When Student Walkouts Become Angry Mobs

On Feb. 13, student walkouts in Los Angeles became a bit of a horror show as several federal agents were injured in clashes with a mob mixed with students and community members. The mass of protestors had made their way to the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center and started “throwing objects at law enforcement.”

As appalling as it is, this act of mob violence should not be totally surprising. The combination of hundreds of unsupervised youths marching through city streets with a clear villain as a target is a recipe for disaster. While the vast majority of K-12 walkouts over the last couple of weeks have remained peaceful, there are warning signs that they may not stay that way.

What is also troubling is that education leaders have suddenly shelved long-standing concern for student safety to appease activism that often features minors heading off school grounds without supervision. This leaves parents and community members to draw the conclusion that political activism outranks safety in the education system hierarchy.

In fact, the goal of the teachers unions and far-left nonprofits is to facilitate and encourage more student walkouts in the coming months; and more protests mean more opportunities for students to lose control and lash out at others.

For example, one week prior to the Los Angeles incident, an Ohio high school senior proclaimed that their walkout “’went as peaceful as it could have gone with the amount of anger that we have.’” Despite the smug tone of the student’s comment, the mostly “peaceful” protest included three students charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly attacking a fellow schoolmate. The victim elicited the mob’s ire for daring to voice support for ICE.

In Issaquah Wash., a viral video posted to social media appears to show a mother assaulted by a mob of students while she filmed their walkout. The group of youngsters can be seen pushing and pulling the adult into the street in total disregard for traffic or personal safety.

In another Seattle suburb, students from the Lake Stevens High School walkout can be seen punching and kicking another student who is curled up in a protective position on the ground. According to reporting on the incident, the victim was allegedly trying to stop fellow student protesters from “throwing water bottles at passing cars.”

Unfortunately, even when these events are supervised by school personnel and local law enforcement, they can still turn violent. Such is the case in Winters, Calif., when an adult counter-protestor had her sign ripped from her hands and pushed off a platform by students. Things escalated further as students reportedly started throwing objects hitting the adult and police officers.

As teachers’ unions and professional activist nonprofits continue to recruit, train, and organize K-12 students to be used as tools in service to what the Sunrise Movement calls a “political revolution,” it is only a matter of time before the youth’s “anger” turns into rage and mob justice.

These walkouts and direct actions are not going to end anytime soon. In fact, according to the teachers’ unions and far-left activists themselves, the intent is to make these protests regular events leading up to a national mass protest on May Day.

There should be a genuine concern over the increased frequency of these school walkouts. Parents and school leaders need to start putting limits and consequences in place before these protests move from a controlled burn to a wildfire.

If administrators and board members are serious about the safety of students, they will start to enact policies and guidance that curbs these externally influenced disruptions to the learning environment before a real tragedy happens.

Rhyen Staley is a researcher for Defending Education. He holds a master’s degree in elementary education and has over a decade of classroom experience in both public and private schools. He has over 25 years of volleyball coaching experience from Women’s Division I down to junior high.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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