West Seattle High Students Walk Out in Protest of Trump's Election
From the West Seattle blog:
10:23 AM: About 200 students from West Seattle High School have walked out of their classes and are headed south on California SW toward The Junction.
10:50 AM: The group has reached The Junction. A TV helicopter has picked up on this so if you are hearing/seeing a helicopter, that is what is going on.
11:15 AM; The group rallied at the Jefferson Square corner plaza (photos above and below) and then headed back to WSHS, where we’re told they’ll be talking with principal Ruth Medsker.
10:23 AM: About 200 students from West Seattle High School have walked out of their classes and are headed south on California SW toward The Junction.
10:50 AM: The group has reached The Junction. A TV helicopter has picked up on this so if you are hearing/seeing a helicopter, that is what is going on.
11:15 AM; The group rallied at the Jefferson Square corner plaza (photos above and below) and then headed back to WSHS, where we’re told they’ll be talking with principal Ruth Medsker.
What participants were telling us is, what happened last night does not represent the future that they want, the America that they believe they belong to and belong in, and they will work to embody the values they want to see represented.
Organizer Max Lemke told his classmates that they need to be better people, so that there is hope for their future. Love will trump hate, he told them.
11:48 AM: At the school, the principal took the students into the theater so they would have a place to talk. She said she understood they were angry and wanted to express it. Media were not allowed in.
Comments
Yeez
Here's what the school superintendent wrote to the entire community:
Good morning, E-Town -
This is Dr. Witherspoon.
Once in a while it’s important that we pause and reflect on who we are and reaffirm our appreciation for one another.
This morning I want to remind all of you that ETHS is a safe and welcoming place for you. You attend a school where we not only respect differences, we embrace our diversity.
We embrace one another’s race and ethnicity. We embrace one another’s family background, heritage, language and culture.
We embrace one another’s religion and your right to your own personal customs and beliefs.
We embrace your sexual orientation and your gender identity.
We embrace your special needs.
We embrace you and value you as individual human beings.
Never forget: you belong here at ETHS—each and every one of you.
Today, I urge you to be kind and caring to one another. Redouble your support for one another. And even though we cannot always control what is going on in the larger world around us, we can define our own school, our own community.
Let’s make this school year a year of strengthening our sense of community here at ETHS, and let’s reaffirm a community legacy for all the students today and for those who will follow you at ETHS.
The sun is shining today. Your school is a nurturing place for you to learn and grow. Your futures are bright.
Let’s protect and take care of each other. Everything is going to be okay.
I love all of you. Fill your hearts with love for each other. And no matter what, remember, even today, that it is a great day to be a Wildkit.
--Concerned Hamilton and Cascadia parent
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days
Note especially:
"4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable."
We have been put through a lot. Clinton was gracious. It is time for to take Clinton's lead and address issues when they arise.
Americans need to understand that there was a group of people that were unhappy with the Clintons and for good reasons. Americans rejected Clinton 8 years ago. Next time, Democrats need to get a better candidate.
Mom
I appreciated hearing about schools and teachers sending positive, let's support one another type messages to students. Emotions were high, and some teachers needed to be consoled by students.
-stillinshock
HP
-a HIMS parent
-HK
-stillinshock
Superintendents in Boston, St. Paul, and Denver sent home messages to their students.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/09/school-districts-offer-counseling-support-after-trump-victory-as-officials-try-to-calm-fears/
From Superintendent Tommy Chang in Boston:
"Resources from Teaching Tolerance, a project by the Southern Poverty Law Center, about handling the day after the 2016 election are available here. Additional resources will be posted to the BPS homepage and Social Emotional Learning and Wellness website.
As we engage in discourse, it is essential to emphasize the social emotional learning hallmarks:
Self-awareness: How am I personally feeling?
Social-awareness: How are others feeling?
Self-management: How will I behave now that I know how I am feeling, and how others might be feeling?
Relationship-building: How will I interact with others based upon what I know about their feelings?
Responsible decision-making: What actions will I take to appropriately express my feelings in a way that is also respectful of how others might be feeling?"
Many liberals plugged their nose and voted for Clinton. We share concerns that TPP took jobs out of the county, which led to greater income inequality.
Hilary lost the presidential election 8 years ago. Why did Dems think she could win this election? I do think Dems need to move outside of their bubble.
Trumps comments regarding women prompted mothers and daughters to have serious conversations.
Protests made clear that the American public will not accept racists and sexists. Trump is one man and love trumps hate.
I'm moving on.
I wish more people would challenge sell-out Democrats. Perhaps, we'd be in a better position. I will also argue that Democrats support too many sell-out Democrats. Let's look at Mullet; a guy that supports charter schools. While it is great that Magendanz got tossed out of office...Democrats really need to recruit true Democrats.
