For those of you who live outside of Las Vegas and haven’t heard about the 1,000 students who walked out of class today to protest immigration reform, click here or here.
For those of you who love what middle school kids say, keep reading.
Approximately 200 of my school’s students attempted to leave campus at 12:15 today to support the high school students who left hours earlier. You might not know that middle schoolers are followers not leaders and always a day late and a dollar short. As I was telling students that if they left, a suspension and possible truancy citation would result, a few students continued to rally, cheer, and taunt. I pulled one especially loud and belligerant black female sixth grader aside and asked her, “Do you know what this protest/walkout is really about?” Her wide-eyed response was “Sure, Miss, free the Mexicans!” When I explained to her that Mexicans were free and that she needed to go back to class, she desperately inquired, “Can the U.S. make them go back if the laws are changed?”
My response was today’s title … “Si se puede” … “Yes, we can.” Perhaps the bigger question is … should we?
P.S. She and the majority of the other students did go back to class when they were directed.
