High school students across the country staged walkouts today to protest Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States.
Roughly half of Berkeley High School, or 1,500 students, participated in a walkout Wednesday morning, Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Charles Burress told CBS San Francisco.
“Not my president,” they chanted as they marched.
Similar protests happened in Phoenix, Arizona; Boulder, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and Des Moines, Iowa, according to news reports and social media.
“This is what democracy looks like,” Seattle West High School students chanted.
At Valley West High School in Des Moines, Vice Principal David Maxwell told KETV-7 that students were given 15 minutes to protest.
“The district prefers that its students are in class and participating,” Burress said. “However, we do understand their concern and we take it very seriously when they feel passionate about political issues. We’re doing everything we can to support them.”
High school students in Phoenix walkout in protest of election… Now rallying at AZ Capitol. @NBCNews @MSNBC #Trump pic.twitter.com/2XsiLgGNx2
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 9, 2016
Walkout at Hoover High School in protest of president-elect Trump @DMRegister pic.twitter.com/ddkT6VUKEK
— Rodney White (@rodneywhite) November 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/westseattlenews/status/796450945139781633
https://twitter.com/MsElectLadyKim/status/796446161049686016
Roughly 100 students at #Boulder High School stage a walkout to protest the values they say Donald Trump stands for. pic.twitter.com/oiSZQvDzKx
— Charlie Brennan (@chasbrennan) November 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/loadingrande/status/796429348999987202
Top photo: Arizona Department of Public Safety Capt. Ed Sharpensteen speaks to high school students protesting Donald Trump’s election at the state capitol in Phoenix on Nov. 9, 2016.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
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