Hundreds of Lee’s Summit students walk out to protest ICE, joining KC-area wave
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations nationwide and in the Kansas City area continue to expand, Lee’s Summit High School students became the latest in the metro to walk out in protest of the agency’s recent actions and tactics.
Roughly 200 students walked out of the building Friday around 12:45 p.m., skipping their sixth-hour classes to demonstrate alongside Missouri Rte. 291 where the highway meets school grounds.
LSHS student Ryan Clifton, one of the walkout’s organizers, told The Star that the protest was staged to show support for Lee’s Summit families who have been impacted by ICE.
“We feel strongly that the notion of ICE kidnapping people they believe to be dangerous criminals when it is not a crime to be brown is incredibly wrong and dangerous to everyone’s freedom,” Clifton told The Star.
Streaming out of the building in large groups and thick jackets, students climbed a small hill connecting the LSHS soccer field to Rte. 291, directing their chants and cheers toward passing cars.
Nathan Muckey, the school’s principal, sent parents and guardians an email ahead of the walkout stressing that building and district staff would prioritize student safety in their response.
“We respect all views within our community,” Muckey wrote. “...We do, however, have established processes to acknowledge student expression and First Amendment rights while maintaining expectations for safety, supervision, and student conduct.”
Signs and slogans
While district staff members walked up and down the line and clustered in a nearby parking lot, student photographers took laps around the crowd with cameras. Others brought bullhorns to lead several rousing chants of “No More ICE”.
Many students brought signs with slogans expressing support for immigrants and opposition to the federal agency, which has ramped up operations across the state line in Kansas in recent days.
Common refrains on colorful posterboards included “Love Wins,” “No One Is Illegal On Stolen Land” and “If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not Paying Attention.”
“ICE Belongs In My Dr. Pepper,” read one sign, with “Skipping Our Lessons To Teach You One” held proudly on another.
Protestors prominently displayed a large Mexican flag, along with an upside-down American flag sign with a peace sign scrawled across it in black paint.
Students declined to make speeches, focusing instead on catching the attention of passing cars.
As the demonstration continued along the high-traffic highway, many drivers honked their horns in support. Patrons browsing at the Dollar Tree across the highway stopped to watch or filmed the action on their phones.
School’s out
Many other schools and residents across the Kansas City metro have also held protests or events in opposition to ICE policies and immigration enforcement in recent weeks.
On Feb. 11, hundreds of Johnson County students walked out of Shawnee Mission North High School, halting traffic on busy Johnson Avenue near campus.
A similar walkout took place at Lee’s Summit North High School last week, according to a district spokesperson. Similar actions have also occurred at Olathe East, Olathe North, Liberty, Bishop Ward in Kansas City, Kansas, Lincoln Prep in Kansas City and others.
All of the school-based protests in the Kansas City area in recent weeks have been entirely organized by students, without sponsorship or buy-in from school administrators.
Clifton said he and his peers have been particularly disturbed by recent national reporting that he described as detailing acts of racial profiling and police brutality committed by ICE officers .
In the days leading up to the walkout, Clifton and other student organizers disseminated flyers on social media inviting students to join in.
Clifton told The Star that he hopes Friday’s walkout and similar student actions incentivizes state and local politicians to take a stand against ICE through policy.
“Even though we are too young to vote, we think this is a way we make a difference by being an influence to voters and representatives,” Clifton said.
