To the editor:

This is in response to the article entitled “High school walkout fizzles as students stay in class”

First of all, I’d like to say that I am very excited that students are thinking about organizing a rally in South Whidbey. There is nothing better than continuing the fight until your voice is heard. However, echoing the politics of his nickname’s namesake Chuck Norris, ASB president Tyler “Chuck” Norris seems to have very little understanding of what a protest means, and how an effective push against a system that does not seem to have its values set in the right direction operates.

It is through non-cooperation with the power structure that voices may be heard, not co-opted by administrations and bureaucrats that over and over again have failed to truly take a principled stand in defense of our needs. The last laugh, unfortunately, unless we take drastic measures to defend ourselves, will be the next generation of students that, due to degraded educational facilities, may actually believe that 2+2=7.

Working within the avenues that our “superiors” choose to give us has obviously only resulted in our current situation. It is time to say no, it is not time to beg. One day of school is a small price to pay for a bright future.

Second, every administrator, teacher, and staff at South Whidbey High School was contacted about this walkout and invited to start a dialogue with the organizers. The ASB president never attempted to respond. A meeting took place with Robert Prosch in which, he said that students would not be penalized beyond regular policy rules. I was told that when students attempted to participate in last Thursday’s walkout, administrators or staff in charge, locked the doors and told students that if they did not return to class they would face strong disciplinary action. If this is not the case, I’d like to be corrected. Not by administrators, but by the students. This to me sounds like coercion and intimidation and was definitely not part of the agreement between organizers and the principal of SWHS. This is just the beginning of the fight. Budget cuts are not going away any time soon.

There has been talk of an “outside agitator,” and how this was not a grassroots movement. It might be of interest to note that Rosa Parks did not just tire of the Jim Crow system and refuse to move from her seat. She was trained in tactical maneuvers by the NAACP, led by “outside agitators,” the term the Southern power structure applied to the fighters of oppression. This is not a direct comparison between organizers of the walkout and Rosa Parks, but there is always a correlation when you are talking about the fight for justice.

Erin Walker: “The whole thing was dreamt up by someone who graduated a long time ago,” she said. “Not by us.”

Just to correct Erin, March 4 was an international day of action. It was not “dreamt” up, as there is nothing dreamy about the situation. It was a response to an attack by neo-liberal policies that began in the late 1970s that have been slowly but surly chipping away at social services that help the less fortunate survive. Someday I hope that everyone will wake up, and that the nightmare of our economic system will be overcome.

I invite you all to take a look at the events that happened on March 4 in Olympia and around the nation at: http://olycoforfairbudget.wordpress.com/press/

Jumanji Oliana and Devin Matthews

Representatives of Olympia Coalition for a Fair Budget