Chanting “Not my president!” and “Black lives matter,” hundreds of students from 23rd Ave’s Garfield High School marched to Cal Anderson where they joined hundreds more Monday afternoon in a citywide student walkout in protest of the election of Donald Trump. The rally marked the second day in a row the Capitol Hill park has been a central gathering place as Seattle’s citizens protest the election results and plot solutions to counter Trump’s expected policies and push ahead to fix whatever broken political processes resulted in his victory.
Sunday, hundreds attended a “Love Over Hate” gathering organized by a group of SPU marriage and family therapy students as an opportunity for Seattleites to come together for a non-political show of “love, support, and togetherness.” Sunday afternoon included singing, sign making, and, yup, even some protest. A portion of the gathered crowd opted to march from the park and made its way downtown.
Images and video from both days of protest are below. For more on local efforts to do more than march to push back on the Trump victory, check out our coverage of Sunday night’s Post Election Community Forum held at 11th Ave’s V2.
Ready to hit the streets at Garfield. Excited group of around 200. pic.twitter.com/88zxW4eihD
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
Marching up Jefferson toward Cal Anderson pic.twitter.com/Bdka8IU7Na
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
Sit down at 12/Madison pic.twitter.com/OMWWtjs5rq
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
This guy jumped in the march pic.twitter.com/lms9myx6jq
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
Arrival at Cal Anderson pic.twitter.com/fEIfuRSNKH
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
Everybody hanging out on Bobby Morris now. Good idea. pic.twitter.com/5lWQVCBl8Q
— jseattle (@jseattle) November 14, 2016
Monday, a spirited crowd of around 200 to 300 students left Garfield High School around 1:30 PM and marched peacefully — but not quietly — up Jefferson to 12th Ave and on to Cal Anderson, stopping for a brief sitdown at 12th and Madison. There was a report of at least one large group of students elsewhere in the city utilizing the new U-Link light rail line to arrive at Capitol Hill Station in time to join the marchers. By the time the Garfield students joined up with student groups from around the city, the crowd reached an estimated 1,000 people in Cal Anderson, police said. The rally and march was peaceful and a contingent of police officers was on hand to stop traffic and aid the marchers in moving through the area.
Cal Anderson Park is named for the state’s first gay legislator. A mural of Anderson on the Capitol Hill Station construction wall facing the park was unveiled in 2012 but was removed when the transit project was completed. Groups have discussed creating a more permanent monument to Anderson in the park for years.
“Seattle is a diverse community, and it’s our immigrant/refugee populations, LGBTQ folks, religious diversity and colorful mix of racial demographics that makes us who we are. as students, we grew up in classrooms that reflect that,” organizer Quinn Angelou-Lysaker said in a statement sent to media about the walkout. “Trump is threatening our core value of tolerance as a city. We had to use our voices and numbers to show that we stand with members of our community who may not feel safe now. we’ll continue to resist attacks on those around us with any/all forms of student activism!”
Looking for more answers among the various questions raised by Election 2016? The 43rd District Democrats will gather Tuesday night for some soul searching and planning.
More images from Sunday’s gathering in Cal Anderson, below.
Not just Garfield. Students from Franklin, Roosevelt, Seattle Academy and Northwest School joined as well and I’m sure there were other Seattle area schools, too. Love this showing from our high school students in town.
I don’t see any young people in the photos.