Protest and walkouts: You are on your own

On Jan. 20, a walk out was supposed to happen at Estaban E. Torres Academy at 9:15 am. It was 52 degrees and raining but the excitement was still high. Well it was until students saw the gates.

Estaban E. Torres had locked the main gates to the campus only allowing the students to walk out through the administrative building, more or less allowing students to walk through the doors one at a time due to its size. The staff at Torres had been telling the students that they would be walking out on their own, LAUSD will not be supporting them this time. They also advised the students that if they did decide to walk out it will be considered as a truancy and they will not send staff members to accompany to or from Pershing Square in Downtown L.A., where the walk out was supposed to lead them to.

I’ve interviewed one of the school’s counsolers to find out why LAUSD was not supporting this walkout even though they’ve supported walkouts in the past.

Elva Gomez

“LAUSD is not supporting this one because there are other walkouts, we cannot accommodate to these students because every time we do we have to send staff members to accompany them. If we supported them heavily there would be a walkout every week. And there are other walkouts like the ones on the weekend and there is also one later on today, there is no reason for the students to be cutting in on their class time. Besides some of these students who are trying to leave the campus are not going for the walkout. When I asked them why are they walking out they couldn’t give me a reason.”

These walkouts and protests have been occurring because of the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Protesters saying that they hope to achieve having their voice heard and to show Trump they are united against the allegations and “racist and sexist” comments he has made.

The protest will be happening throughout the weekend, theoretically ending after the inauguration.