Oh and Black lives matter movement-----Bye Bye and respect for police retuned!
HELL YA
Moxy
Remember "It's a rigged system"
Moxy
-parent
http://www.fairvote.org/voter_turnout#voter_turnout_101
pesky facts
If Dems want to support sell-outs...then, so be it.
I'm taking my ball and going home ...sore loser.
Get real
More truth
I have many concerns, domestic but also foreign policy. I am concerned about his foreign policy statements PolitiFact checked like NATO is obsolete, "maybe it's not so bad and enjoy yourself folks" if Japan & N Korea enter a nuclear war, Iran Nuclear deal etc. Then there is the domestic issues, "SS is a Ponzi scheme and we should get rid of it" statements. Hopefully his more extreme statements will be countered by elected officials with actual political experience.
-real truth
Add John Edwards to the list of lovely Democrats. Let's look at the manner in which Edwards treated his wife.
I didn't vote Trump. I am merely suggesting that Democrats live in a bubble and forgot about a large group of people that felt disenfranchised. Trump was their hope.
Moxy
The point about the Dems losing focus and not listening across the board is true. I will also say that Obama probably would have except for all the roadblocks thrown in his way by a do-nothing Congress.
And Obama is still president. Let's see what he does.
Charter schools exist in 40+ states and many of those states are deep, deep blue, e.g., California and Massachusetts. Democrats can support school choice without being "sell outs."
As for Mark Mullet, he's a D winning in a legislative district that elects Rs. Would you rather have a "true" D run as a candidate and lose the seat, or celebrate a moderate D who can win?
FYI - I was a longtime D who has left this party. And there's a reason (beyond gerrymandering) why we find ourselves in a country with a newly-elected R president, both houses of Congress that are R, the majority of governors R, and the majority of state legislatures R. The Democratic Party is a mess. I'm a man without a party.
Alexander
No, not all sunshine and rainbows.
I'd rather have Mullet than Magendanz for sure. And with Litzow out, it's even better.
Well, if the Dems are a mess so is the GOP. They may feel all greater for a bit but those divisions will come out. And they elected themselves a maniac who they cannot control and have no idea what he will do or say on any given day. Good luck with that.
And I have no delusions about the mess that is Republican party --- their day of reckoning is upon them. I am not a Republican in any way. As I said, I have no party.
I pushed back on Moving On's ideologically driven comments. There has to be room in the D tent for moderates. Moving On would like to see them all expelled. I left of my own accord as I didn't feel welcome.
Alexander
Are you truly not seeing the parallels to the presidential voting? Whites overwhelmingly voting against the interests of people of color?
Alexander
As an aside, why did Democrats kick Karen Frasier to the curb and support a pro-charter candidate?
Elected officials that support charter schools are most certainly sell-outs. Privatization of public education also weakens unions. As for Mullet vs. Magendanz, I am merely suggesting better candidates need to run.
Additionally, in today's world, climate change is the “biggest long-term security threat” facing the region (as said by Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, head of U.S. Pacific Command, back in 2013). Ironically, if Trump re-negotiates the trade negotiations to shore up local manufacturing this would be compatible with the establishment of new technology and environmental safeguards because higher priced, carbon neutral US goods could be protected - hopefully by tariffs against foreign goods. This would be a completely visionary policy - and he might be the only one who could implement it. Mass immigration is the future in a climate-stressed world - and they might very well fight their way into the north. Hear that, pants-wetting Republicans???
I think we can transmit these ideas to the new government in language they can understand and appreciate.
However, if Trump determines to continue the Democratic policy of "Wall Street Uber Alles" without shoring up public education and the environment then all is lost.
I voted for Hilary because I found it difficult to vote for a molester who had to turn to reality TV to shore up his checkered business dealings. However, the Democrats sold us out decades ago - as Moving On cogently points out.
-SPSParent
HP
In case you didn't get the message, elections matter.
Alexander
LAPD
Since the victors write the history books, the narrative at the end is always that the good guys won. See? No matter which side wins, they declare that they were the good guys, so they declare that the good guys won.
People need to question the narrative and the narrator. To fail to do so is very, very dangerous. The more that people are convinced that they are right, the more they give themselves license to do wrong. No one was more convinced that they were right than the fellows who flew airplanes into buildings on 9 - 11.
Don't be so sure that you're right.
Don't be so sure that you're the good guys.
Don't be so sure that your rivals are the bad guys. Ask them, and they will tell you that they are the good guys and you're the bad guys. They will believe it just as sincerely as you do and they will be just as astonished as you are that you see it the other way.