‘The next voice of America’: Hundreds of students across Spokane skip class in protest of ICE, killing of Minneapolis woman

Hundreds of students pressed up against the fence of Lewis and Clark High School on Tuesday, shoving handmade signs scrawled on notebook paper through the bars and chanting in unison with the accompaniment of the honks of passing cars.

The raucous display, which drew a handful of passersby to join in from outside the school’s fence, was part of an organized mass school walkout to protest Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity across the country and the recent killing of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

“Our country, it’s ‘we the people,’ right? That doesn’t exclude someone based on their race, that doesn’t exclude someone based on their ethnicity or what language that they speak,” said organizer Ava Swigart, founder of Spokane Students for Human Decency. “We’re really preaching the message of ‘this land is your land, this land is my land, this land is our land. So let’s live in it together.’ ”

Student organizers planned the walkout five days ago, when Swigart approached fellow senior Sof Harris at lunch with the idea. It quickly spread around the school – more than 500 students abstained from class to rally. Students at five other schools coordinated walkouts at the same time: high schools Ferris, North Central, Mt. Spokane, Gonzaga Prep and Saint George’s K-12 school.

“Our politics right now are really dominated by older generations, and it’s important to let people know that the youth, we’re the next voice of America, so we make our voices heard now,” Swigart said.

At LC, students rallied for nearly two hours. Kids skipped class and their lunch to gather in the courtyard at their school, holding handmade anti-ICE signs and bringing flowers and candles to memorialize Good, a 37-year-old mother of three. They read poems and shared speeches in her honor before holding a moment of silence.

Organizers provided their peers with rainbow index cards to write affirmations and things they love about America to tape to the exterior walls of their school. Harris wrote “Hope” on his neon card.

“Despite everything that’s going on, I think every single person who’s here right now is feeling hope,” Harris said.

The organizers also brought a shredder, which they fed papers scrawled with sentiments they’d like to see erased from the country.

“People can just write down things that are really weighing on them right now in this world and just shred them,” Swigart said. “We believe as a movement, we’re not getting even, we’re getting creative.”

After about an hour still on campus, students filtered outside of the school’s fence and marched around the block a few times before returning to class or leaving for the day.

Per Spokane Public Schools policy, students have a right to “meet on school grounds to discuss, pass resolutions, and take other lawful action respecting any matter which directly or indirectly concerns or affects them, whether or not it relates to school,” according to district messaging sent to students and families at participating schools in the district.

“While peaceful demonstrations are permissible, they must be held where they will present no hazards to persons or property, and at designated times that will not disrupt classes or other school activities,” the message read.

Students who missed class were marked absent in accordance with district policy, and Swigart said she was given detention during a future lunch for briefly leaving campus to speak with members of the media before the event.

It’s unclear if the hundreds of students who left school to circle the block in protest will also receive detention; school spokesperson Ryan Lancaster wrote in an email the district will “be following all our usual policies and procedures.”

Spokane School Board member Nikki Otero Lockwood attended LC’s walkout, standing in the courtyard with students “to listen,” she said. As students gathered at the fence, Lockwood drove away honking at them and throwing up a peace sign out of her car’s open window.

Swigart said student organizers told her Ferris had around 200 students participating and at least another 150 walked out at North Central.

At Mt. Spokane, 35 to 40 kids convened outside during their school’s lunch period, but didn’t skip class, said Mead School District spokesperson Todd Ziedler.

Four kids “briefly” and “independently” left classes at G-Prep, school principal Derek Duchesne said. They were “respectful in working with school administrators,” he said.

“Admin used the moment to talk with the students about how supporting a cause often involves responsibility and personal sacrifice.”

Swigart said she worked with administrators, her school district, local police and nearby hospitals to ensure they knew about her plans and students knew their rights and potential discipline. Lunch detention was worth it, she said, for the overwhelming turnout. Other student demonstrators also didn’t sweat any potential discipline from their school.

“In comparison, getting lunch detention is a much less harsh punishment than getting shot or killed,” said sophomore Elle Black, who left school grounds with peers to circle the school. “I think that it is totally worth it in order to be able to use your voice in protest against the hate that is going on, and be able to speak up for people who aren’t able to.”