A week after Donald Trump won the presidential election, about 1,000 students from Aragon, San Mateo and Hillsdale high schools walked out of school to Central Park in San Mateo in a demonstration to promote values of acceptance and unity, at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

The rally occurred concurrently with a similar walkout in Palo Alto high schools at 2 p.m., although the protests seem to have been planned separately. The events come after a week full of protests across the country, including a walkout of over 10,000 students on Thursday, Nov. 10 from the San Francisco Union High School District.

Just as students were leaving campus to go to Central Park, a school fire alarm went off, but the two events were unrelated, according to administration.

“It was a faulty fire detector,” says Aragon principal Patricia Kurtz, “The timing seemed strange, but it had nothing to do with [the protest] it was on the second floor all the way up behind a locked door.”

Senior Nicole Jimenez-Mota was the lead organizer of the demonstration. “I just felt that the students needed to feel empowered and heard, [so I thought] let’s have a walkout, let’s have a demonstration, so that students know that they are heard and accepted on campus and in our community,” she explains, “I started posting on social media about it, and eventually students from San Mateo and Hillsdale got in contact with me, and told us they wanted to partner up and do this with us. We met up on Saturday and planned the whole thing out.”

The event was largely publicized through social media, explaining to Aragon students to meet in the grass field by Alameda de las Pulgas at 1:30 p.m. before walking down to Central Park, as well as asking students to wear black to identify themselves with the demonstration.

Jimenez-Mota, as well as Hillsdale junior Micah Dayag and San Mateo senior Nancy Gama, who organized the protest with Jimenez-Mota, contacted school administration to make them aware of the protest.

“They came to let me know what they were going to do, they just shared their plan with me just to let us know what they were doing, which was very respectable of them,” says Kurtz.

While none of the schools actively discouraged students from leaving campus, Superintendent Kevin Skelly made clear that attending the protest was an unexcused absence. Skelly sent out an email to parents the night before the protest.

The email read, “Instructional time will continue for those students who do not participate in the protest. We are asking parents and families to help us by communicating with your student so that you are aware of your student’s intentions for Tuesday.”

Students also informed police of the demonstration. Police officers escorted students as they walked down to Central Park, and about eight police officers were present at the event itself, including each school’s Student Resource Officer.

“We’re just ensuring that [the students] are safe, and more important that [students] got here safe,” says Aragon Student Resource Officer Steve Bennett, “Each school had a couple of officers to follow them — [for Aragon,] crossing El Camino was a big concern, and we also wanted to make sure that no one did anything drastic or illegal, but it’s been a very peaceful [demonstration].”

At the event, Jimenez-Mota made clear to students that the event wasn’t to protest the results of the election.

“This is not about Trump. This is not about hate,” she says, “This is about love, and unity, and acceptance.”

After the election, there have been reports of an increasing number of hate crimes throughout the country. Some attribute this to Trump’s largely negative rhetoric during the election campaign, saying that his win gave a license to his supporters to commit these hate crimes.

According to Jimenez-Mota, the San Mateo high schools’ protest was against this sort of violence and hate speech, rather than Trump’s election itself.

Although some students didn’t participate in this spirit, shouting phrases like “F— Donald Trump,” Jimenez-Mota was quick to stop these students and maintain the positive intent of the walkout.

Students used a stage near the middle of Central Park as the main focus of the demonstration, where students gave speeches, and led chants, such as “love, not hate,” and “united we will not be divided.”

The organizers did have a microphone and a speaker system for the speeches, but it barely reached the perimeter of the crowd, and often couldn’t be heard over noise from the crowd.

Besides speeches, students also had the opportunity to make posters at the event, and could write letters to local and state representatives, including Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Jackie Speier. About 60 envelopes were prelabeled with the representatives’ addresses for students to write letters to.

“The [letter writing station] is there so their voices are being heard even if they don’t want to come onto the stage and speak,” Jimenez-Mota says, “and the [poster station] is just to empower them through different ways of expression besides talking.”

Junior Olivia Tobin was one student who made use of the letter writing station. “I wrote a letter to Kamala Harris because after the election, I was feeling really down, and I saw this one post on Instagram [with a] a picture of her,” Tobin says, “I saw that she was the second black female Senator. I thought that was really cool. It gave me a glimmer of hope in a time that I felt really disappointed and sad about the election results.”

Supporters at the event weren’t limited to students — San Mateo Union High School District Board Trustee Marc Friedman was also at the event.

