Thread: LA: Update on today's school walkout

LATimes (note joint staff writers this time) reports numbers higher than earlier in the day. I guess they haven't learned anything after all. They are just so full of "cute" rebel insolence.
NEXT TIME THERE'S A SCHOOL BOND ISSUE
I VOTE NO!
KEEP YOUR KIDS IN SCHOOL!


Students stage walkout to demand Cesar Chavez holiday
By Tami Abdollah and Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writers
11:25 AM PDT, March 30, 2007


About 400 to 500 high school and college students skipped classes in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles this morning and marched to demand that Cesar Chavez's birthday become a broader holiday.

Cesar Chavez Day is a holiday for state employees, but not a county or school holiday in Los Angeles. State courts were closed, but county employees reported to work.

The walkouts were smaller than last year, when nearly 40,000 students across Southern California protested by marching, blocking freeway traffic and circling L.A. City Hall. Last year's protest came weeks after huge demonstrations in Los Angeles and the rest of the country in favor of immigration reform, an unresolved issue still pending in Congress.

Today, the protests were focused on the Eastside and included students from Roosevelt and Garfield high schools as well as Belvedere and Stevenson middle schools. Though some of the marchers may have left classes, most never went inside their schools this morning, forming into groups to march the 10 miles to City Hall. They arrived about 11:15 a.m.

Also marching were students from East Los Angeles City College.

Waving U.S. and Mexican flags, protesters walked on sidewalks and streets. They were greeted by cheering shopkeepers and the honking of car horns from supporters in the passing vehicles.

The LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff's Department said there were no reports of problems.

The march supported a variety of causes, including a holiday in honor of Chavez, amnesty for illegal immigrants and making the state a sanctuary where illegal workers would not be prosecuted.

"All I want is my green card," said Cesar Romero, 18, a college freshman and psychology major, who said he was born in Jalisco. "That's what I'm fighting for. I've been here 18 years.

"We're fighting for our rights," he said. "We want to stop the raids and get amnesty for all immigrants."

Alma Soriano, 16, a junior at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Lincoln Heights, said she was marching for the second year.

"Cesar Chavez should be recognized as a holiday in Los Angeles because we deserve the proper respect and recognition," she said. "He fought for all the farmers. He fought for all of them to get paid equally. He helped his people. … It is so ironic that Los Angeles, with the largest Latino population, is not recognizing [Chavez]. That's really a slap in the face to all us Latinos."

The march was monitored by Los Angeles Unified School District staffers, including Michael Katzman.

"We can't stop them from leaving school so we do the best we can," he said.

tami.abdollah@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... -headlines

"We're fighting for our rights," he said. "We want to stop the raids and get amnesty for all immigrants."

What RIGHT do you have to amnesty? Huh?

What is it about these people that makes them think they can just break U.S. laws, barge into this country illegally, and then demand THEIR rights? What rights?