AMHERST — After the fifth-period bell rang Monday afternoon at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, about a quarter of the student body walked out in a demonstration of solidarity with marginalized groups following the election of Donald Trump.
Some 250 students left school early to march through downtown streets to the common, where they were joined by supporters of all ages for a rally. They chanted “Who got the power? We got the power!” and “Black lives, they matter where? Black lives, they matter here!”
Organizer Abigail Morris, 16, said the demonstration was not “anti-Trump,” but was rather meant to show support for women, Latinos, immigrants, LGBTQ people and others Trump disparaged in speeches during the campaign.
“It’s also a way of rallying social justice groups at our school — Black Lives Matter, the Women’s Rights Club and Sexuality and Gender Alliance,” said Morris, a junior. “We need to keep fighting. The fight is not over.”
About 40 percent of the high school’s population is a race other than white, making it among the most diverse in Hampshire County. Less than 9 percent of Amherst residents voted for Trump.
“We’re walking out to show that we still have power and still have control,” 15-year-old Amherst sophomore Myra Anderson said.
Last Tuesday’s election has heightened interest in political discussion and action, Principal Mark Jackson said. After learning of the planned walkout last week, he chose to loop parents into the news. In an email, Jackson told parents of the students’ plans and informed parents that they had the option to write a note permitting their child’s absence due to the demonstration — or not.
“Given how high the energy level ran, it did not make sense to me to attempt to suppress or resist the walkout request. To try to sit on that energy, suppress it, it would have come out in some ways that would have been less productive,” he said.
As they marched toward Town Common, holding signs that read “Spread love” and “Climate change is not a hoax,” demonstrators were guided across the street by Amherst police officers, who had stopped traffic.
When they arrived, the group had swelled to well over 300 people, including middle school and college students and older adults. At the rally, demonstrators passed the megaphone to share their thoughts and lead the group in various chants.
Many of the speakers said Trump’s election has negative effects on them personally.
“This has completely split my family apart,” said high school student Abelíz Lebron-Colón. Some of her relatives have pondered leaving the country in response to some of Trump’s positions, she said.
Greenfield Community College student Cernunnos Protector, 24, of Amherst, encouraged those opposed to Trump’s policies to move beyond “Facebook activism.” “We must be active allies in all that we do,” he said.
The demonstration was met by just one counterprotester — a middle-aged man whose signs read “Real America voted 4 change,” and “Femi Nazi is over.” Among expletive-rich rants directed toward the students, his comments included “Hey kids, learn free speech,” and a mocking “Oh boo hoo, Trump won — we’re all going to die!”
The pro-Trump counter protestor is back. ‘We’re free again.’ Group of adults trying to keep him back pic.twitter.com/jLXfzagErp
— Chris Lindahl (@cmlindahl) November 14, 2016
As the man circled the gathering, he was blocked off by a group of adults, including one woman who yelled an encouraging “Focus, focus!” to the high school student speaking.
The man, who declined to provide his name to a reporter, was spoken to by police after appearing to physically push one of the ralliers.
Connor Bowen, 14, of Amherst appeared unaffected by the man’s words as he spoke to the crowd. Similarly, Bowen said he was not going to back down following Trump’s election. “I’m not going to let a little rat tell me who I am,” he said. “I didn’t decide to be black, but I damn love it.”
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.