A Message to High School Students
-Allen Lang
"There is a lot of stuff that we thought couldn’t be done like going to the moon, flying an airplane… There is always that possibility that you can do it and it goes down in history. So why not be part of history now?"
-from M, H.S Student in Chicago
You can count the hours away from November 2nd. It is right around the corner. You can feel it in your gut, and tensions are running high as we approach the 2nd. There’s a buzz in the hallways and cafeterias, classrooms and schoolyards at high schools across the country around Nov.2nd, Bush and what walkouts have to do with Driving out the Bush Regime.
Many are just hearing about Nov.2nd from friends or radio ads that have been playing on local Hip Hop stations. Students are calling for walkouts and campus shutdowns overnight, recognizing that if there has ever been a time in their lives to step out boldly, it is NOW.
A lot of us have been waking up mad early every morning, passing out bundles of flyers, distributing sheets of stickers, meeting with students after school or passing out flyers to our classmates and posting up Nov.2nd on My space accounts and other internet forums. Everyday organizers have been laying out the stakes the world is facing, challenging students to be the first ones to step out in their schools and step up in taking responsibility to lead city wide efforts.
This has been and will continue to be a sharp struggle within a deeply polarized society. There have been people arrested, beaten and bullied. Agitation on school steps have been electric and struck a deep chord with students. We’ve had students take bundles of Calls and security guards rip them out of their hands. There are layers of ripped down Resist or Die stickers covered up by new stickers on bathroom walls from South Central to New Hampshire. We received a letter from a student in a remote Southern town who has had faculty tell him that it is treasonous to distribute World Can’t Wait Calls and news from a mother in Oregon who is taking her kids out of school on Nov.2nd because this Regime HAS to go. There have been heroic parents and faculty who have stood their ground against threats of fines, losing their jobs and status in the community, while faculty boards in cities like Oakland have passed resolutions in support of the walkouts. It has been a roller coaster.
High school students have faced down the naysayers and the Billy clubs.
From day one, we have been bombarded with statements like, "Students aren’t going to walk out, they don’t care about politics, they can’t see beyond what effects them, and they don’t see their futures wrapped up in whether or not we drive out this regime". You have to take all the bullshit from your teachers, and parents, and the students who ridicule you for not willing to sit on your hands in this historic moment and say; "FUCK IT, we are right! Tell us they are not torturing people for sport in Guantanamo. Tell us they aren’t making moves to erase evolution from our textbooks. Tell us children in Iraq don’t have their hearts torn apart when forced to watch U.S soldiers rounding up their family knowing the horrors they will face." What right do these principals have pulling students into their office and telling them it’s illegal to flyer in school?
The news is swirling with monumental events having it appear that the Bush Regime is on the ropes, limping on their last leg. Let us not be fooled for one second. These people think they are on a mission from God. They are ruthless and relentless, and as they are being indicted for crimes, it would be CRIMINAL for us not to seize this moment and bust things wide open.
"Sacrifice is involved; we have to put a lot of things on the line. Right now millions of people’s lives around the world are put on the line and have no choice; those people in Guantanamo Bay, the entire country of Iraq. We are alone… until we step out in this way. When we step out bold and determined with our sights aimed at nothing less than driving the Bush Regime out, as controversial as that is and should be, then people will have our backs. People might get suspended or expelled, in the greater scheme of things that’s not so bad."- Miles Solay
We cannot forget for one moment that we really are going against the grain and challenging deeply held assumptions about how things change and who are the people that are instrumental in that change. But more importantly we can not forget for one moment that the Call has to inform everything we do as we continue make further leaps in our efforts to drive out this Regime.
This Call has resonated with millions and has brought together students from different sides of the tracks. How many times do you see students from New Trier running in the streets with students from Roberto Clemente? (New Trier is an elite High School on the North shore of Chicago Alma Mata of Donald Rumsfeld and Roberto Clemente is featured in Jonathan Kozol’s new book detailing the horrific inequalities in inner city schools.) High school students can change the character of the afternoon convergences, getting up on the mic and telling everyone about the heroic actions they took in the morning to get to these historic rallies. Students will bring a real defiant and uncompromising tone to the day, inspiring others and driving home the necessity of this movement.
"We as high school students have not only the right to join this movement but the responsibility to do so."
-from a L.A HS student.
Right now with the few days ahead we have the responsibility to not let up for one second and intensify our efforts. Remember this is only the beginning, but we need this beginning to be a big explosion of resistance and not just a slight whisper. Check out Sunsara Taylor’s Message to Student Organizers and the interview with Miles Solay and Quetzal Ceja. There will be a different dynamic in the our conversations with others as the day nears closer and the people who have been scoping out if this is real or not need to be there on the 2nd.
"If you get your friend in on it and they get their friends in on it and they get their friends in on it, all of a sudden you have a nice little mass of people that are ready to go… The whole point of this is to throw off the city and everything going on – to cause such an impact."
– Chicago High School students on the walkouts