Across the nation, demonstrations are being held to protest the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its policies. People of all ages have gathered in their respective communities to voice their resentment for various reasons. On Feb. 6, four students organized a peaceful school-wide walkout on the campus of Greenhills. The four main organizers of the protest were E’Leena Bullock ‘29, Alaleh Golmirzie ‘29, Max Frankel ‘28, and Cherry Andrews ‘26. 

“So many people in all grades came, middle schoolers included,” said Andrews. “We had 250 ‘Know Your Rights’ red cards to pass out, and we went through all 250 of them in less than five minutes. I’m really happy that people are caring enough that they came together to do this.” 

Students throughout the school left class at 2:30 p.m. and headed to the Athletic Entrance. They walked through the snow-covered track in the cold with signs above their heads. After circling once, they headed outside the Lunch Room, where Andrews gave a speech. 

“E’Leena and I decided to organize the walkout because we were tired of just hearing and reading the awful stories about how ICE was affecting so many people and their families,” said Golmirzie. “I knew that this wasn’t a walkout that was going to receive super public attention or be on news headlines. What I did know was that it felt wrong to do nothing when so many others around us had built up the courage to speak up for what they believed in.”

The process of organizing and spreading the word was lengthy. Preparation began over a week before. After Bullock presented the idea to several classmates to gain student support, she and Golmirzie approached Head of School Peter Fayroian with their idea to see what support from the staff and school would look like. 

“When I was first approached, I thought it was a great idea,” said Fayroian. “They want to not just walk out, but they also want to have an educational component of it.  If there’s anything that’s proposed to me that students want to voice their opinion about, it doesn’t matter what I think politically. It doesn’t even matter if it’s the other side. They have the right to do that, and I support that.”

After meeting with Fayroian, they settled on a date and time to walkout and chose to remain on campus due to safety reasons.

“The main pro for doing it in the school is that it’s much safer and you’re putting the students at much less risk,” said Frankel. “The downfall of that is that fewer people can see you. But the more we try, the more we can get people to see us. Posting Instagram stories, putting flyers up in downtown Ann Arbor, anything you can do to spread publicity is important.”

Fayroian described the pride of being part of a community at Greenhills, where young people took initiative against the injustices they saw in the world. To him, active participation at a young age is important.

“What these students are doing is completely aligned with the core values of Greenhills,” said Fayroian. “Our whole mission statement ends with, act with empathy. So, I’m assuming that’s the premise for this walkout, which is great. We try to prepare students for how to voice their thoughts with respect for other people’s points of view. We also hope we’re teaching them to apply critical thinking and data to these situations and recognize that it’s not just emotional.”

Alongside public demonstrations, raising awareness through information is a valuable component. Frankel’s role in the organization has been gathering information to educate students and provide reliable information. His goal is to inform as many people as possible with sources such as AP News and C-SPAN.

“At the end of the day, it’s very important that everyone does their own research,” said Frankel. “I try to get my information from unbiased sources, and I think it’s important to find your own information and to educate yourself. Many students are going to be voting in the next presidential election–some will be voting in the Midterms this year–and so it’s important that they know what they’re voting for, and they know the benefits and risks of each candidate, and every protest and every vote matters for the future.”

While students saw the events leading up to the protests in the U.S. as being traced to ICE brutality, history teacher Brady Washington traces the roots further.

“I think that we right now have a particularly divided country over a lot of different issues,” said Washington. “There are just so many things contributing to this political divide that we have currently, and both sides of the political aisle spend a lot of time blaming and finger-pointing. Also, we don’t necessarily have a critically informed public the way that we ought to, and in general, we don’t have a lot of good media literacy across the board in this country.”

Washington himself has been an active participant in the political world since he was in graduate school. He has participated in several protests and describes the importance of calling his senators when issues arise to leave his feedback. 

“One of the things that everybody should realize is that the world doesn’t change unless you help change it,” said Washington. “If you’re unhappy about things, you need to get up, and you need to do something about it. You are the constituents, and they are supposed to be working for you. So making your voice heard when things come up is very, very important.” 

In the end, the student organizers were able to achieve what they set out to do. They brought hope to students, teachers, and faculty members through their willingness to step up when no one else did.

“I’d say the walkout was really successful, not because it blew up or became famous, but because we came together as a community and made our beliefs heard,” said Golmirzie. “E’Leena and my goal in the end was met; to raise awareness for this cause and give our fellow students the courage and motivation to continue speaking up for what they think is right, whether that be for this specific issue or any other change they wish to see in the world.”