A student-led protest marched through the streets of Santa Clara on Feb. 10 as a few hundred teens from Wilcox High School spoke out against the deportation of immigrants. Led by sophomore Dayarely Amaya, the students walked off the campus during fifth period and raised their voices with chants of “Sí, se puede.”
For Amaya, this march was about standing up for what she believes is right and for her family.
“[Some people] think that we don’t know, we’re immature, and all of this, but the truth is, a lot of us are actually directly affected by this,” said Amaya. “A lot of the students are immigrants. They’re children of immigrants. They’ve seen all the challenges that immigrants face firsthand. They’ve been through it. We want to change the future of this country.
“I want to fight for my parents’ future as much as they fought for my future because they came to this country with nothing,” continued Amaya. “They were much younger than I am right now when they came to this country to fight for my future.”
One ambitious student, Wilcox senior Fareed Feno, brought a bullhorn to amplify the message: “Stand with your community. Stand with your friends. Stand with your neighbors.”
Feno, a student of Palestinian descent and an American citizen, is well aware of what’s happening in his country.
“The message that they’re trying to put out is, ‘Oh, we’re gonna get rid of the criminals. We’re gonna get rid of the rapists. We’re gonna get rid of the people that make our country bad.’ But most of the people they are getting rid of are the people that make this country good,” said Feno.
“The people that help our country build up. The people that are essential workers. The people that support us. The people that hold the bottom of our society together,” Feno continued. “A lot of those people are underrepresented. They don’t have a lot of that representation that would help them in any other way. So, this is our way of showing our support for them, for a lot of people who can’t.”
Amaya worked with the school administration to take steps to ensure the signs were appropriate and the students remained safe.
Principal Kristin Gonzalez advised Amaya to keep the protest on campus and stick to the safe space administrators created for them in front of the school. But the district was also prepared for the possibility that students would decide to march, which they did.
“We hoped that they had stayed. We designated a space on campus for them. We hoped, because it is a closed campus, we want them to be safe and supervised while they exercise their activities,” said Jennifer Dericco, SCUSD Public Information Officer. “But we have great partnerships with our local law enforcement, too. So, we know that when they leave our supervision jurisdiction, when they leave campus, we know that the Santa Clara Police Department is also monitoring.”
The students marched from Wilcox to Lawrence Expressway and then south to Santa Clara High School. Some students from Santa Clara also joined as the march returned to Wilcox.
Afterward, Amaya was proud of her fellow students.
“I’m really proud that a lot of our students came out to support us,” said Amaya. “I didn’t think that there was going to be this much people because not everybody believes in what I believe in, but there was a whole lot of people and it just, it made my heart really happy.”
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