
Out in front of Jefferson High School, protesters yelled "join our march, join our march" and "walk out, walk out":
At Jefferson High. Student protesters yelling “join our march.” A couple students did. pic.twitter.com/ERyKJrqNss
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) November 14, 2016
