BEND, Ore. — Some 1,000 high school students walked out of school here to protest ICE brutality and attacks on the rights of immigrants Feb. 13. The protest was organized by Bend Student Voices. Students from all four of the large Bend high schools, and some of the smaller ones, participated. They all marched from their schools to Peace Corner downtown and held a joint rally.
In addition to the hundreds of students on all four corners of the major downtown intersection, many cars drove by with students holding signs out the windows. Lauren Shein, an 18-year-old senior at Summit High, one of the organizers, was leading chants with a bullhorn standing atop a utility box. She told the Militant that the fact the students had organized the protest themselves helped account for the big turnout.
Caleb Banks, a 16-year-old student from Realms High School, said he was very proud his small school of just over 150 had a contingent that walked out.