DC Students Protest Trump Presidency Essence

The future looks bright.

Rachaell Davis Nov, 16, 2016

Students in Washington, D.C. are joining in with many others across the country to take a stand against Donald Trump.

Protesting in the streets of the nation’s capital on Tuesday, thousands of high school students from the D.C. Public School System made their voices heard as they marched out of their classrooms in unison. The walkout began at noon, with students marching to the metro and boarding the train, before meeting up briefly at the busy Metro Center train stop downtown. Once the massive group was all together, they headed for the Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. A flier with details about the walkout was issued beforehand to let students and families know about the peaceful demonstration, while participating students and local residents later took to social media to share moments from the march both during and after.

DC school children filling Penn Ave protesting the election. Trump hotel in background #dcpswalkout pic.twitter.com/M16avweAQV
— Seth Radus (@RadusRocks) November 15, 2016

In student walkout, girls chanting: "My body! My choice!" And boys responding: "Her body! Her choice!" #dcpswalkout pic.twitter.com/tkhYT1tcYe
— Harry Zahn (@harry_zahn) November 15, 2016

At WH. "People will say we did this just to skip school - no, we walked almost 4 hours." #DCPSwalkout pic.twitter.com/6xxi7p9yzr
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) November 15, 2016

3000 #DC students just formed a wall around the Washington Monument chanting "You want a wall, here's your wall" … YESSSSS #DCPSwalkout
— MattyK (@OhMatt1) November 15, 2016

The demonstration went off without a hitch and while teachers did keep students informed, they did not prevent them from exercising their rights. Woodrow Wilson High School principal Kimberly J. Martin told WTOP news that school officials were aware of the protest and fully defended students’ rights, but also said the demonstration “was not sanctioned” by the school or the D.C. Public School Board.

For the students, their message to the president-elect was one of unity. “This is a peaceful and positive demonstration meant to send one message to our future president: He can’t divide us,” student organizers wrote in an Instagram post just before the march began.

The D.C. demonstration is one of many since Trump was elected president last Tuesday.