Hundreds of Sacramento high school students walk out in protest of Trump executive orders
More than 200 C.K. McClatchy High School students walked out of class Thursday morning to protest President Donald Trump’s executive orders affecting immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
“This is a message to all of Sacramento, all of America, that the youth will not just stand by while our future is being stripped away from us,” walkout organizer Chaston “Chaz” Guathier-Jones said over the bullhorn. His message was met with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd that followed him.
Gauthier-Jones, 17, specifically pointed to Trump’s recent orders that aim to enact mass deportations of immigrants and undocumented residents, end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, end birthright citizenship and bar federal funding for schools that support transgender youth.
The high school junior did not initially seek to organize the walkout. He first gained peer support upon ranting on his Instagram story about the Trump administration’s recent actions, which turned into a group effort to stage a public protest at school. He said that posters his group put up around the school were torn down leading up to the event.
Several hundred students in attendance gathered in front of the school and then marched south on Freeport Boulevard, chanting against the administration and blasting rappers YG and Nipsey Hussle’s “FDT,” a 2016 expletive-filled Trump protest song as they walked.
Many students held flags from their family’s native countries, pride flags or handmade signs with messages like “EDUCATION NOT DEPORTATION” and “the road to fascism is lined with those telling you to stop overreacting.” The protesters also united in chanting “deny, defend, depose,” a reference to the words that were allegedly written on the bullet casings used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Sacramento police and Sacramento City Unified School District security personnel patrolled the march and limited traffic along Freeport and surrounding streets. Officers warned students to keep out of the street.
Upon the group returning to campus, Sacramento City Unified School District administrators and security personnel repeatedly tried to remove a Sacramento Bee reporter and photographer from the driveway in front of the school despite California law allowing reporters access to public school grounds without prior permission.
Executive orders are personal for Sacramento students
Co-organizer Heather Koike said that while they may not get the attention of Trump, they hope to symbolize support for marginalized students in Sacramento.
“The purpose of this walkout is that we are uniting as a team and showing the rest of Sacramento where we stand and who we stand for,” she said over the megaphone. “It can also show that we are a safe space for anyone impacted by the current administration.”
Freshman Zahira Afanador said that seeing her fellow students turn out makes her “feel safe and supported” during a time where her family is struggling with fears of being separated from one another.
It’s also personal for student Ashley Hernandez, whose mother and father immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala and Mexico, respectively. She describes her parents as hardworking, loving people who “have never done anything illegal.”
“It’s amazing to be honest, to have such a supportive community here and that we are willing to step up for what is right,” she said. “Because nobody is illegal. All families should belong together. There are no borders in love.”
Gauthier-Jones said that he marched out of concern for his own future — specifically his ability to attend college should the Department of Education be dismantled — but also for the rights of women, especially Black women like his mother and sister.
“(I would say to Trump) that you cannot silence us,” he said. “Fascism is not going to creep up on my future, or anyone’s future, or the future of America. And I’m not going to let some extremely out of touch billionaire try to dictate what my future is.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM.
