Students at schools and colleges across metro Atlanta participated in walkouts on Friday as part of a nationwide strike in response to federal immigration agents killing two people in Minnesota this month.
The strike calls for a day of no work, no school and no shopping.
On Friday morning, more than 100 students walked out of Stephenson High School in DeKalb County in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killing U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Senior Leo Mendoza drove through the parking lot in his pickup truck, a Mexican flag flying in his truck bed.
“We’re standing up for people who can’t, people on the lines that lost their lives, the families that mourn them,” Mendoza said. “It’s bad out here.”
Genny Kennedy, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), said over 100 schools across Georgia are participating in the national day of action.
“What’s going on here today is history,” she said.
Several school districts around Atlanta have threatened punishment for students who walk out.
Kennedy worked with a student organizer at the high school to assist in logistics of the walkout; however, school officials did not allow her on campus.
“The students are going to walk out with or without the PSL, and that’s exactly what we want. This movement is much bigger than the PSL. It’s the people’s movement. It’s the students’ movement,” Kennedy said.
Meanwhile at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College campus in Clarkston, a small group stood outside holding signs as cars passed.
Student Jada Custard said silence is complicity.
“I’m out here to bring awareness of what’s going on around us and to show that you cannot be silent and you cannot be quiet when there is actively things going on around you,” Custard said.
Dr. Gary Botstein, who attended the protest in Clarkston, said he’s “furious” about the deaths of the U.S. citizens, but added that more people are being treated “brutally” in immigration detention.
“If you don’t stand up, they’re going to come for you later,” he said.
He said he hopes more people will stand up against ICE actions in the future.
“If our neighbors see that we’re doing it, I think they’ll be more comfortable saying, ‘We agree. It’s not acceptable in this country,’” he said.
According to organizers, additional protests are scheduled for Friday night and throughout the weekend.
