On the day before the National School Walkouts on the 13th, an Austin police officer came to LASA principal, Stacia Crescenzi, to ask if he could question a student. The cop only gave the student’s first name, but Principal Crescenzi knew who he was talking about and served up the student for questioning without legal representation. The student confronted Principal Crescenzi about her irresponsible actions and she confidently said she would do it again.
In this situation, Principal Crescenzi made multiple choices to collaborate with a police officer to intimidate a high school student and possibly jeopardize his future. She could have made multiple decisions to protect her student’s righteous protest against the deportation machine and their futures. She could have fulfilled her responsibility as an educator and offered legal guidance that any competent adult would be aware of (ie don’t talk to a cop without a lawyer). Instead she chose to hang the student out to dry.
To the majority of educators, teachers, and administrators: we know that you signed up to educate the new generation- not to silence them. Right now, students are bravely taking the responsibility to stand up against ICE agents separating families, detaining children in concentration camps, and murdering protestors like Renee Good. Educators, stand with these students, speak out against the small group of admins who collaborate with law enforcement and reactionary politicians like Greg Abbot. Shame on Principal Crescenzi. If losing your career is holding you back from speaking out publicly, then reach out to us and we got your back.
So far, all of this repression is happening behind closed doors, without students and educators uniting to make this a broad issue. We must come together, expose this at a larger scale and bring it out of the shadows. We must speak out, unified with a broader movement, and politically pressure this small group of administrators to stop repressing students for walking out against ICE, to rescind the punishments, and to remove them from students’ records. For example, after articles exposing repression against students, press conferences, and media attention, admins have started to walk back punishments, like in East Central.
If you’re a student, hit us up about starting a chapter of No Tenemos Miedo, and come to the forums against repression in Austin and Dallas on February 28th. Stay tuned for the press conference in San Antonio against repression this week.
Donate to support activists building a movement against ICE here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-activists-building-a-movement-against-ice/cl/s?lang=en_US
Dare to Struggle 