By Matthew Mowery
Chilly isn’t usually a deterrent.
Generally better prepared for the myriad of rapidly-morphing seasons you might endure working outside on a late February afternoon in Michigan, this time, though, I forgot to bring my Carhartt.
But if chilly weather wasn’t going to deter the 100 or so Howell High School students from exercising their First Amendment rights, I wasn’t going to let it stop me from grabbing a couple of pictures of their walk from campus to the historic Livingston County Courthouse after school let out Friday afternoon.
It just meant I had to pop back to my car more frequently.
From my vantage point on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Chestnut Street, just in front of the Howell Carnegie District Library, those little jaunts of mine — to see if the march, intended to protest the tactics and aims of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (better known as ICE), was in sight yet — took me past the car of a nice lady who was waiting for the same thing as I.
“Coming yet?” she asked, rolling down the window.
Not yet, I assured her, at one point turning down her offer of a sign to hold, in no small part because I didn’t actually know what sentiment her signs were espousing, as well as not having a free hand, trying to hold my camera.
Turns out, as I discovered when she handed them around, just before the kids passed our vantage point, her signs’ message was not outrageous. Essentially, the supportive message was: “You are our future.”
Nor were the messages on the signs the kids were carrying outrageous.
Among them:
“ICE out.”
“Love melts ICE.”
“Stay salty, melt ICE.”
“With liberty and justice for all.”
“Students against ICE. I refuse to hate my neighbor.”
“Love thy neighbor has NO exceptions.”
“History has its eyes on you. Make the right choice!”
The last is a nod to the song of the same name from the musical “Hamilton,” when one founding father (George Washington) is explaining to another (Alexander Hamilton) that he has no control over how history will judge his actions, and the same is about to become true for the younger of the two.
As we’re approaching the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, knowing how well that historical judgement turned out, it seems like an appropriate way to honor those actions by exercising the rights those founding fathers enshrined both in that document, and later the U.S. Constitution.
Isn’t that what we’re hoping our students get from history and civics lessons? Knowing what their rights are, and using them?
More broadly, isn’t that the mandate we hope our kids go out into the world with — finding their voice, and USING it to advocate for themselves?
Even better, advocating for others?
Finding the courage of their convictions, and acting on them.
Even though walks/protests like this are happening all over the state — Royal Oak, Northville, Ann Arbor, Livonia, Dexter, Detroit, Plymouth, Battle Creek — and country, it assuredly wasn’t easy for these students, given some of the outrage on social media the last week or so, including their state representative lobbing a threatening missive at the school district. Suspensions are being handed down elsewhere.
Plenty of what we call “chilling effect” in all of that.
But give them credit for sticking with it, albeit with a compromise (another valuable lesson learned?) that moved it from a walk-out during school hours on Thursday to a simple walk after school on Friday.
Same goals and objectives, same impact, just less for critics to object to.
They didn’t let that chilling effect — or Mother Nature’s chill — stop them from doing what they felt was right.
Good for them.
All photos by Matthew Mowery
