Hours before local educators rallied against immigration enforcement violence Friday, dozens met on the Catalina Park grass.
Copal burned in a small bowl on the periphery as a graphic artist spray painted on stencils in red: ICE out of Tucson! Abolish ICE!
Cardboard, markers and poster board dotted the ground, teachers clustered in circles, and listened to their peers advise how to prep for ICE agents coming onto their campuses or into schools.
The shutdown of 21 schools in the Tucson Unified School District Friday was part of a nationwide effort calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“If we are using our leverage as working people, today we show we can shut it down,” Tucson High math teacher Finlay Parsons told the crowd of about 300, adding it takes everyone to make a difference. “The first people to call out (absent) at our school were cafeteria staff.”
Southern Arizona’s largest school district closed the schools after hundreds of staffers said they would be absent. When it was clear there were too few workers or substitutes, TUSD let families know Thursday afternoon and into the evening.
About 12,000 students missed school, according to enrollment data from the Arizona Department of Education. TUSD employs about 6,000 people, serving 35,000 students in 88 schools.
Teachers, students, families and concerned Tucsonans were called to action at Catalina Park Friday, they said.
The news of the world — fatal shootings by ICE agents in Minneapolis and pictures of immigrant children being jailed — feels heavy, they said. The information is landing hard, so to process in community they arrived — some with cases of water bottles, others with pretzels and granola bars. They wore Mexican flags as capes and “Handmaid’s Tale” white bonnets and red robes.
Arizona Luminaria attended the rally to ask protestors one question and record their answers. Here’s what they had to say:
If the day is used to teach students and others, what is the lesson?
“It’s about how we are protecting our community.”
— Loki Passmore, age 8, Davis-Romero Bilingual Elementary third grader holding her Melt ICE sign and a pinecone
“Protection from ICE.”
— Aldo Wedel-Ussishkin, age 8, Davis-Romero third grader waving a U.S. mini flag embossed with a black peace sign and sucking on a sour licorice twist.
“We wanted to support the teachers and teach the kids about standing up for what you believe in. And it’s a good opportunity to get them involved in civic duty.”
— Steve Passmore, stay-at-home dad
Photo credit: Shannon Conner Credit: Shannon Conner
“This is a big part of American history right now. That is the lesson. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side and our students need to be involved with the truth on what America has done to BIPOC Indigenous people. We’re human. We have rights and we will not comply with this administration.”
— Jovana Renteria, 47, community organizer applying to University of Arizona law school
“We are showing we’re all really concerned. Kids haven’t been coming to school just because of concern for their safety and it’s affecting our classes, it’s affecting the environment at school. I am against ICE. I just want to show that today. I think the majority of our school is against what ICE is doing in our communities.”
— Ellie Goffeney, 17, Tucson High senior who aims to study business at UA next year
“The lesson is ICE needs to disband. It’s a danger to migrants and it is a danger to Americans. The technologies they are using to track immigrants — it was used on Palestinians.”
— Orlando Arenas, 45, graphic artist and community organizer who made free signs on the fly
“The lesson here is that our community is under attack from extrajudicial killings by the state. The U.S. government represents the interests of the billionaire class and not the working class and that if we want to see real change in our society, we can stand up — by coming together, by letting the world know that we’re watching, and that’s what Tucson is doing today. ICE out of our communities. ICE out of our schools.
— Gage Stewart, 32, Pueblo High English teacher
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