“I sympathize with what the students are doing, individually, not as part of the school district. I support what they’re saying. I give them a lot of credit for doing it,” Friedman explains.

The event’s 1,000 supporters drew considerable media coverage. Along with the San Mateo Daily Journal, reporters from KRON 4, ABC 7 News and Univision 14 all covered the event.

Besides students from Aragon, Hillsdale and San Mateo, a few students from other schools, such as Design Tech high school in Burlingame, and Middle College students from the College of San Mateo attended the protest as well.

“I wasn’t expecting this many people,” said San Mateo High senior Nancy Gama, one of the student organizers, “It makes me want to cry because it’s just beautiful how many people actually showed up.”

While turnout for the event was high, it’s unclear how many students were actually protesting, and how many were using the demonstration as an excuse to skip out on class.

However, Jimenez-Mota sees the bandwagoners with a positive outlook. “Everyone’s getting marked absent at school that’s here, so they can bandwagon all they want, but at the end of the day, they are still hearing the messages we are sending here on the stage,” she says, “so hopefully they will gain some knowledge or encouragement from this because they are here. Maybe their whole purpose wasn’t to be a part of this, but with being here and hearing these messages it will be.”

On the other hand, some question the effectiveness of the protest.

“I feel like leaving the school would be a disrespect to the teachers,” says senior Alexandra Varallo, “and I feel that stepping out of school wouldn’t really have much of an effect.”

Government and Economics teacher Kevin Nelson suggests that participating in a protest isn’t enough. “I think that this is a positive outlet for students to voice their opinions, but I would hope that they would go farther. It’s not just walking out at Central Park and having speeches,” he says, “It’s raising money, joining a [political] party, getting politically active — not just having a day or two days of being upset, but really realistically understanding change.”

One student, senior Stephanie Shu, posted on Facebook explaining her reasons for not attending the protest.

“There’s definitely a sense that it’s still in some way protesting Trump … [so] it could alienate students who are Trump supporters. Regardless of whether or not that is [their] intention,” the post read, “Imagine if the tables were turned, and Clinton won. Any protest remotely related to the election would be ridiculed by the majority of our student body. We’d call them bigots. And minority students would feel uncomfortable around people who might attend a rally like that. It’s especially important that we keep our school safe for everyone, even people we disagree with. Anyway, despite our differences I think [the] cause is nevertheless admirable. Thank you for being caring and wanting to create a safe space.”

The protest did affect 6th and 7th period classes at Aragon — for example, over three quarters of Mr. Nelson’s 7th period students didn’t come to class.

Says science teacher Cathryn Kliegel, “I think it’s important for students to be in class. I think political activity is important, but it can be done outside of school. [The demonstration] has laudable goals, but I think they’re doing it at the wrong time. I do not like my students missing my classes.”

Again, students who attended the protest are marked with unexcused absences for 6th and 7th period. According to Dean Michael Valmonte, the consequence for one unexcused absence (per period) is two detentions, and the consequence for two unexcused absences is four detentions or Saturday School.

A few social media posts advertising the protest claimed that the event was ‘cleared’ by the administration, implying that there would be no consequences for attending the protest. These claims were misleading — the administration was made aware of a protest, and didn’t actively discourage students from participating, but the consequence for cutting class still applied.

However, the student organizers believed that having the event during school hours was important.

“By doing it during school, we’re making a statement. If we did it after school, it would show that we are still scared. We want to stand strong and make a statement that we are coming here together in unity,” says Hillsdale junior Micah Dayag, one of the student organizers, “Hillsdale and Aragon, we may be rivals when it comes to sports, but when it comes to reality and what’s happening in the world, we are humans first and we unite together.”

Written by Karan Nevatia, with additional reporting by Ashley Tsang, Avichal Goel, Esther Lin, Franchesca Carracedo, Isabel Chao, Richard Yu and Victoria Fong.

Looking back at the protest in Central Park: a reflection by Anders Zhou

On the Thursday following the election of Donald Trump, I remember receiving a message from Nicole Jimenez. I remembered Nicole as a friend whom I sat next to in history class last year.

To be honest, I was surprised that I still had her name saved. I hadn’t talked to her for some while, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

It seemed as though Nicole wanted to let me in on a walkout protesting Donald Trump. Still angry over the results of the election, I wholeheartedly supported the idea of taking class time outside of school to vent my frustration.

