DREAM Act Protest
Posted Oct 17 2007
It was amazing how many people, or I mean young teens, went to.jpg)
protest about the DREAM Act. I was also surprised to find people from southern Cal . I felt really good because I was protesting for something good, even though there were not as many people as should have been. There were probably more cops than people protesting. There was a man when we were protesting that said "GO BACK TO MEXICO!" That really surprised me because he does not know about real history. First of all, the white people were the first immigrants in North America because they left Europe for a better life. Still, he should have not said that because we have the right to get financial aid. Another thing that I thought was wrong was that the gangs always got to be there and do their stupid problems. We are going together and protest for better opportunities for the immigrants not to fight each other. That's why sometimes we don't get anything. Overall I think that the protest was a new experience for me since I was basically protesting with people my age. Hopefully there will be more protest like this because I really want Arnold to sign the dream act so all of the immigrants that can't afford college get a chance to go.-Luis H. On Thursday I went to this march up in Sacramento, to the capitol. This march was about trying to convince the governor to sign the Dream Act. This is my first time being on some marching thing and I was surprised about seeing not that many people because I usually see a lot of people. But this one was different because there weren't a lot of people. One of the things that happened was that there a white man that was walking by and he was saying " go back to Mexico!" I think that he was just saying that to instigate and make problems between those who were marching. One of the other things that really surprised me was that there were a lot of cops and that they were on bikes and horses. Overall it was good.-Edwin S.
I was in the protest on October 4. This protest was to get Schwarzenegger to sing the Dream Act. The march was really smooth but when we got to the capitol some people were telling us to go back to Mexico when the march was to obtain financial aid for all immigrants. Many people were against us and screaming bad stuff but we knew why we were there so we didn't do anything back so the authorities would see that we fight in peace.
One of the things that really got me mad was that when we were at the rally the police came and took the speakers because we were taking in Spanish and that was illegal. Many of us think that his was discrimination. Another thing that really got me mad was that all of the news were there except for the Latin channels. They were not there and they should have been supporting us and talking about the protest but they didn't even go. This shows that not all the people are always there for you and that sometimes you can't trust people to support your cause.-Sara M.
The purpose of the "Dream Act" is to help and give undocumented students papers, especially for those who want to go to college and who are attending college. Now days there are undocumented students who graduate college but cannot get a big time job because they don't have legit papers. For example there was this one young Latina who graduated from UCLA and she planned to be a nurse. Now the problem for her is that she cannot work as nurse because of her papers.
On Thursday the group BAMN organized a march to the capital of California to show the governor why he should really sign this act. There were many high school students and some college students who participated on this. There were high schools' from Berkeley, Fremont and Unity High.
There were all these cameras from many different news shows and we walked around the capitol. As we were walking this one white old guy passed by us and said "Go back to Mexico!" Once we all walked around we stood in font of the entrance of the capital building to do a picket line. That's when many students just began to leave. But everything went good, so now hopefully the governor signs the "Dream Act." It would really help thousands of undocumented students who want to be someone in life.-Edgar B.
I was at the Dream Act strike. This was a strike to make Arnold (The Governor of California) change the law and have him give immigrant students the chance to go to college. When I was at the strike it felt boring. I was standing all day so I was I just there for a couple of hours but during the time I was there I saw some Unity High students and white people that were being dumb and telling us mean stuff. I did not get mad at all. I thought it was funny. The whole Dream Act strike was well organized because people weren't acting dumb. The good thing was that nobody got arrested. Things were calm and the message was heard.-Cesar F.
I think that the protest on Thursday for the Dream Act was good but I think that it could have been better. There were many students but I think that there could have been more. I think that it could of been better if more teachers would have went and we had them as leaders. When we were walking on the sidewalk it was kind of crowded so as a result some students were barely touching the park's grass. One of the police officers on a bike got in front of them very fast and pulled one student by his shirt very violently and told him that if he touched the grass one more time he was going to be arrested. The thing that got me more mad was that some white people were walking in front of that officer across the grass and didn't tell them anything. When we finally stopped in front of the building there were some speakers set up in a truck where a guy was talking. Instead of the cops telling him to move he got a ticket and told to move. An old white man was also treated very badly by the officers just because he was taking some pictures. Besides all of the racism there was in the march by the cops, I think that this march was pretty good.-Daniel B.
The Dream Act is about students that don't have any papers, which means that they weren't born in the United States. A bunch of students from Unity High School went to Sacramento because Arnold, our governor, won't approve the act of student that don't have papers being able to go to college. What we did was we walked around the state building and we stayed there so they can hear what we have to say. Some people understood us but some didn't. They were being racist and said things that really hurt some of us. Things we said were "si se puede" which means "yes we can." This guy was saying "when you say Jim Crow, we say hell no!" I had fun because I saw a lot of people that want to see a difference and there was a lot of people from far places. But the thing is that it didn't make an impact because Arnold didn't approve the act so he didn't care what we had to say. But one thing is that we the people are going to make a difference. –Daisy B.
I definetly agree with you about Schwarzenegger.Hopefully nest year we will have a better chance to change this and have immigrant students go to college. I personally feel that its really messed up for them because they really try to do well and succeed here in the US, and those who are actually from the US dont really do anything to better their society. They actualy want to make a difference but due to their immigration status they arnt able to do so. thats why it really bothers me to see many students not being able to afford school, when the gov is wasting that money on students who arnt really taking school serious.
I was at this protest and honestly i thought it didn't make much of a difference. The number of people who came out to protest was small and some didn't even stay for the protest they left. Another thing tat i noticed was that some people who went could not behave themselves, for instance there was an incident were a lady yelled at a student ad it was kind of the students fault but she insisted it wasn't and yelled back at the lady saying really stupid things that had nothing to do with the situation. i think that if your going to go out there and miss a day of school and protest to try to act in a way that the people watching you protest will want to support your cause.
I was this protest at first i was like that nothing was goinbg to change Schwarzenegger to sign the dream act. But they I realized that we should of give it a try that we dont loose anything for just trying. I'm a student that was brought from Mexico because my parents wanted to give me a better life. I think tha same as ale but with dont loos e the chance and dream that one day he will sign the dream so that we as imigrants have more opportunities to go to coole. Because it's not are fault that our parents decided tobrings us as immigrants. Our only problem of us is that we want to study and keep on going to college but it becomes more difficutl because are ommigrants. But like as many teachers and people say that we should never give up and keeop trying to accomplish our dreams. So I think that it will be great if we keep on going and try to accomplish the goal that the governor signs the dream act for all those students that want to realized their dream. That are not responsible for the acts their parents did on bringing them to the united states.