Thread: Students Plan Demonstrations, Discourage Walkouts in SoCal

http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/..._523_30_06.txt

Students plan demonstrations, discourage walkouts

By: CRAIG TENBROECK and DAVID FRIED - Staff Writers

NORTH COUNTY ---- In a week of highly charged political protests ---- punctuated by student walkouts, emotional marches and roughly three dozen arrests ---- a handful of high school students are trying to change the tone of the contentious illegal immigration debate by organizing larger and more orderly demonstrations.

A group of Rancho Buena Vista High School seniors will host a rally from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Oceanside Municipal Pier and have been meeting with other students, school administrators and city officials to plan the event, which they hope will draw several hundred people.

Rancho Buena Vista is in the Vista Unified School District, which has closed all its campuses today, citing safety concerns amid the possibility of more raucous demonstrations.


In Escondido, student marches are planned today after school gets out at about 2:30 p.m., according to Orange Glen High student Maria Fernandez, who said she is a demonstration organizer.

Another Escondido rally is planned for 8 a.m. Saturday in Grape Day Park, behind City Hall, Fernandez said. She said that event is for everyone in the community to attend, not only students.

During today's march, the group will trek to Escondido City Hall for a rally to show community unity. Student organizers are encouraging non-Latino students to participate, Fernandez said.

"We're gonna try to get everybody involved, because some people felt left out," she said.

Fernandez also said she hoped the after-school demonstration would show the community that students who marched earlier in the week really did care about the immigration issues, but that students also care about education.

The group of Rancho Buena Vista students organizing Saturday's event in Oceanside have also been urging their peers to get educated.

In Vista on Thursday, RBV senior Adaliz Leon stood in front of more than 150 students at Washington Middle School and encouraged the younger students to brush up on the immigration debate.

"Google it," she told the crowd. "Find information about it first. Don't just walk out because your friends walk out."

Leon, one of several in the group which is calling itself the United Alliance Against Injustice, staunchly opposes any proposed federal legislation that would toughen immigration laws, but she said leaving school sends the wrong message.

Fellow Alliance member Arthur Alvarez told the students that if they resisted the temptation to leave school, one day, they would be writing laws rather than protesting them.

"We're trying to help you guys be successful," he said.

This small cluster of Rancho Buena Vista seniors came together Monday after word of student walkouts circulated through several North County campuses.

Rather than blend in with the chanting masses leaving school grounds, they spoke out in favor of a more organized protest, then planned carefully to put one together.

"They are really standing up to peer pressure tremendously well," said Sue Castaneda, a counselor at Madison Middle School where the Alliance spoke with about 70 students during a voluntary meeting Wednesday.

"I'm just very proud of how articulate they are, how they've emerged as leaders," she added.

Alliance members, who are asking participants to wear white shirts as a sign of peace, are encouraging those who plan to attend the event in Oceanside to leave their Mexican flags at home. The idea, they said, is to encourage people of all ages and all races to come together for a powerful showing of solidarity.

"I think it's beautiful that our youth is finding its voice," Alvarez said after Thursday's presentation. "I just think (the walkouts are) misguided."

In Escondido, Daniel Perez, a community activist and school volunteer, has been distributing fliers for Saturday's demonstration in Grape Day Park. The fliers ---- printed in Spanish ---- urge participants to respect police and bring U.S. as well as Mexican flags.

Perez said that his role has been limited to simply trying to persuade the students organizing the demonstration to contain their activities to the park, rather than roam the streets of the city causing disruptions to businesses and residents.

"What we're trying to do is get the community integrated, not craziness," Perez said.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com, or staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.

Hey Students, since you are gonna walk out again, just keep on walking......right back to Mexico! You can fly your damn flag where it belongs...on Mexican soil, not US soil