Nicole also invited Aragon’s Black Student Union and Latino Club, indicating that this rally would also be a focused, intersectional effort.

I spent the following weekend in a limbo. I had schoolwork to finish, and I was worried about what would happen with the protest. I wasn’t sure of the date, and it seemed to me as if a lot of other students were also wondering what the focus of this protest was — many voiced their disagreement on Facebook over the protest if indeed it held an anti-Trump sentiment.

After some tension, the protest was finally set on Tuesday. I immediately set my heart on going. I was proud to be a part of GSA and represent the LGBTQ+ community at the protest, and I couldn’t wait to be a part of the movement.

The day of the protest, we walked down Aragon boulevard. The whole experience was surreal; police motorcycles passed by us, but none of the protesters seemed to care. A couple homeowners stepped out to take pictures of us. A few passing drivers rolled down their windows, voiced their opposition to our movement, and asked us to return to school peacefully. But I knew that what we were doing was already peaceful. In fact, Nicole had urged us, when we gathered on the Alameda, to understand that our protest was not going to be a anti-Trump — rather, it was going to be a protest about love and acceptance and solidarity. I believe most of us took this to heart, because a majority of the signs and decorations that the protesters brought out urged onlookers to respect the rights of colored, LGBTQ+, and female citizens.

It was relatively empty in Central Park. We were the first ones there, and about 300 of us lined up against the stage next to the Japanese garden. A banner reading “United we will not be divided” unfurled before the crowd, and Nicole began to speak.

As students from San Mateo and Hillsdale High began to trickle in, the atmosphere intensified. There were posters, face paint, and pride flags displayed throughout the crowd, and many students came up to the stage to speak.

My own opportunity to speak came up when Justin invited me to express my thoughts on behalf of Aragon’s Gender and Sexuality Awareness club.
I invited everyone to recognize the exigency of intersectionality between minority groups. The current political situation was evident to me; our president-elect didn’t attack one group — he attacked all groups. And so I wanted everyone to understand how important it was to uplift each others.

When one group falls, everyone falls.

That’s the message I hoped would carry through the crowd. Even as the students from San Mateo and Hillsdale high trickled in, countless speeches reiterated how important it was to fight as a community, and not as an organization. I remember being brought to tears after seeing two flags — a Mexican flag and a Gender and Sexuality Awareness flag — tied together as one larger flag.

So here’s my reflection: there will be those who ask us to go home. Perhaps, we should not have sacrificed the hard work of our teachers for our own motivations. Perhaps our protest was a selfish movement. For the most part, we live in the Bay Area, where we are already sheltered by a rather progressive sphere of cultural and political elitism and wealth.

However, even in the political climate of the Bay Area, our emotional safety is not guaranteed.

It’s really not up to the Latino population, to the transgender community, or to women to fight the battle against oppression. When one group loses their right to their body, we all suffer. When one group gains the right to marriage and liberty, all minority groups benefit from that step forward.

I understand that this is a controversial statement, as it implies that we should allow certain groups to appropriate the pains, difficulties, and successes of others. However, I believe there is something much more to be said when we fight as a group, and not as a consortium of loosely connected minority groups. Pain is not appropriated; pain is suffered. Difficulties are not met individually; they are met communally. Success is not felt by one; it is felt by all. Humanity will not succeed when one gender, racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group succeeds. There is a fine line to walk when we discuss intersectionality, but I have no doubt that the protest on Tuesday addressed this fine line in a deeper context.

I saw it firsthand with the flag, with the sign that said “I SUPPORT MY UNCLE AND HIS HUSBAND” and with the students from D-tech who took on three hours of detention to fight for their rights. I felt it with the resounding rhetoric of hope throughout the protest.
I know this protest had a profound meaning. I felt it in my heart, as I stood in front of a crowd of 1000.

In my mind, this protest acted as an invitation for further discussion. It opened up possibilities for exploring the possibilities of promoting intersectionality, even on campus.

There’s a whole world of hate coming our way, and there’s no time to relax. Before we tackle the system, we got to build our own system up. It’s game time, guys, and we better be ready to fight.

