Oh sure...
Local high school students walk out of classes
The Bakersfield Californian | Wednesday, Mar 29 2006 10:47 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Mar 29 2006 2:08 PM
Students from several local high schools have left their campuses this morning, some carrying Mexican flags and wearing white T-shirts similar to the immigration bill protests occurring in California this week.
The Bakersfield Police Department is urging people to avoid central downtown Bakersfield as "numerous" protesters are heading toward the area of the 1400 block of Truxtun Avenue.
The protesters are causing heavy traffic congestion, officials said. They said they’re at the scene ensuring the demonstration is peaceful.
By about 11 a.m., some 2,000 students gathered in front of the Kern County Courts and Administration Building. Several spoke on loudspeakers. One waved an upside down American flag, a sign of distress.
That student was Marco Flores, 18, of Centenniel High School, who explained the upside down American flag symbolized that much of the American economy is based on immigrant labor and if immigrants are forced to leave, the country's economy will be turned upside down.
He also said that the demonstration started out with e-mails and fliers at Bakersfield High School, which grew by students text messaging each other and reading about it on MySpace.com.
Karina Ayson, 22, of Delano, was also in front of the courthouse, having joined the protest because she was at court anyway. She said Latino immigrants are the major force in the agricultural fields and it would hurt the country to declare them criminals or force them to leave the country.
About 800 to 1,000 students from Arvin High School were marching this morning from the school to a park in Lamont.
Students from Arvin were carrying Mexican flags and banners and some used loudspeakers to shout "Chicano Power."
Many of the students who marched from Arvin to Lamont could not say exactly what impact the immigration bills would have, but they could say who would be impacted — their family, their friends and their parents. When the students arrived at the park in Lamont, parents had a barbecue lunch of hot dogs, chips and sodas waiting for them.
"Who do you see working in the fields? You see Mexicans, Hispanics. My parents work in the field," said Alma Martinez, 17, a senior at Arvin High.
Arvin High Sophomore Salvador Rivera, 15, was one of the students who walked miles from their school to a Lamont park.
"I have blisters on my blisters," Rivera said. But, he said, "I have a lot of family who this can affect."
Many of the Arvin students had fliers that explained the purpose of their protests.
One waved an upside down American flag, a sign of distress.
Keep pinging me if you will please, but I'm walking away for a bit. Too much wrong, tooooooooooo much.