Students in DC skip school to protest

by | Nov 15, 2016

Approximately 1,000 students from middle schools and high schools across the city protested in front of Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. Schools included Wilson, McKinley Tech, Roosevelt Senior, Schools Without Borders, and several charter schools.An active social media campaign called #DCPSWalkOut urged students in Washington public schools to leave school at noon, meet at Metro Center, and march up Pennsylvania avenue to Trump hotel.A middle school kid stands on a window sill of the Trump hotel, holding a rainbow flag.By 1 p.m., students marched towards the west front of the Capitol. Students from Schools Without Borders shouted, "Love trumps hate."A number of the signs condemned the language used by politicians. In front of Trump hotel, demonstrators shouted, "No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here."The protest shut down traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue eastbound. Students chanted, "No one can divide us if we stand together" and "my body, my choice." Chris Jones, a history teacher at Edmund Burke School, said he was “proud of his students.”More than 60 youngsters from Capital City Middle School demonstrated, along with an adult chaperone. For Capital City, the protest was an optional field trip that required a signed permission slip. Students brought signs on their own, the chaperone said.