The Council is expected to debate the long-delayed resolution Wednesday after more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. It also seeks the release of Israeli hostages taken by the militant group Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack.
By Nader Issa, Phyllis Cha and Michael Puente | WBEZ
Chicago Public Schools students at Lincoln Park High School joined kids at schools across the city who protested Tuesday in support of a cease-fire in Gaza.
Hundreds of high school students across Chicago walked out of their schools Tuesday to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
The City Council is expected to debate a delayed resolution Wednesday that would call for a cease-fire after more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and the release of hostages taken by the militant group Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.
Participants in the student-led protest — which started at noon and is expected to convene at City Hall in the afternoon — said they want their local alderpersons to know that many high schoolers are opposed to continued U.S. funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The walkouts are meant to be “pro-peace and pro-humanity,” said the high school senior who led the planning of the protest. They asked not to be named out of fear of online attacks and retribution that other Palestinian students have faced .
“We hope they know that the Chicago youth has spoken loud and proud, and that as representatives of our wards they should do a better job in representing our beliefs and what we stand for,” the student leader said. “We hope that our effort to fulfill our civic duty as high school students that may not yet be able to vote is recognized, and also that our voices are heard and represented.”
Organizers said they around 2,000 students from 15 or more schools to walk out Tuesday, including Lincoln Park High School, Curie Metropolitan High School, Jones College Prep, Taft High School and Von Steuben Metropolitan Science High School.
Keffiyehs, scarves that represent Palestinian culture, were scattered throughout the crowd of more than 150 students who walked out of Lincoln Park High School, down Lincoln Avenue and toward the office of 43rd Ward Ald. Timmy Knudsen, who has opposed a cease-fire resolution.
Two friends, one donning a black keffiyeh and one donning a red one, said they participated in the Lincoln Park High School walkout to demand a ceasefire.
“Even though we are in a place where we’re safe, Palestinians wake up every day wondering if they will die,” said a sophomore, 16, who didn’t share her name for fear of retaliation.
The two said they wanted to use their voices to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves.
“We all have the privilege of knowing we’re going to wake up safe, so we’re using our voices,” said her friend, a 17-year-old junior.
Some Palestinian students reported receiving emails and social media messages calling them Hamas supporters for participating in the cease-fire walkout. At one school, the Anti-Defamation League said an antisemitic picture was sent in a school chat.
But students said they’ve received mostly neutral to positive feedback from administrators and staff. And most students interviewed said they felt safe and expected peaceful interactions among classmates even if their views diverged.
Chicago Public Schools officials said students have a right to demonstrate for causes they support. They reiterated that students should respect each other and avoid harmful language. The district said outside groups are prohibited from joining student demonstrations.
“We are a district that is committed to student voice and student participation in civic life and democracy, but harassment, discrimination and bias-based harm have no place in our school communities,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez wrote in an email to families.
Some kids who participated in the walkouts said one of the goals was to educate classmates and politicians who may be confused about the war or don’t have the context of Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian territories and the 16-year blockade of Gaza.
“Students are seeing how much money our government spends on war, and we’re all scared about college debt, and we’re scared about health care … and we feel the government should be helping us, but instead we’re sending billions of dollars a year to fund wars we shouldn’t be participating in,” said another organizer who also asked not to be named.
“Alderpeople really need to think about young people more and how they receive our actions, because we’re the people that are going to be voting for them next,” the organizer said. “If somebody could so easily dismiss this and not call it a genocide, what does it say about them as a person? And that’s some of the characteristics youth are looking for in politicians. We don’t want to see any hypocrites.”
Some students said it’s been particularly distressing to see the continual killing of Palestinian children their age. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in November that “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.”
“They value our lives a little less,” said a Taft High School student who asked for their name not to be published.
“Thousands and thousands of children [have been killed]. It would basically take like [three] of our Taft High Schools — that’s how many kids we would need to fit all these children,” the student said.
The student said it’s been jarring to see the immediate support for Ukraine at the onset of Russia’s invasion, while solidarity with Palestinians has been harder to find.
“It’s kind of sad that we still have to show people that we’re human, too,” the student said. “But I think it’s necessary, and it’s an effective message for people within the community to know that the next generation does care, and our lives also matter, and our opinions matter, too.”
In Archer Heights on the Southwest Side, about 70 to 80 students from Curie Metropolitan High School students walked out of class at noon Tuesday chanting slogans and carrying signs denouncing Israel and supporting the Palestinians.
They marched around the school led by a student who is a senior.
“We strongly believe that we are the future and we are the new upcoming generation and need to continue to demand for a ceasefire and we demand change,” the student leader said.
Another student, a junior, said there are innocent people on both sides of the war in Gaza, and that’s why there needs to be a ceasefire.
“We don’t want more war. We want people to stop the war and act peacefully, and this why we’re asking for a ceasefire,” the student said.
“We have the ability to say something. If we have to be out here walking every single day, we’re going to do that.”
Those protesting planned on meeting other Chicago high school students at a rally at City Hall this afternoon.
with the possibility of the draft coming back, hopefully many of these kids will over there actually helping out.
ReplyDeleteAll those pro Palestinians need to take in a couple Palestinians.
ReplyDeletePeople on the news were wondering when we'll have a cease fire in Chicago?
ReplyDeleteStudents should focus on getting a quality education to prepare them to become self sufficient adults instead of meddling with issues that they have little knowledge about. As them how much potassium their body needs per day to provide electricity to their muscles and control blood pressure and they have no idea. Ask them if they know the metric system and they have no idea. Ask them if they know binary arithmetic that is supposed to be taught before eighth grade and they have no idea. Ask them if they can name the elements on the periodic table that are in our bodies and they have no idea. Tell them to focus on self improvement and stay out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteStudents are protesting against wars while they are not interested in protesting against the black on black slaughter among black people in their cities. It makes me sick when I read each day that a black person killed another black because of a disagreement or over a bite of a sandwich or whatever. It is sad that human life means nothing to certain mentally deranged killers. No one cares about protesting about the slaughter of blacks against blacks. No one protested against the slaughter of millions of Jews during the holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II. All life is precious.
ReplyDelete