What a terrific exercise in “critical thinking”: A group of teachers and students in the Oakland and Berkeley (California) system want a complete shutdown of schools tomorrow to protest Donald Trump becoming president.
KRON-4 points out the similarities between the calls for nationwide protests and general strikes, and the 2011 Occupy Oakland movement.
“This is an emergency,” said Berkeley teacher Yvette Felarca, who also happens to be an organizer with the group By Any Means Necessary(!). “The lives of our young people are at stake and we will not treat this as a routine matter.”
Oakland Technical High School teacher Tania Kappner added that Mr. Trump “was not elected by a majority of the people and in fact lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million.
“The electoral college shouldn’t have been allowed for this long,” she said. “It’s done nothing but stymie the majority on multiple occasions.” (Note: five, to be precise.)
If Ms. Kappner happens to teach civics, one might hope she would enlighten her charges about how to go about abolishing the Electoral College, not to mention note that Hillary Clinton also did not win a majority of the popular vote.
[Kappner] pointed out that officially sanctioned protests at Oakland schools are not unprecedented as schools throughout the Bay Area held coordinated disaster drills in protest of looming statewide education budget cuts in 2010.
The situations were similar, she said, as Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, would not rule out privatizing or cutting federal funds to public schools during a Senate confirmation hearing. …
Several students read speeches at the small gathering on the steps of Oakland City Hall before going inside to speak to the Oakland City Council. The council was scheduled to consider a resolution urging outgoing President Barack Obama to grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants who could face deportation under Trump.
Bryan Montano, 11, a student at East Oakland Pride Elementary School, said that he hopes that someday Trump realizes that what he’s doing is wrong.
“If we join forces we can stop that cruel man who wants to ruin America by getting rid of Latinos and Muslims,” Bryan said. “I love my country and I don’t want to leave. Trump can’t make me because this is a free state for all of us.”
Wow, an 11-year-old came up with that? Impressive.
Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said most high schools have exams tomorrow so the regular schedule is already shortened. That way, he noted, students can “move quickly to join any demonstrations.”
A spokesman for the Berkeley District said students will be engaged in “grade-level appropriate activities” tomorrow. That is, if students actually come to class — about half of Berkeley HS’s 3,000 students walked out of school the day after Trump’s election.
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