On Saturday, February 15, members of the local community gathered to protest the recent immigration deportations ordered by President Donald Trump. Mainly South American migrants are being deported and around thirty thousand have already been deported. The group of protesters marched from Safeway to Tracy City Hall with posters and chants. One of our schools’ clubs, Latinx, participated in this protest.
In an interview with Latinx President, sophomore Mia Tello, she clarified that Latinx decided to join this community protest after another person not affiliated with the club planned this event saying, “She wanted to use our voice to let people know that this isn’t right.” Tello stated the message they were trying to get across is, “Know that we’re equal and that just because we weren’t born here doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed to live here. This is our home.”
Many people from the community participated, said Vice President junior Jesus Magaña. “Many people from the community, especially those from West [High] that are associated with their friends, club members…they came and protested,” he explained.
Tello stated that during the protest, other people driving by reacted positively and negatively. Those that supported the protesters, “would honk and cheer out…put their fist up,” according to Tello. People that negatively reacted to the protesters, “would cuss at us, put [a] middle finger at us or just say anything nasty,” Tello mentioned. “We got more positive than negative [reactions],” she said.
Overall, Tello and Magaña believe the protest went well. “We really got our voices [heard], and we got a lot of support…people talked about it, and it spread a lot of awareness,” said Tello.
This isn’t anything new. Protests have happened throughout history to cause change. History teacher Ms. Babette Adkins stated, “Protests have been an instrument for change for thousands of years, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, people have protested for change with the ruling of governments.” The civil rights protests are some of the greatest examples of this. “My first memories of protests were ones against the Vietnam war in the seventies,” Ms. Adkins recalled, seeing them on TV. She stated that the American Disability Act was passed because of protests. People that are protesting in today’s times are doing so for similar reasons like these. This community protest was for freedom. “It’s the land of the free,” Magaña stated.
