Hundreds of University of Arizona students and community members joined in solidarity the afternoon of Jan. 30 at a walkout event hosted by student organizations. The protest, which moved from the UA Mall throughout campus, is a part of a larger national call to action against Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence around the country.
This protest comes in wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and of Keith Porter Jr. in Los Angeles. The UA students were also joined by over 1,000 Tucson Unified School District students and faculty, with the district canceling classes in 21 schools. Tucson was part of a nationwide movement and strike in response to ICE activity which included a boycott of school, work and shopping that many across the country partook in.
Many UA student organizations including Students for Socialism, Black Student Union, Guerrero Student Council, UA Resist and others sponsored the event where protestors brandished signs bearing messages like “ICE out of our communities,” “Justice for Alex Pretti” and “ICE melts under resistance.”
“We’re a coalition of student organizations that have gathered here today to resist ICE in our communities and to say that we need ICE out now, the abolition of ICE,” Students for Socialism organizer and UA public health student Audrey Zelinka said.
Zelinka explained that this started as a call to action from Black and Somali groups in Minnesota for a nationwide shutdown and general strike in response to ICE activity. She added that we cannot resume with business as usual, and she hoped to bring attention to the “terror that ICE is bringing upon our community.”
The walkout began with a gathering at the Mall stage where several student speakers representing many of the organizations addressed the crowd, invoking solidarity with the Somali community in Minneapolis. The speaking event was surrounded by other student activists wearing yellow vests, who stated they were there to provide security.
“Minnesota called and we answered,” Zelinka said in a speech to the crowd. “We don’t want nicer ICE agents, we want ICE out forever and to end mass deportation.”
“We are striking today because the most powerful thing we as workers and students can do is withhold our labor, which only works if we do it all together,” a student speaker representing UA Resist said. “Today is just one part of what needs to be a nationwide movement to abolish ICE, border patrol and other tools of race-based violence.”
Each speaker was met with scattered cheers and applause from the crowd, with participants waving flags and chanting as each one took the stage.
“The fact that there are so many black and brown students here makes me proud, because I know that we will win,” Bryan Gramajo, a student representing Guerrero Student Council and Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity Inc., said.
The speakers continued to emphasize the importance of uplifting student voices and unifying to demonstrate that there is power in numbers.
“When I look at this crowd I see hope,” Gramajo said. “I believe the only way we can win is by unifying together.”
The speakers urged the audience to unify and stay involved in the movement by researching the issues at hand, continuing to protest and exercise First Amendment rights and to continue to act, explaining that strikes similar to this one brought about changes like the eight-hour workday.
After listening to the speakers, the protesters followed a large banner in a three-mile march down University Boulevard and eventually reached Congress Street where they protested at the Tucson Federal Building. There, they were merged with protesters from the TUSD schools and other Tucson residents. As they left the UA campus, they chanted “Listen, listen, we are the fight” in Spanish.
