“What does democracy look like?” is a question that has echoed throughout American history. For Haldane students, it looks like a march.
More than 200 students from Haldane Middle and High School filled the streets of Cold Spring between 1:30 and 3 p.m. on Friday, February 6, to protest the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the detainment and deportation of immigrants since the Trump Administration took office.
Spurred in part by the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good at the hands of ICE agents in Minneapolis, students from around the country joined together for a walkout on Friday, January 30. Inspired by these actions, Haldane juniors Julianna Minos and Corinna Mueller, sophomore Diem Lee, and senior Carly Suessenbach organized a protest in Cold Spring for the following Friday.
Students marched from the high school to the bandstand in the lower village, chanting “Abolish ICE” and “This is what Democracy looks like”. Once students reached the bandstand, Mueller, Lee, Minos, and others spoke to the assembled students and adult onlookers. “This makes me feel like I’m an American again,” sophomore Petra Brooks-Saladyga said.
“We will not sit like the children they think we are,” sophomore Eli Hudson said.
“[ICE’s] goal was to enhance national security and public safety, two things that they have abysmally failed at. ICE wastes resources on non-criminals or low-level violators, creates fear for immigrants to report crimes if they know police worked with ICE, breaks down community trust in the police, and their masked outfits and covered faces prevent accountability,” Lee said. He urged students to “donate to a charity or non-profit organization that mitigates the impact of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as the immigrant defense project, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. If you see an arrest, stay out of the way but try to record or take pictures, make a call to our congressmen, and join more rallies and protests.”
After the speeches were delivered, students marched up Main Street to the intersection at Morris Avenue. There, they were met by honks of support, as well as a few jeers from onlookers.
Community reactions in the online comment section of the Highlands Current’s coverage of the walkout were mixed. “The walkout by Haldane students to protest ICE should not be tolerated, and any teachers involved should be suspended or fired. I bet most of these kids have no accurate idea of what they were protesting, and I bet some of them just wanted to ditch school,” John Roberson wrote. Cold Spring resident and Haldane parent Channah Gray was more positive. “I’m incredibly proud of these brave, conscientious students for standing up for their beliefs and protesting the rampant, horrific injustices perpetrated by ICE. It is their world, too,” she wrote.
Students were pleasantly surprised with the turnout. Senior Lenny Chandler said, “I’m so happy about it. I mean, look at all the young people who are coming out. It’s the best thing ever. I honestly didn’t know that this many kids would come out.”
As a consequence for missing class to attend the walkout , roughly 160 high school students received a lunch detention, according to Principal Julia Sniffen. “I would not stand in the way of expressing their First Amendment rights,” Sniff en said. “On the flip side, if it’s disruptive, there needs to be consequences because the school day is not to be disrupted.”
Sniffen thanked the organizers for reaching out to her ahead of time, so the school could take measures to ensure student safety while on campus. The school made clinical support staff and faculty who were not otherwise engaged with students available to ensure the walkout would be conducted in a safe manner.
Mueller emphasized that the walkout is only one part of the activism necessary to create change. “It’s so important for us to keep speaking out and don’t let this be your only form of activism,” she said.
