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ELECTION AFTERMATH: Chief Sealth International High School students announce walkout/rally for Monday

November 11, 2016 7:33 pm
|      42 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle politics | West Seattle schools

Received tonight from the Chief Sealth International High School Black Student Union:

The Chief Sealth International High School Black Student Union will be participating in a schoolwide walkout and rally outside of Chief Sealth Intl. High School on Monday, November 14, 2016 @ 1:30 PM. In this rally, we want to show that our students are here for each other and that we won’t back down. We are proud of our school’s diversity, no matter who’s elected into office or what they may say.

After the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, there has been a heightened fear among Students of Color, Immigrant Students, Muslim Students, Female Students, and more. The examples of hate crimes and discrimination all over the country has our students afraid for their future and the future of their friends and family.

We say “heightened” because the struggle for Students of Color, Immigrant Students, Muslim Students, and Female Students is not new. It has been ongoing, and we come together today to show that we will have each other’s backs as we enter this new era.

We will not be afraid. We know that when we stand together, we are strong. We know that when we stand together, the racism, islamophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, homophobia, and misogyny that Donald Trump stoked during his campaign will not find a voice in our community. We know that when we all stand together those that have been empowered by this election to express racism, islamophobia, homophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, and misogyny will recognize that those ideas have no home here.

In this walkout, students at Sealth and the Sealth Student Cultural Coalition, which includes members from the Black Student Union (BSU), Muslim Student Union, (MSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano Latino de Aztlán (MECHLA), Asian Culture Association (ACA), and the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) will be coming together. We hope to show the rest of the world that we stand in solidarity with each other. We invite cultural organizations from other schools to do the same.

This walkout and rally will be NON-VIOLENT. We will not welcome violent actions.

Back on Wednesday, you might recall, about 200 students from West Seattle High School walked out for a post-election protest march from Admiral to The Junction and back to school.

Meantime, this isn’t the first action this year in which the Sealth BSU has been involved – we covered their pre-football-game protest in September, as well as their Black Lives Matter At School rally three weeks ago. Last December, the group organized an anti-Islamophobia demonstration.

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42 Replies to "ELECTION AFTERMATH: Chief Sealth International High School students announce walkout/rally for Monday"

  • sari November 11, 2016 (7:57 pm)

    Right on.

  • Lisa November 11, 2016 (8:07 pm)

     Amazing bravery!

  • Peacegirl November 11, 2016 (8:13 pm)

    Well said.  Peaceful protest without violence is to be applauded in my opinion.

  • dsa November 11, 2016 (8:51 pm)

    You left out disabled.  Their research help and other funding is in jeopardy like never before.

  • JC November 11, 2016 (8:58 pm)

    Is there a reason they are doing this on school time and not after school?   My tax dollars pay those teachers to teach those kids the subject they are experts in like Math, History, Language Arts, Science, M,usic etc not take them out during school hours to protest.  I don’t mind if they protest and  under the 1st amendment have that right as long as it’s peaceful, not violence or block traffic on Thistle (since I travel that way a lot) but what I don’t agree with is doing it during school hours.  

    • Admiral Mom November 11, 2016 (9:21 pm)

      JC,

      Not all that happens in this world is about you. Let me reassure you those tax dollars spent on teachers are well spent. And I am sorry if the traffic on Thisle is disturbed despite the fact that you travel that way a lot. 

    • Marianne November 11, 2016 (9:36 pm)

      JC-This is student led.  While teachers may support the students’ actions, they will not be taking them out of school.

    • mj November 12, 2016 (2:01 pm)

      This is a LESSON more important than any textbook could teach !!! Of course, do it during the hours set aside for LEARNING !!!!!

  • mergirl November 11, 2016 (9:14 pm)

    You have my support! This is civics education in action. I hope other schools do this too.

  • Seattlite November 11, 2016 (9:15 pm)

     Why was Donald J. Trump voted in as the 45th President of the United States?  That is the question to be asked of the students and then discussed.  Sealth students would benefit from staying in their class rooms and talking about the current events.  Perhaps showing a video or two of Ben Carson or Allen West or Thomas Sowell who speak on how they became successful in America. Maybe a pop quiz on what the branches of government are, the meaning of the Bill of Rights, Constitution.  What is a democracy?…another good question for the students.  I just don’t think the students will learn much from walking, rallying and is not a good use of their time.

    • J November 11, 2016 (10:38 pm)

      “Maybe a pop quiz on what the branches of government are, the meaning of the Bill of Rights, Constitution.  What is a democracy?”

