A student-led walkout took place on 2/2/22 at 10:00 A.M.. A post from @irhs.change (Instagram) went up on 1/31/22 with the following details: “Students have planned a silent, peaceful protest to take place during school hours. Students should walk out of class, and sit in front of the main office.” The post went on to say that the walkout was a protest “against our admin not properly reprimanding students,” citing the belief that administration had handled a racism-fueled threat on a black staff member’s life poorly. The Instagram page asked students to bring posters, and the Instagram account @standupironwood had also asked students to wear the “End Racism” colors; green-blue, pear, mint, amarent purple, and cinnamon satin.
According to Mr. Spencer, 300 students walked out at the scheduled time. Roughly 200 students went to the walkout, and the remaining students attended an admin-planned “talk-in.” Students at the walkout sat quietly for over two hours. The talk-in lasted for over three hours. Some students attended both of the events. One student at the talk-in voiced her concerns over the two events happening at the same time: “It feels as though the administration purposely planned this at the same time as the walkout, so that they could split the student body and make us easier to handle. We should all be together, because we are supporting the same cause.”
According to a junior at IRHS who attended the walkout, “The walkout was in protest of admins handling of discriminatory action towards students and staff members… It was a wonderful moment of unity among the student body. I think we raised attention and brought awareness to the subject at hand, subsequently making not only the students, but also the parents, at IRHS aware of what goes on in our school.”
An IRHS senior who attended the talk-in had this to say about the event: “What happened at the talk-in was beautiful. Students opened up about very personal and traumatic events to their peers. However, it felt like ninety-percent of the people did not actually talk about anything related to the origins of the event. Showing the staff all sorts of discrimination is important, but I had hoped for the event to be more focused on racial discrimination on campus, distaste in the staffs handling of the situation, and ideas to share with the administration to make sure something like this never happens again.”
Juan Padilla (12) spent an hour at the talk-in, but felt as though too many people were not taking it seriously enough, so he made his way back to the protest. “Ironwood showed its unity but also its divide today, as many students were just there to joke around, and were making fun of the cause and of the people wanting to make a change in our school.”
Posters and flags were waved in the air at the walkout with various anti-racism messages. The school addressed the situation in an email sent to families, and described the student-led event as “a silent protest, (where) students were safe and respectful at all times.”
Below are a couple photos from the Instagram account ‘@irhs.yearbook’. Take a look at some more pictures and videos from the events by clicking the link provided at the bottom of this article!
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