New Orleans, Jan. 20 – High school students at three city schools staged a two-hour walkout against ICE. The schools included NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts) and Benjamin Franklin High School, whose students led several walkouts over the past few years in support of LGBTQIA+ rights. Struggle-La Lucha has not confirmed the third participating school.
Chants captured on social media include “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido / The people, united, will never be defeated” and “Hate does not make America great.”
Some signs read: “ICE = Gestapo,” “Hot people melt ICE,” “ICE out,” and “shame.”
An excerpt from a statement by the students was read on New Orleans Public Radio. It included an affirmation of freedom and a rejection of “tyranny and fascism.”
The New Orleans action was part of a nationwide wave of student walkouts on Jan. 20. Students at high schools in the Chicago suburbs, Virginia and Minnesota staged similar protests against ICE.