      Good idea. To keep it topical maybe they could start by analyzing Trump’s stated views and plans and why some of them are drastically unconstitutional, like suggesting people should be banned from our country based on their religion, that we should use torture, or that we should kill the families of terrorists. They could use this as a study guide, so much to learn:

      https://action.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pages/trumpmemos.pdf

    • AJP November 12, 2016 (5:43 am)

      Hey Seattlite, maybe you didn’t see my question on one of the other threads. In your comments, you said Trump is anti-elitist. I understand your assessment that he’s anti-globalist, he’s certainly said as much. But I don’t understand where you get the idea that he’s anti-elitist, given his elite circumstances and way of life. Could you please enlighten me as to what Trump has said or done to give you the impression that he is anti-elitist?  What I see is a very rich man who has very rich friends, who was educated at expensive private schools and did the same with his kids. The furniture, walls, and fixtures of his penthouse (just one of many, many houses) is accented all over in gold leaf. He doesn’t drive himself just about anywhere, and in fact often travels by personal helicopter (which is also accented in gold with his family crest in gold as well). All this, and much more, adds up to me to be a very elite lifestyle and attitude. I’m asking you a true and honest question, not trying to argue, but because I truly don’t understand. 

      • Seattlite November 12, 2016 (8:38 am)

        AJP —  Trump/Pense stated over and over that they wanted to “drain the swam”  of the establishment elitists.  Political science and theory come into play when discussing political elitism.  A good article, “The Class Domination Theory of Power” by G. William Domhoff is a good read — hear is an excerpt that speaks to the establishment power elite that I’m talking about and that Trump/Pense are against:   “Power elite domination of the federal government can be seen most directly in the workings of the corporate lobbyists, backroom super-lawyers, and industry-wide trade associations that represent the interests of specific corporations or business sectors. This special-interest process is based in varying combinations of information, gifts, insider dealing, friendship, and, not least, promises of lucrative private jobs in the future for compliant government officials. This is the aspect of business-government relations described by journalists and social scientists in their case studies.”

  • Mike November 11, 2016 (9:20 pm)

    As long as they vote in the next election, unlike their slightly older millennial counterparts that failed to vote.  This is what you get when the younger people don’t exercise their right to vote.  Protest all you want, but at least vote in 2020 to actually impact real change.

  • carolei November 11, 2016 (9:33 pm)

    Thank you Chief Sealth students!

  • JT November 11, 2016 (10:19 pm)

    Compromising your own education to send a protest message ………… ?    Why not take the whole week off and show ’em you’re really serious?

  • Jon November 12, 2016 (6:28 am)

    “ELECTION AFTERMATH” talk about a biased title…

    • Mike November 12, 2016 (7:58 am)

      How is that biased?

      • kevin November 12, 2016 (9:15 am)

        The word aftermath implies that the election was some sort of disaster or unfortunate event.  The use of “aftermath” to describe the results of tsunami or tornado would be neutral/factual.  In the context of an election, it is an opinionated and biased headline. 

  • Elle Nell November 12, 2016 (8:14 am)

    Hey Jon- you are in Seattle Washington and in case you didn’t know, you are surrounded by some of the most liberal folks in the nation. Do expect to have understanding or acceptance of bigotry hatred or any other Trump view in this land. And really, if you agree with the election then this thread really shouldn’t spark your interests….there is a major AFTERMATH for plenty of us Americans!!

    March, protest, and stand up against Bigots, haters, and the ignorant!!!! 

    • kevin November 12, 2016 (9:48 am)

      Elle, Do you realize that you perfectly described an echo chamber? 

    • AK November 12, 2016 (11:15 am)

      This comment shows how out of touch so many people are. The vast majority of Trump supporters are not bigots, haters, and ignorant.  They are simply sick and tired of liberal policies destroying this country.  Those in agricultural areas are tired of being ignored by the “elite” of this country.  People are tired of being called racist, homophobic, and ignorant when they are not.  There are extremists on both sides – it’s not hard to find if you vary your sources of information and talk to individuals outside of your liberal bubble of thought.   Many of the voters held their nose and voted for Trump because they knew what they would get Clinton and didn’t like what that future looked like.  They couldn’t support an untrustworthy liar with no accomplishments to her name after so many years in public service.  Trump is obviously a risk even for conservatives and I for one wish the Republicans had been able to nominate a less divisive candidate with greater moral character. 

      • JC November 12, 2016 (2:04 pm)

        well said…….even races of all color voted for Trump, just not all whites.

  • Kittyno November 12, 2016 (8:42 am)

    I don’t understand your viewpoint Elle.  I’m a liberal and all I’ve seen in this “aftermath” is hate directed at the opposing party.   

