DENVER — Friday, students from over 200 schools plan to participate in a walkout against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One of the organizers of the event, 16-year-old Bre Kennedy, a student at Grandview High School, says the demonstrations originally started out with a few schools, but quickly grew into statewide action after flyers began circulating on social media.
See the full story in the video below
“I started posting stuff on my Youth Coalition account, and it absolutely blew up. It got over 200k views, which was huge, and my DMs were flooded. I had more than 100 to get through in like one night,” Kennedy recalled.
"I was replying to all of them. I said, "Hey, you said add your school. Are you organizing walkout, or you don't have your school on the list?"
Kennedy is one of the co-founders of the Colorado Youth Coalition, one of the organizations behind Friday’s protests. She says her and a friend started the organizaion in January to get more youth into politics and noted that the motivation behind planning Friday'sdemonstrations stemmed from protests held in January.
“We're like, why not just recreate it? So that was our plan,” she said.
Some of those previous demonstrations included a protest at Montbello High School where participated ahead of nationwide school walkouts condemning ICE’s actions in Minnesota.
Several Denver schools were on a two-hour delay and operated on a modified schedule due to staffing issues, as National Day of Action protests against federal immigration actions took place in January as well.
“Being 16, and knowing I can't vote, I can't directly have my voice heard by people in power. This is my way of mobilizing kids just like me who have strong opinions and to have their voice heard and to demand justice,” said Kennedy.
“I hope people take away that the kids are all right. We are here. We are paying attention,” she emphasized.
The walkouts will look different for students who choose to participate, some planning to walkout at different times.
For those in the Denver area, Kennedy says some plan to meet up at La Alma Park to continue the demonstration.
MSU Denver political science professor and Chair, Rob Preuhs, emphasizes that what students do after Friday’s walkouts matters as well in order to influence politics.
“More recent right efforts here, particularly regarding immigration, really depend on the extent to which one those students maintain right that presence, not just in one walkout, but over time as organizations, but also how they reach out to community groups and join coalitions,” he explained.
“Influencing politics takes more than one event. It takes a sustained organization, and the degree to which students can do that really is the underlying factor,” he added.
Preuhs added to also not underestimate how aware younger generations are of political situations and how it impacts them.
“One takeaway from this is that at least our young people are politically engaged to some extent,” he said.
Students from several districts including Jefferson County, Cherry Creek School District, Denver Public Schools, Boulder Valley School District, reached out to Kennedy as wanting to participate in the walkouts.
Denver7 reached out to and heard back from DPS, BVSD, and CCSD. The districts emphasizing they support the students’ First Amendment rights.
Aurora Public Schools noting students do not have class Friday for the Labor Day weekend.
Denver7 also reached out to ICE’s field office in Denver who had no comment to the planned walkouts.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.