Missing Another Day Of Class II

"Amnesty Is An Answer — Fear Is Not"

In DPS, students who walked out will be considered truant and counted as absent.

Photos from RMN:


Students marching toward the state Capitol.


Um, your flag is upside down.


They didn't get the memo, either.


Viva ubiquitous Che flags!
What is a student rally without the patron saint of the ignorant, Che?

Instead of a large crowd, a few hundred students each from a handful of schools made their way to the state Capitol in a rehearsal of the anticipated May 1 nation-wide immigration demonstration (raw footage of the walkout; news report):

(AP) DENVER Waving U.S. and Mexican flags and clogging busy streets, about 1,000 high school students and adults descended on the state Capitol Wednesday for a rally to support immigrant rights, police said.

Marchers jammed inbound lanes of Speer Boulevard, a major route to downtown, and temporarily blocked other intersections as they crossed, but no problems were reported, police spokeswoman Virginia Quinones said.

"We are not trying to hurt your country," said Jorge Macias, a high school sophomore who said he is a U.S. citizen. "It is big enough for everyone."

Other students carried Puerto Rican and Cuban flags. Many wore white; they were joined by some adults, many of them dressed in red.

Once again, if the students and proponents of more open immigration want to find the one way to bring even more opposition, deepen the political divide, and increase the rancor of an already inflamed debate, it is by flying the flags of foreign countries, especially the People's Republic--and socialist paradise--of Cuba.

Colorado Governor Bill Owens made a rather insightful observation on the timing of the student walkout:

Gov. Bill Owens, who was not at the Capitol at the time of the rally, said he believes the students are sincere but found it "odd" that they only demonstrate on school days.

"I'd be much more impressed if I saw these students out marching on a Saturday," he said.

At least one previous rally was on a Saturday, when more than 50,000 gathered in downtown Denver on March 25, but that was not student-organized demonstration.

Arvizu Derr, 17, a junior at West High School who helped organize Wednesday's event, said students had spread the word with mobile-phone text messages, Internet posts and fliers.

About 40 state troopers were standing by at the Capitol but the rally was peaceful, Master Trooper Ron Watkins said.

More coverage of the walkout here and here, both have video.