Students Lead ICE Protest
Photos and words by Sean Rayford
“I sorta helped to organize a walkout at my school and I got called down to the principal’s office and they basically told me that there was going to be repercussions for my actions,” said Zaria Amorese about her Tuesday at Spring Hill High School in Chapin, South Carolina.
Speaking into a bullhorn near Columbia’s city hall, and after a march from the statehouse, the senior continued, “They tried to make a deal with me and they said that the district would allow us to protest for ten minutes outside of our school.”
“We had about 80 people out there for that ten minutes. But after that ten minutes me and about eight other people sat outside until 4pm. And because of that we did end up getting suspended for three days. But there are people too scared to even show up to school at all.”
Amorese then handed the bullhorn off to Riley, a student at Lexington High School.
About ten people showed up to a protest she helped organize when she said school staff blocked the doors.
Zaria Amorese
“We could tell they didn’t want us to leave. We just stood there and waited for class to change,” she said. “I tried to start a chant but my administration told me stop. I’m mad. They wouldn’t let us speak our minds.”
Zaria and Riley were two of many raising their voices on January 20, a day of nationwide walkouts and protests in the United States against ICE.
At the University of South Carolina, a small group of students assembled outside the Russell House Student Union just after 2 p.m. Next to an outdoor market of vintage and used clothing on Greene St. they held signs and chanted as classmates shopped and walked by.
Most of those demonstrators joined hundreds from across the state as the sun set on the nearby Capitol in Columbia.
After dark the group marched on Main Street to to City Hall and back, in a coordinated effort with local police, who blocked traffic and escorted the protesters. Charleston area South Carolina State Rep. Wendell G. Gilliard was quietly in attendance but also seen borrowing a “Fuck ICE” sign for a photo.
