Written by Diwa Sadozai and Anne Marie Lumibaó
Additional Reporting by Antoinette Joseph
Often, student advocacy is lost in translation. Students feel as if they’re not being heard or understood by those in positions of authority. Students feel as if they don’t have the platform to amplify their voices. Students feel as if their opinions and beliefs don’t reside in an environment where they are able to make change.
But that wasn’t the case with James Logan High School, where, on January 12, 2024, a student walkout was performed with an upward of 300 students joining in with chants and posters for the Free Palestine movement.
The walkout was primarily influenced by the recent Union City council meeting that had occurred at the Union City City Hall, where multiple students felt as if their calls for a ceasefire resolution from the council were dismissed. Students, unsure of how to progress with their need for change, received guidance from trusted adults, which is when they decided to take initiative to plan a walkout.
“They knew that we were going to talk about Palestine. They gave us only a minute to speak even though we had less people, and, once our time was up, they cut us off and moved to the next person,” said Katelyn Trieu, a junior in the Ethnic Studies and Social Justice academy at Logan and a witness of what had transpired at the city council meeting. Trieu was a prime leader in furthering the walkout and a powerful activist for the pro-Palestine movement.
The walkout was essentially a response to the City Council’s decision to refuse or even consider a ceasefire resolution, which the New Haven Unified School District has passed and many of its district leaders support. New Haven’s school district was the first to pass a ceasefire resolution in Southern Alameda county. Thus, many students were outraged at how the school district passed a resolution calling for humanitarian aid into Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops in Gaza, and the safe passage of substantial aid to the people of Gaza, while the city’s own trusted committee rejected even the possibility of approving a ceasefire resolution.
Ivan Viray Santos, an ESSJ teacher and a strong proponent in social justice, shares his students’ confusion.
“If our school district and our district leaders support the young people, why can’t the city council,” Santos said. “Why can’t the local government?”
As a testament to their outrage, more than 300 Logan students took to the streets, with chants, and posters, and a will to have their voices heard. Multiple community members took the time to give speeches, and filled H Street with the echoes of “Viva, Viva Palestina!”
“I saw in the crowd through our words, we gave people the confidence to express their solidarity and emotions.” Trieu says.
However, walkouts are an interruption in the school day and must be responded to by school authorities. For Logan, it was announced that the walkout was happening and any student participating would face the consequences of an unexcused absence. However, there were multiple administrative figures at the walkout to ensure student safety, such as Mr. Malcolm.
Speaking to Mr. Malcolm, a house principal at James Logan, said, “As a school, we’re pretty supportive of students’ self-advocacy, as in things they believe are important, showing up and showing out when they feel strongly about something.”
Walking out is a privilege protected by our First Amendment rights. At Logan, there is a wide variety of diverse students, all with different beliefs and backgrounds. It’s easy to say the student identity at Logan is very powerful and active. The administrators do not fail to recognize that, thus, a walkout is not exactly promoted but is definitely allowed and even expected.
“I think I’ve always known we have a strong sense of students understanding who they are, and what they believe in,” said Mr. Malcolm.
Perhaps some of the admin are even impressed by the students’ ability to initiate, organize, and then execute.
Mr. Malcolm said, “Fliers printed out, with a map on where they were walking to, and chants, and a timeline. It was really well-thought out.”
Such an unpredictable event constructed by only a couple students in around five days resulting in an incredibly collective and surprising turnout is noticeably admirable. Even those in positions of authority, who strive to keep student safety as consistent as possible, see that.
But for those who endeavor to see social justice and student advocacy become a prime characteristic in education, the walkout was entirely something different. The walkout was the representation of their day-to-day hard work transforming into an event that made a real-life impact in the world. The struggle it takes to teach and uphold a subject that is not often welcomed in education is mountainous, but to witness that struggle turn into so many student’s determination to create change makes all the obstacles worth it.
“I told them all I cried 20 times,” Santos said. “I cried because I was filled with pride in seeing young people take action. I cried because of the power that they found in themselves. I cried because of genocide.”
Not only was this walkout a demonstration of the youth’s ability to speak out as Trieu says, “I feel like we accomplished showing the city council that we as youth have power in our voices and action to make change.” But it was also a representation to those outside of our community. Those not a student at James Logan, those not a teacher, those who don’t witness the society around them always advocating for them. The walkout to them showed that there is a growing group of powerful people who have harnessed the small amount of resources they have into something much greater. Something that attests to their need to incite change, and have that change create a true difference in the world.
“At the same time, I cried because when I saw six, seven, eight-year-old Palestinian youth join them in the rally, the idea of those young people in this community having that core memory,” Santos said to describe his fulfillment at the walkout, “of people who are outside of their community, who are not Palestinian, who are not Muslim, who are not Arab, standing up for them, standing up for people who don’t have a voice, that in itself brought me to tears of joy. “
Multiple Ethnic Studies teachers expressed gratitude and gratification at the sight of their students inflaming change in the place of a city council that rejects and dismisses their need for action. Santos works everyday and teaches lessons to his students that express the great struggle yet pleasure which is included in striving for communal progression.
“Me, as an ethnic studies teacher, I’ve done my job because part of our job is to inspire young people to have a voice,” Santos said.
As our students have noticed in the interaction with the city council who disregarded their thoughts and expressed their indifference to the situation in Gaza, social change is a journey. A journey that is to be upkeeped and performed by those who refuse to give up in the face of dismissal. A journey that is looked upon with admiration and a clear appreciation for those who empower their ability to speak out and be heard. A journey that is nurtured and nourished by those who came before us and who work every day to ensure that student activism is not an intention left behind.
James Logan High School showed that as they walked the streets on January 12 and urged for an immediate ceasefire resolution in Gaza and specifically, from the city council of Union City. They elevated their voices and gave speeches, created posters, and empowered their chants which echoed through H Street. For the betterment of our society, the youth took initiative and did not ask for their voice to be heard, but demanded their voices be understood.
“Because if those young people grow up in this city, in this community, in this school district, remembering that there are people standing up for them and that gives them strength to get through every single day, then we as a community have done our job, “ said Santos.
