Skye Cervantes followed up her essay from last week with this one; her walkout at Pacifica High School had 100 students leave class to be joined about 25 community members. Enjoy this article.
By Skye Cervantes
The Walkout
On January 19th, I posted an article about a peaceful walkout I was hosting at Pacifica High School. I was extremely nervous to publicize this event, believing that it would jeopardize the safety of my friends and family. After a tedious conversation between my parents, they agreed to support my adventurous idea. Immediately after posting this article, the reality began to set in. I contemplated every single “what-if”, causing my anxiety to skyrocket. Little did I know, this event would be far from the “failure” I thought it would be.
The day of the walkout finally came and the minute between 1:58pm-1:59pm was the longest minute of my life. Once the clock struck 2:00pm, I threw my backpack on and began to charge out the door with my megaphone in hand. As I walked into the quad, I saw students standing in the hallways with their phones out, snickering as students began to flock outside. I tried to disregard them, but I was still nervous. The whole time I told myself I’d rather do it scared then not do it at all. Before walking out, I gave the students a quick pep-talk and ran through our safety rules. Leaving the gates was the most nerve wracking experience I’ve ever had. I was surprised because the assistant principal looked me in the eyes and held open the door for my group and I to exit.
The first steps I took on that sidewalk sent a shock of energy through me. I held up the megaphone to my face and led our first chant: “What do we want? ICE OUT! When do we want it? NOW!” To my surprise, I turned the corner and saw a crowd of community members waiting to protest with us. There were flags, signs, and whistles; everything I envisioned. I immediately began to tear up. The fact that the community showed up to support us proves that love can drown out the hate. We marched around the 4-way intersection three times and the energy never stopped. My favorite moments were when we passed the megaphone around, taking turns leading chants and hyping each other up. We decided it was best to disperse at 3:15pm to avoid the chaos of dismissal time. It was such a privilege to be exhausted after doing so many interviews and quick chats with members of the community.
I was shocked to see that there were no counter-protestors at our event. This comes as a surprise because one of my friends, Kaitlyn, made a public post on her Instagram that got lots of interaction from students at our school. As of right now, her post has 284 comments and 858 shares. A majority of the comments are filled with childish GIFs meant to mock the user. Essentially, they decided to show their disapproval by spamming the comments of the post. I was incredibly disappointed, but not surprised, because a majority of these comments came from our boys athletes. This post even reached Pacifica alumni, whose frontal lobes clearly didn’t develop because they also participated in the harassment. I asked Kaitlyn herself to describe the overall reaction to the walkout and I think her words describe it perfectly:
“The ‘push-back’ from peers was louder when behind the screen than when it came time for them to stand for their own beliefs in real life as well. And the administrators? Our campus safety has not been breached and neither will the name. The ‘peace’ amongst students and the disengagement from politics are willful negligence and counterintuitive to the school’s mission as a nursery for democracy and (the) civically engaged.” – Kaitlyn Luong (12th)
Why It Matters: Pacifica’s History with White Supremacy
If you’re an OC local, you’ll know that Pacifica High School has a history with white supremacy and racist ideologies. Back in 2019, a video of our water polo team doing the Nazi salute at their off-campus banquet resurfaced. Immediate outrage followed, and it was justified, because anti-semitic hate should have no place in our school. What was shocking about this video is that it was shot in 2018 and was hidden from the public for months. Pacifica High School found out about this video in March of 2019, but failed to take accountability by addressing this situation to students and families. In fact, PHS Principal Steve Osborne apologized for the poor handling of the situation, claiming that they “did a disservice to the entire school community by limiting our action to the small group of students involved” (CBS).
I will say that Pacifica High School did take actions to reverse the damage that this incident caused to their school’s reputation. They partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to incorporate the “No Place for Hate” program on campus and promoted anti-bias education. Despite their numerous attempts to fix this reputation, we are still known as “Hitler High” to other students in our district. While Pacifica High School is incredibly diverse, we still have problems with bigotry, racism, and homophobia. Slurs, like the n-word, are thrown around campus as if they were equal to calling someone “bro” or “dude.” Transgender students are harassed in the restrooms that align with their gender identity, so they have to use the office bathrooms. LGTBQ+ students are mocked by their peers. Women are catcalled or even assaulted. There have been numerous “scandals” that have been swept under the rug, just like the Nazi situation, and we need to address this. We want to make Pacifica a better place and change our reputation for the better.
The Aftermath
To my surprise, I haven’t been pulled for a chat with admin yet. The interactions that I have had with the staff at Pacifica have been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t name the teachers that have demonstrated their support for me due to the fact that they have to remain “apolitical”, but many have approached me with kind words. The teachers at Pacifica are proud of their students, and the administrators should be as well. When it comes to consequences, I haven’t received any yet. I did overhear that because I posted a video on my @pacificamsj Instagram account, clubs must now have their social media posts approved by their advisors before publishing. Other than that, I haven’t received any major consequences.
In regards to the school board, my mom attended the GGUSD meeting the night of January 20th to report on the success of our walkout. In response, GGUSD Board Member Dina Nguyen stated that students are being “politicized” and seemed more concerned for funding than the safety of our students. I am upset that she is refusing to condemn ICE raids or the bravery of my peers because it is a “political statement.” Human rights are not political and we need to stop being so scared to speak up. Nguyen explained that when students are absent, the school loses funding. If students were taken by ICE, they would lose funding too! I’m sure that the school would rather have students absent from class to exercise their first amendment rights instead of having them absent and missing.
We were taught to speak up for ourselves and be upstanders, not bystanders. By walking out on January 20th, we did exactly what our school taught us to do. I am incredibly grateful that the walkout was a success. Before, I felt like nobody else shared my concerns for the danger that the Trump administration is causing. Now, I’ve realized that I’m not alone. I really hope that this energy isn’t lost. To everyone who came out and participated in this walkout, students or adults, thank you! Let’s continue to protect each other and stand up for our country.
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