In a sea of activists and sign carriers, these young people stood out standing on the corner.
Three 15-year-old high school girls waved signs and spoke out against President Trump and the federal government. They had a message of their own.
“I feel hopeful,” said Riley Zant, a San Marcos High School student. “I think us out here makes a big difference. I think that a lot of our peers, even those who do support the cause, they just don’t think their voice matters and that they make a difference, but young people coming out here makes a big difference. It really does matter to come and show up.”
Zant and her friends Sidney Burgoyne and Josie McClain were among the more than 1,000 people who packed both sides of State Street near La Cumbre Plaza on Saturday morning. The protest and rally was organized by Indivisible Santa Barbara, an organization founded in 2017, and that has taken on a greater community role in the past year.
The group has head several rallies and protests, including one that attracted more than 10,000 people to the waterfront.
The event was a protest against ICE deportations locally, the recent shooting death of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE officer, and the invasion of Venezuela and capture of their president, and the bombingin Nigeria.
“There’s disagreement with what Trump is doing,” said Ian Paige, a member of Indivisible Santa Barbara. “I personally think he has implemented what are insane policies.”
Paige said ICE is acting like the Gestapo secret police in Germany in the 1930s.
“Like the Jews in Germany, the Hispanic people here in the United States are a minority that he thinks he can oppress,” Paige said. “We’re here to support the immigrant community.”
The protesters shouted, “Ice Out,” and “Say Her Name,” in reference to Renee Good, who was shot to death by ICE officers in Minneapolis last week. Many of the cars honked their horns in support as they drove by.
Sidney Burgoyne, a Santa Barbara High School student, said what is happening in the country now is not right.
“We were all taught to treat everyone with kindness, to treat our neighbor with kindness and respect like they were our own family,” Burgoyne said. “Just seeing how that is being held up is really sad.”
Dos Pueblos High School student Wyatt Ginder, 15, wore an American flag on his back that said “No Kings in America.”
“Everyone my age is brushing this off like it is not my problem right now, but that is the exact opposite,” Ginder said.
He said the ICE deportations are just “crazy.” He said people are being deported simply for their skin color.
“They are ripping innocent people from their homes and their families, leaving poor, innocent little kids nothing and taking their families and moving them across the world, when they are just trying to be here, make a living and better our country,” Ginder said.
Philip Nordblad, in his 20s, said we should be following international law and respecting everyone in the country.
“We have an administration that is running with no checks and balances right now,” Nordblad said. “There is no law that ICE is really following, in my opinion.”
He said it “is really scary,” that anywhere you go, ICE can be there.
“I want to be able to go to the grocery store, I want to be able to go to the police department if I have to report something, but some people are too afraid to say anything because of ICE. If you are in this country people should have the ability to go where you want freely, as long as you are being lawful. Regarding ICE, I don’t think they are being lawful at all.”
For more information about future Indivisible Santa Barbara events, visit here.
