Voices: Why Utah students like me are walking out of schools

As high school students, we are ignored. We are seen as just kids who always have poor judgment and whose ideas are thrown away before they’re even heard. We aren’t taken seriously, but we know the impact we can have.

This is why we came together — because, together, we are stronger.

We’ve seen friends, neighbors and family members torn away from their homes simply because they have an accent or “look the part” of the type of person Immigration and Customs Enforcement is targeting.

We see it every day, through our eyes and through our phones, and we all ask the same question: Why is no one stopping this?

After watching so many people get detained or deported to countries they barely know, when their lives have always been here in America, we decided to take a stand. On Feb. 6, I participated in the school walkout.

Around 450 students gathered at Big Cottonwood Park, with some walking for over two hours to be there. This was only a fraction of the students who gathered around Utah.

At the park, people shared their fear, anger, sadness and grief. They shared stories and sang songs. They showed their vulnerability to hundreds so that we could all understand that this isn’t just affecting adults or one specific group of people, this affects us all.

Throughout our walk, hundreds of cars drove past us, honking and waving, people shouting out about how proud they are of us. But there were also the people who glared, made obscene gestures and revved their engines to attempt to drown out our shouts of “No hate, no fear!” We couldn’t help but notice that our group was larger than them, in size and in strength.

Our group was full of kids who want change, and our way of change isn’t hurting others or pulling them out of their houses and away from their families. Our change is done through marching. It’s done through holding signs. And it’s done together.

My grandmother is an immigrant. She came from Brazil many years ago, legally. Yet if an ICE agent were to knock on her door today, she could still be detained, just like others who have legally immigrated to America, the so-called “land of the free,” only to be taken from their homes.

I fear for my grandmother, for the woman who works at my favorite dessert shop and always finds ways to make me smile, for my fellow students and their families, for my best friend and for every person in Utah who is too afraid to go to work because ICE agents might show up in unmarked cars, wearing masks, with no way to identify themselves.

These people have had their voices stolen. So I am using mine. We, the students, are using ours.

Leo Mildon is a Utah high school student who participated in recent walkouts to protest ongoing immigration enforcement.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.