Speak Up: High school students march, protest ICE killings

With growing unrest nationwide over ICE policies and actions, Arizona students are among those speaking out, including a couple hundred from Deer Valley High School, who left their campus at 51st Avenue and Union Hills Drive on the Glendale-Phoenix border around 10 a.m. Jan. 27 to march peacefully down public sidewalks carrying signs and chanting in unison. The students were protesting measures ICE has taken that have resulted in the controversial deaths of two people in Minnesota this month. Independent Newsmedia’s report on the protest sparked a variety of comments from readers on social media:

• “The ‘Color Revolution’ right before our eyes.” — Anna S.
• “American patriots right there!” — Sean H.
• “Bruh, kids do it to get out of class.” — Mokey Jones
• “So, can I demand a refund in my property taxes on schools, since they aren't using it?” — Mickey P.
• “Yep, back in the ’70s, we protested anything that would get us a few hours out of school whether we knew what we were protesting or not.” — Marde Anderson
• “They should be punished for taking themselves out of school. In fact, were the parents notified? They need to be taught respect for law enforcement.” — Deanna Short
• “Good for them!” — V.R.C.
• “Get back to school. They need to be taught math and history, not politics. They have no idea how the world works yet. Not the people anyone should be listening to.” — Anthony Szarek
• “It’s called current events and is an appropriate part of a social studies curriculum.” — Martha Bruneau
• “Indoctrinated! I remember being a dumb kid.” — Trish Small
• “Raising gullible ideologues.” — Dan M.
• “When they get back to class, the teachers can teach them about how the confederate states (and The Party) resisted the federal government in 1861.” — Nick Stokes
• “This is awesome! Love to see it!” — Adriana R.
• “Oh yes, this is a great idea to teach children to disrespect law enforcement, who are trying to do their job. This is why we have the problems we do. There is such a lack of respect for people who are just trying to do their jobs, the elderly and other adults. When I grew up, we respected our elders, the law and other adults. Back then, news was unbiased and actually reported the truth. Now you have to search high and low to get facts. So sad.” — Lisa Rugski
• “ICE themselves are breaking laws and going against our amendments and killing innocent citizens.” — Abby Cooke
• “A bad way to die!” — Mike & Leslie Fitzpatrick
• “What a stupid thing to teach and endorse for kids these days. If all the protestors went away we wouldn’t have the problems with ICE.” — Carolyn Bethel
• “So, they’re skipping class? No wonder it's popular!” — Devin K.
• “I'm surprised; I thought ‘patriots’ would be thrilled the younger generation is exercising their constitutional rights.” — Nick Kwiatkowski
• “So, ICE defending themselves is referred to just ‘killings’ now? Socialism at its worst. Neutralizing ‘agitators’ attacking law enforcement is good.” — Richard Atwood