We are the voice of the future. When a “Build a Wall” poster was hung up in Forest Grove High School Thursday May 18, provoked students walked out of class that day. Hundreds of students led a protest all the way down to the main streets of the city. This march encouraged students in other high schools around the metropolitan area to start shining more light on an issue America has been struggling with for hundreds of years to establish and achieve equality in political, economic, personal, and social rights for people of color. Today, Sherwood high has joined the stand with Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Hillsboro, Aloha, Glenco, and Liberty in this protest.
(Sherwood students gather in front of the school to proceed with their march.)
Twitter feeds have been quite busy ever since Thursday afternoon, blowing up with students thoughts, pictures from the different marches and comparisons between the public protests in the '60s to the student-led protests today. This caught the attention of seniors Tatiana Nguyen and Emma Black to organize a march in Sherwood Friday, May 20. The pair projected their plan to interested students of Sherwood through direct messaging to keep the time and location confidential from social media lurking administration that might want to interfere with the riot.
(Organizers Nguyen and Black expose the ideas behind their march.)
An assembly of students accumulated in the front of the school around 1:30 p.m. Nguyen and Black gathered the kids around to establish the idea behind this march. To stand up and show support for Forest Grove, to walk in support of Latinos and people of color who still have to face oppression and racism, to give a voice to people who are put down because of their heritage. A Latino student called himself to the bench to encourage protestors on how important this walk is for students of all races who still have to face racism in this age of “advancement.” Another student stood as a platform for other voices, sharing stories of students who have been ridiculed, slandered, antagonized, and pushed to the margins because of the color of their skin.
(Sherwood student shares encouragement and importance for the march.)
(Students take the first steps to support Forest Grove.)
Posters and chins held high while leading the protest down into Old Town Sherwood. Gaining more support from honks of cars passing by the mob of kids around town hopping into the march with the administration following right behind them in awe. Principal Ken Bell had nothing but cheer on his face when asked how he felt about the young activism. “This is how change is made. I like seeing students taking charge for something they feel passionate about changing,” said Bell.
(Students continued the march down to Old Town Sherwood.)
Millennials are the new generation of voters and the next voice for our future. High school protests this week have shown the same spirit and drive protesters in the '60s had. Because of them, women, transgenders, gays, and people of color were all given a chance to speak up about their oppression. Because of them, we have seen equal wage raises, witnessed stereotypes of women and other ethnicities deteriorate, and lived to see equality in marriage. Now kids are fighting for the respect and justice people of different-colored skin deserve.