“It was like our life got flipped upside-down because he was the main breadwinner in the family. We went from living in a good home to being homeless for awhile because our main source of income was gone and my mother couldn’t sustain 6 children on her own,” remembers senior Nicole Jimenez-Mota about her dad’s deportation in 2008. Since Donald Trump was elected president on Nov. 8, Jimenez-Mota wanted to voice her opinion. Trump’s controversial views on immigration resonated with Jimenez-Mota, compelling her to take action in the San Mateo community.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, students from San Mateo, Hillsdale and Aragon walked out of class to participate in a demonstration for unity and love. Jimenez-Mota was the lead organizer of the demonstration and felt a personal connection to the election results not only from her dad’s deportation, but also from being a Latina woman.

With Donald Trump being elected president, Jimenez-Mota used the opportunity to unite the community, rather than spread hate. “Listening to Trump’s statements towards women and towards Latinas and towards Mexicans, my ethnicity, that’s what really struck me,” says Jimenez-Mota. During Trump’s presidential campaign, he made several sexist and racist remarks towards women and Latinos. For instance, Trump questioned Hillary Clinton’s stamina, looks and strength in the first presidential debate, all referencing her being a woman. Additionally, Trump’s political goals include building a wall between the United States and Mexico and he has called Mexicans, along with other illegal immigrants, “killers and rapists.”

After the election results, Jimenez-Mota reflected on what she could do to improve others’ attitudes towards the election. “I just remember feeling so down and thinking [about] all the other people. I knew being sad and depressed about it wasn’t going to do anything,” explains Jimenez-Mota. “You can’t change the results of who got elected, but you can do something to make people feel better about the results and feel more hopeful about what’s to come. That’s why I decided to do it: to give people a silver lining to this whole election that was going on.”

Jimenez-Mota is not new to participating in protests, although this was her first time organizing one. “I’ve been a part of many many marches because of my mom and sister. They got heavily involved in immigration rights when my dad was deported,” says Jimenez-Mota.

Seeing her mom and sister as role models, Jimenez-Mota looks up to them for their strength and determination to get their voices heard. Jimenez-Mota’s older sister even organized her own demonstration during her time here at Aragon. “It was for the DREAM [Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors] Act. It was endangered of being repealed,” Jimenez-Mota explains, “and they had a day of silence and it was very big, but it was just Aragon. She’s been a huge inspiration for me and all this stuff that I’ve done.” The DREAM Act helps young undocumented immigrants pursue education, paralleling the family’s support for immigration rights.

Additionally, Jimenez-Mota admires her mother’s commitment to letting youth get their voices heard and spoke at the demonstration to show her support. Explaining her mom’s dedication to the cause, Jimenez-Mota says, “She loves making sure that her children feel heard. I think this was an opportunity for her to take all these kids under her wing and make sure that they felt heard. I think it was important to have an adult telling the kids that ‘You’re important. You matter.’”

While Jimenez-Mota is inspired by her mother and sister, her entire family is supportive and encouraging of her. “Almost my whole entire family was there, except for a few of my siblings who couldn’t make it,” says Jimenez-Mota.

A lot of Jimenez-Mota’s determination and strength comes from her dad’s deportation. Jimenez-Mota recalls, “I was 10 when it happened, but it was definitely more like I had to not be a little kid anymore and not worry about little kid things, like making sure that I did everything that I could to take care of myself, so that my mom could worry about everything else. Being a child wasn’t really an option anymore and I was just very independent at the time because my mom didn’t have the time or resources to. It was really hard, but it made me grow up a lot faster and appreciate what I had.”

Co-organizer of the protest and fellow leadership classmate, senior Justin Sell, sees Jimenez-Mota’s drive and passion, not only politics, but also in the classroom. Sell says, “[One of her best attributes is] how passionate she is and how much she clearly felt she needed to do to have a positive impact on her community.”

Although Jimenez-Mota didn’t expect 1,000 people to come to the demonstration, she was blown away the turnout. “Even if only 100 people had showed up, it would’ve been rewarding. It was so amazing to see the huge amount of students unite under one purpose and one cause. It was so beautiful and reassuring to me to know that all these people feel the same way and are there to spread love, positivity and peace,” notes Jimenez-Mota.

While the demonstration was only for one day and had a week’s worth of planning, Jimenez-Mota looks towards the future and wants to continue spreading her message. The day after the protest, Jimenez-Mota contacted a city council member. “He encouraged us not to have this ‘one-hit wonder,’ but really keep the momentum and power of this demonstration going to empower the students further,” Jimenez-Mota adds. “We really are trying and hoping to plan something in January for when Trump gets inaugurated. Hopefully, something bigger and greater will happen because I think that if we can pull 1.000 students off in one week, what [could we] do in a couple of months?”