DES MOINES — Students at multiple high schools across the USA, most too young to vote in the presidential election, staged walkouts Wednesday in protest of their president-elect.
Chanting "Let's Dump Donald Trump" and other more colorful phrases, teens linked arms at East High School in Des Moines, broke into song at Roosevelt High and chanted in Spanish at Hoover High. In addition, about 20 students walked out of Valley High in West Des Moines, Iowa.
The schools in Iowa's largest city allowed the student-organized protests, which lasted 15 to 45 minutes, giving participants unexcused absences.
"Our students have the right to be heard," Des Moines Public Schools administrators said.
Other high-schoolers also left class to rally against Trump's anti-immigration stance, hate speech and misogyny:
• In the San Francisco area, about half of Berkeley High School's student body — 1,500 students — walked out before 9 a.m. PT, KNTV-TV, San Jose, Calif., reported. Three other high schools, Oakland Technical and Bishop O'Dowd in Oakland and Lincoln High in San Jose also had walkouts.
"They're angry," said Berkeley High Principal Sam Pasarow, who did not want students to be interviewed directly. "They're crying and they feel unsafe."
• In the Phoenix area, hundreds of students from several high schools left class, marched through downtown and met at the Arizona Capitol. They held signs and Mexican flags and chanted, "Who's Donald Trump? Not our president" and "Whose city? Our city!" The Arizona Republic reported. This followed a Tuesday afternoon protest at two high schools, North and Maryvale.
• In the Santa Barbara, Calif., area, students at three high schools — Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara and San Marcos — walked off campus at mid-day to march to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse for a rally. Two pro-Trump students, one wearing a Trump T-shirt, were sworn at and authorities escorted them a few blocks to the main police station, according to KEYT-TV, Santa Barbara.
• In Seattle, about 200 students from West Seattle High walked out of school and marched through the streets chanting, "Save our future" and "Not my president," reported KING-TV, Seattle.
• In Boulder, Colo., about 100 students left class at Boulder High to gather on the front lawn of the school then began to walk toward downtown, the (Boulder) Daily Camera reported. At the front of the group, some students carried a large sign, "Honk for Love."
Of the high schools in a half dozen areas of the country whose students participated, more than three-fourths have enrollment that is mostly minorities, according to federal data. At least a third had overwhelmingly Hispanic student bodies.
"The majority of students at Des Moines Public Schools are students of color," Phil Roeder, the district's director of communications & public affairs, said in a statement. "The rhetoric of this past election has caused many concerns and divisions among them, their friends and their families. The school district will not stand in the way of our students peacefully expressing their concerns."
In Des Moines, teens used social media to coordinate the 10:30 a.m. CT walkout, which coincided with the concession speech of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Students designated leaders to start chants and reminded them to be respectful although protests devolved at times into cursing and obscene gestures.
“There’s a lot of tension,” said organizer Jalesha Johnson, a senior at East. “I wanted to show that this generation does care, and we won’t sit quietly when we have an opportunity to say something.”
Teens expressed concern about what a Trump presidency would mean for black, Hispanic or Muslim family members and friends. Others worried about his attitude toward women.
"I never felt like I feared anything in the United States," said Roosevelt senior Nosa Ali, a Sudanese refugee who is Muslim. "It's hard to describe in words."
Not all parents were pleased with the protest or that the school district notified them just minutes before it occurred. About 52% of Iowa voters chose Trump, rewarding him with the state's six electoral votes.
Some teens said the walkouts divided schools.
"It's like you get judged if you like Trump," said Noah Christensen, a senior at Roosevelt who worked on homework instead.
Teachers were urged to stay neutral and provide classroom supervision, Roeder said. One school message said staff could participate but reminded them to be professional.
Student protesters were eager to show their disdain for the president-elect.
"I go to school with so many people of color, and when (Trump) sees their faces, he doesn't see what I see," said Hoover senior Oddessey Whitaker, 17, who is black. "He shouldn't be the president of the United States."
Several hundred students walked out of East, linking arms and chanting “No justice, no peace!” and “Undocumented and unafraid!” Some held up the Mexican flag.
The group left school grounds and marched into neighborhoods as teachers tried to get them to come back. By 11:15 a.m., most had returned.
Classes and schedules continued as normal during the day. School resource officers, which provide a regular police presence at schools, monitored the protests and city police said no incidents called for intervention.
Some teens said they felt uncomfortable with classmates' political views. At Valley, a Latino student voiced concern about what Trump-supporting students were saying, administrators said.
“I just simply informed him that if anybody said anything to him, he could come to me,” Vice Principal David Maxwell said. “We are not going to have someone feel targeted or unsafe because of their race.”
Throughout the campaign, some Roosevelt students joked about deportation, said senior Kevin Fernandez, whose father emigrated from Honduras.
“I thank God, and I thank the Founding Fathers, who created our system” with checks and balances, Fernandez said.
He's hopeful that the country can move forward.
“I don’t agree with everything (Trump) said," Fernandez said. "I don’t support him as a president, but as a citizen I will stand behind my president."