    It’s elitist to call them bigots, haters, and (especially) ignorant.  People’s reactions are mindblowing.  This is democracy in action.  We can learn a lot from it.  Those “deplorables” are part of the diversity of our nation.  They also deserve to be listened to.  They also deserve a democratic voice.  If we want to see improvements in the next election we need to focus on finding commonalities and reaching across the aisle–not further widening the gap.  Trump was elected because of extreme polarity.  I think the best thing we can do is be self-critical of our party (and by “our party” I’m referring to my own — Democrats).

  • nachobeaver November 12, 2016 (9:08 am)

    Get Back in class and learn something!! Go Trump!!

  • mark32 November 12, 2016 (9:41 am)

     Take the time to read what Trump wants to do in his first 100 days. It doesn’t look like the hate that’s been reported. Seriously folks, calm down!

     http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days

     

     

     

    • ScubaFrog November 12, 2016 (8:11 pm)

      The hate that’s been reported?

      We have it from Donald Trump’s own mouth. 

      “Mexicans are rapists”.  Calling women “bitches”, and “bimbos”.  Tweeting fake black crime statistics.  Retweeting photos from white supremacist web sites.  Bragging about sexual assault.

      Are you surprised that the KKK endorsed trump, and is having a “celebratory victory march for Donald Trump”?  Are you surprised that the American Nazi Party endorsed trump, and is also celebrating his victory?

      How ignorant and myopic can you be?

      • mark32 November 13, 2016 (10:10 am)

        ok

        Did you read the plan?

  • JT November 12, 2016 (11:05 am)

    This is what happens when something is perceived as “free.”  It doesn’t get the proper respect it deserves.  Taxpayers are picking up the tab for your free education.  Respect them.

    Do you not see the irony of protesting for more respect by disrespecting the very system put in place to make you a better person and the world better place to live?

    The obvious solution:  Stay in school and protest outside of classroom hours.

    • SEALTH BSU STUDENT November 18, 2016 (11:03 am)

      Hello JT, The students in the Sealth BSU appreciate the taxpayer’s contributions to our school. However, We left around 10 minutes into 5th period and returned back to school during 6th period (the last period of the day), after about an hour. We were given the right to make up our missing work. I don’t think missing an hour of school impacted our studies that hard, nothing we can learn or catch up on the next day. And I’m sorry, the constitution does not casually come up in any of my classes, or a lot of other classes taught at Sealth, due to the set material that these teachers are supposed to teach and overall relevance to the class subject.

  • DH November 12, 2016 (12:07 pm)

    I’m proud to see these students band together. Exercising their constitutional right to protest is a worthwhile learning experience. Its truely sad that Trump was elected but seeing all these very different oppressed groups and allies come together in solidary is the one silver lining I can find. Excellent job students standing up against hate! 

  • ScubaFrog November 12, 2016 (8:07 pm)

    Fantastic!  How cool, Chief Sealth students.  You’re courageous, and I admire your resolve.  I stand with you, and the vast majority of Americans who didn’t vote trump , and who didn’t/don’t support that scum.  The popular vote’s expected to reach the millions (in favor of Clinton).

  • JT November 13, 2016 (11:21 am)

    Shouting their Constitutional Rights??   This is exactly why these kids should stay in class and actually read the document.  The 1st Amendment ( Freedom of Assembly) does not allow for disruption of classes at a public school.  What they are planning is outside the law.   If it weren’t such a hot button issue, they would suffer the consequences of their actions.

    • KivaG November 14, 2016 (10:46 am)

      “In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of
      totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority
      over their students. Students in school, as well as out of school, are
      “persons” under our Constitution. They are possessed of fundamental
      rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must
      respect their obligations to the State      . In our system, students may not
      be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State
      chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the expression of
      those sentiments that are officially approved. In the absence of a
      specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their
      speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views      .” Tinker v. Des Moines, U. S. Sup. Ct. 1968

  • JT November 14, 2016 (1:26 pm)

    You are quoting the judges opinion out of context.  Tinker v. Des Moines was about wearing black arm bands to school to express opposition to the Viet Nam War.   And since 1968, many court decisions have put limitations on that broad scope of students’ rights to free speech in the classroom.

    But that isn’t even relevant to today’s activity.  Nobody is telling them what they can or cannot say.  This goes beyond “free speech.”  Common sense, and the law, tells you that groups of students do not have the right to disrupt school whenever they “feel justified.”

  • April Bolding November 14, 2016 (1:53 pm)

    I’m in such support of you Chief Sealth students, teachers and staff!  Thank you for letting your voice be heard through peaceful protest.  It’s your right AND your obligation to keep our democracy in check.  Sending love to you all..

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