An early childhood program in New York City is being condemned after a video surfaced of a teacher encouraging young students to participate in an in-classroom ICE protest.
The protest occurred at Chloe Day School in Harlem. According to the school’s website, the site is a “progressive, trauma-informed Early Childhood program and Summer Arts Camp” that believes in “diversity and inclusion.”
The school’s director, who identifies as Dr. Canton in the video, is seen saying, “[T]oday is a national day of protest for all the violent things that we’re seeing happening across our city.” She adds, “Today we decided in solidarity, we will support all those who are out protesting against the violence that we see and the harm that we see happening to our friends.”
“So some of our friends are going to share how they feel about what’s happening and what they want to see happen in our government to change the harm that we see,” Canton further states.
She asked a young student, “So how do you feel about what’s happening? What did you tell us earlier?”
“I feel angry,” the child said. He was then prompted, “Because you don’t like to see what?”
The student replied, “I don’t like to see people who are hurt or taken away from their family.”
Children were then coached into saying, “Enough is enough. Stop hating people!”
Separately, high school students have also staged protests against immigration enforcement operations, with students at Michigan’s Lowell High School organizing a walk-out.
“The ICE operation in Minneapolis (in our opinion) has gone way too far,” the organizers told News 8. “The killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as the lies from the federal government about the killings, like calling Renee Good a domestic terrorist, are wrong.”
“I hope kids and adults across the state know that even in rural areas, kids still want to show up for our rights and our fellow citizens in Minnesota. Hopefully, more local schools will do the same. We are not against law enforcement, we are against the trampling of rights of Americans,” the organizers added.
