Students at DC-area schools staged a walkout Tuesday to protest Donald Trump’s election. They organized the campaign over social media, calling on students to “show our unity in a time of deep division” and to “send a positive message–you cannot fight hate with hate.”
Students our reporter Zack Bu talked to came from Woodrow Wilson High School, from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (they took Metro down), and Edmund Burke School, among many others. They started at the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and went to the Library of Congress, and the Washington Monument. There, they linked arms and surrounded the monument, chanting, “You want a wall? Here’s your wall!”
Lucia McCurdy, from Wilson, said they weren’t there to protest the democratic process, but that she and other protesters were out there because they didn’t want to normalize hate. She also said she felt Trump’s presidency encouraged the kind of sexual harassment she and friends experienced walking down DC streets.
Sophie Welch, also from Wilson, said she was really happy about the protest and that she had a great feeling of solidarity–that many parents and some teachers knew about the protest and were encouraging. Some teachers, Lucia said, cheered as they walked out of school today.
“What we’re trying to achieve is getting everyone together,” said Viola Gatti from Washington International School. “And to think about what unites us more than what divides us.”
Here are two videos shot by Evy Mages.
